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Value: 10% of course grade
Due Date: October 7
Objectives
Your work on this assignment should demonstrate your ability to
- identify the rhetorical features of a communication
- organize your observations into a readable, well-structured report
- support your assertions with concrete, well-chosen examples
- present your findings in a clear, focused, concise, and carefully edited short report
Instructions
Choose a piece of typical government writing, ideally on a topic of interest to you. The piece can be from any level of government in Canada—federal, provincial, municipal, or other (e.g., Crown corporation, regional district, health authority).
Complete a rhetorical analysis of the writing, examining the features of the document and evaluating how effectively they achieve the document's purpose for its intended audience.Your analysis should reflect the guidelines handed out and discussed in class.
Write up your analysis in the form of a two-page report.
Keep in mind that your purpose is not to summarize the information or to respond critically to the information itself. It is to analyze the features of the document and how they contribute to the effectiveness of the communication.
Tips on Choosing a Text
Consider the interests you identified at the beginning of the course. You will enjoy this assignment more if the document you pick is about something that interests you, and it might lead you to information that will be useful for future assignments. At the same time, if you find a great example of government writing (good or bad), the topic doesn’t really matter for this assignment.
Pick a piece of writing that is long enough to allow a detailed analysis. Avoid single web pages or media releases—they are likely to be too short and limited for this assignment. Many government documents of more than a couple of pages are in pdf, so look for those.
At both the Canada site and the Province of B.C.’s portal, you will see a link to reports and publications, which you can then browse by ministry or agency. In the case of the B.C. government, the link will take you to the Queen’s Printer, which lists publications for sale as well as the many reports that are free and available for download.
Here are a few examples of the type of document/website that you are looking for. If you are stuck, you can analyze any one of them.
Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools
Blue-Green Algae and Their Toxins
Treatment of Student Loans Under Canadian Bankruptcy Laws
New Relationships with Aboriginal People and Communities in British Columbia
Important Dates
September 30: Either send me the link to your document or bring a print copy to class so that I can check the suitability of the document you have chosen.
October 5: Have a draft of your rhetorical analysis (electronic or print) ready for class. You will have the chance to discuss any problems you're having with the assignment and to exchange drafts with another student for peer editing.
October 7: Bring a copy of your final version to class. You will have another (short) opportunity to exchange your work with another student. Email your assignment (as a Word file) to me by 11:59 p.m. Name your file: YourlastnameRA.doc (e.g., doyleRA.doc).
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