Assignment Description: Students will compose an essay analyzing the rhetorical situation and rhetorical strategies of a single text. The essay will be 1200 words minimum. Only one source is required

Assignment Description:

Students will compose an essay analyzing the rhetorical situation and rhetorical strategies of a single text.

The essay will be 1200 words minimum.


Only one source is required, and that is whatever source you are analyzing.

This essay should demonstrate student understanding of rhetorical situations (exigence, audience, purpose, context) and recognition of persuasive strategies writers may deploy, such as appeals, types of reasoning, and fallacies. At the same time, students should be mindful of their audience, context, and purpose as they compose their writing to the standards and expectations of college-level English.

Unit Objectives: Support the analysis with concrete details (quotations, summary, paraphrase) from the text, integrate sources successfully, follow academic conventions, and organize the study coherently and effectively.

Topic: Dr. M. L. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Prior Assignment from Topic Selection

The Birmingham jail letter will be the most significant to help people understand the social injustices, especially against the Black American community. (King, 1994). When M.L. King wrote the letter, the people, especially the clergy, understood the injustice but left the matter to the courts for resolution. The rhetorical analysis will be regarding the importance of African American people standing up for their rights, especially by the criminal justice system. Other racial groups will be encouraged to assist in fighting for their rights since society is generally unsafe when oppressed. Although Civil Rights were implemented, African Americans often still face discrimination and profiling today; thus, this shows ongoing relevance even in today’s society seventy years later.