Rhetorical Analysis on The Dangers of Surveillance by Neil M Richards

For our second formal academic essay, weve read a difficult text and engage in a rhetorical analysis of that text. Your rhetorical purpose for this essay will be to make a judgment about what the text is trying to do and how well it works. You will develop the ability to interpret and discuss the moves made within the text. Your thesis statement should make a clear judgment about the text, and your essay will use evidence from the text to support your claims about it.

Rhetorical analysis asks us to focus on how a text is created by exploring the context in which the text exists, what we know about the creator and their stance, how well the text achieves its goals for its intended and real audiences, and how it addresses genre and media/design expectations.

Reading

The Dangers of Surveillance from Harvard Law Review by Neil M. Richards

Assignment
Based on your close reading and rhetorical analysis of The Dangers of Surveillance, you should make a claim about the effectiveness of Richards arguments in his essay. Your essay should show your clear understanding of the text and the ideas contained within it. The essay will draw heavily on textual evidence and should consider not just Richards ideas but also the rhetorical choices he makes that do or do not allow the text to be convincing. You should refer to the chapter about textual analysis in the NFG and to our course discussions about rhetorical situations and rhetorical analysis to help you.

Expectations

Your essay should have an introduction, multiple body paragraphs appropriate to your ideas, and a conclusion. Your essay should be between 2-3 pages.
Your essay should focus on rhetorical analysis of Richards The Dangers of Surveillance as a means of exploring the effectiveness of his argument.
Your essay should incorporate specific supporting evidence for your claims from the text and other supporting materials when/if appropriate.
Your essay should be grammatically and mechanically correct and follow the guidelines of MLA or APA style for in-text citations and the Works Cited/References page. You will submit the draft on Canvas and write an Authors Note in class.