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Evaluating Assignments
Explore The Rhetorical Problem
- Read the assignment
-Read the assignment carefully and well in advance of its due date.
- Find key terms
-Highlight the terms that need to be explained. These will help you to understand the assignment and to develop an approach.
- Isolate the task
-Many types of writing strategies may be required of a particular writing task.
Note that a complex essay will usually combine some of the following strategies.
Summary
Contrast
Interpretation
Evaluation
Cause and Effect |
Definition
Synthesis
Analysis
Support |
Comparison
Application
Context
Justification |
- Discover implicit criteria and unexplained assumptions
-Examine a general question for clues to specific strategies. You may need to consider the type of writing that is normally done in the field.
Explore the Audience
- Establish who will be reading the essay.
-Fellow students? Your instructor? A business person?
-A politician? A supervisor or administrator?
- Explore your audience's attitude toward your topic.
-What does the audience know, think, feel, expect, object to?
Explore the Context
- Consider the writing context.
-What writing conventions are expected in the field?
- Establish the social context.
-Are there social conventions that affect attitudes toward your topic?
- Define the political context.
-Are there laws or other political realities that affect your position?
- Describe the historical context.
-What is the relationship of your topic with past definitions or actions?
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