Issue, Audience, and Genre Analysis

Need help with my English question – I’m studying for my class.

ISSUE, AUDIENCE, AND GENRE ANALYSIS WORKSHEET INSTRUCTIONS

OVERVIEW

In this assignment, you will answer a series of questions rather than write a unified essay. CITE ALL INFORMATION THAT DOES NOT ORIGINATE WITH YOU.

These questions ask you to do the following:

• Describe an appropriately narrowed, current (within the last 12-18 months), and unresolved issue relevant to your field of study. Explain what caused this controversial issue to arise and why people disagree about how it should be resolved.
• Identify an audience for the issue you chose who disagrees, in part or in total, and analyze the audience’s position. The audience must have decision-making authority or considerable influence over the outcome of the issue.
• Explain your position on that issue
• Analyze that audience’s biases and potential counterarguments
• Analyze the Advocacy Letter genre for the final research project essay
• Complete the end-page reflection

MAKE SURE YOU DISAGREE WITH THE POSITION TAKEN BY YOUR AUDIENCE. Therefore, you must conduct sufficient research about your audience.

INSTRUCTIONS

• Download and open the “Issue, Audience, and Genre Analysis Worksheet” document included in the assignment on Blackboard.
• Enter your responses to the questions directly on the worksheet.
• NOTE that you are not writing a formal essay; you are answering a series of questions only.
• You should have two well-developed paragraphs, each with cited evidence, per question.

The bulk of your grade will be based on the substance and critical analyses in your responses.

Save your file using the following file naming protocol: LateNameAnalysis [i.e. WootenAnalysis].

SOURCES

Your understanding of the issue, the audience, and your own stance will be more impressive if you use the most credible evidence you can find to support and illustrate your claims. At least one of your sources must come from a scholarly journal. The bulk of your evidence should reflect an in-depth use of the library databases.

Make sure you effectively and ethically integrate your sources and cite them accurately.

Do not cite popular sources, to include Wikipedia, About.com, TIME Magazine, USA Today, etc. Audiences who have decision-making authority over an issue will expect highly reputable sources as evidence.

DOCUMENTATION

Consider this an academic essay. Include a references (APA) page or works cited (MLA) page at the end of this document. Edit and proofread your work.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this process, you should be able to do the following:

• To research and analyze an active conversation about an issue relevant to your field of study
• To develop a research question about that issue
• To identify and analyze an audience who has decision-making authority over that issue.
• Analyze that audience and discover how that audience will affect your research and writing.
• Analyze the advocacy letter genre you will use to write to that audience to learn how it will shape your final argument.
• Find, evaluate, integrate, and cite highly credible sources