A list of questions for your reference
Section I Adapted from Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz:
Everything’s an Argument (2004), pages 42-45
I) THE BIG PICTURE:
Before you sit down to write your RSA, map the artifact rhetorically by thinking through the follow questions (and others you come up with):
- Does the argument have a clear purpose, and does it accomplish it?
- What broader exigence (or exigencies) inspires the argument at hand?
- Does the argument have a clear intended audience? Is it addressing that audience adequately based on what that audience is presumed to believe and understand?
- Which of its rhetorical features will likely influence readers most? Audience connections? Emotional appeals? Style?
- Who is the (intended or actual) audience for the argument? How does the argument connect with its audience?
- What are the contexts (social, political, historical, cultural, etc.) for the argument? How does the argument fit into the world? Whose interests does it serve? Who gains or loses by it?
- How would you describe the constraints that impact the argument?
- What shape does the argument take? How are arguments presented or arranged?
- How does the language or the style of the argument work to persuade an audience?
- How does the character of the author or speaker work to persuade the audience?
- Are there any argumentative fallacies? Are claims supported by evidence? Are there any implied premises that are not supported by evidence?
- How do non-textual aspects of the text function, or general organization if you’re looking at something like a website?
- How is your interaction with the artifact mediated or controlled?
You might also think of questions related more fully to our course’s sustainability theme:
- How is the relationship between human begins and nature constructed in the artifact?
- How do the various facets of the triple bottom line function–that is, how do concerns about economy, equity, and environment (plus education) interact? What about what Edwards describes as the internal Cs–consciousness, creativity, compassion (plus connection)?
- How does the artifact engage or seek to alter public sentiments or preconceptions about environment, politics, culture, or economy?
- What is the implied stance of the author’s attitude towards sustainability?