Using these two music videos “I Lived” by One Republic and “The Nights” by Avicii (linked below)
An successful introduction
Identifies the 2 focus texts, the musical artist names, the overall arguments and/or purposes
Includes a thesis statement that responds to the prompt
In depth discussion of the focus texts’ respective rhetorical situations
Student explains the rhetorical situation of both focus texts. This includes musical artist, genre, context, purpose, and audience.
Each text’s rhetorical situation is considered during the evaluation of rhetorical strategies. For instance, why would a rhetorical strategy be persuasive for a specific audience?
Diverse rhetorical strategies are identified within each focus text
For each focus text, the student accurately identifies 1 lyrically-based strategy and 1 visually-based strategy. Student employs textual evidence to prove that these strategies are present within the music videos.
Note: The same strategies can be compared across the 2 focus texts. For example, a student might choose to analyze how the 2 music videos use anaphora and color.
Analysis and evaluation of rhetorical strategies
Student provides an analysis of each strategy they have identified.
Consider some of the following questions in your analysis and evaluation of the strategy:
How does the rhetorical situation of the text influence the author’s choice of strategies?
How do those strategies contribute to the artist’s appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos?
What is the intended function of the strategy? Is the strategy successful in achieving its intended function?
Is the strategy successful in contributing to the text’s overall argument and/or purpose?
How would the specific target audience respond to the strategy?
How might the music video be different if the strategy was not there?
Identification and explanation of assumptions
Student identifies an assumption that each artist makes about his/her/their target audience. The student ties the assumption to textual evidence and explains how each assumption impacts the audience’s engagement with the text.
A Successful Conclusion
The conclusion reiterates the essay’s thesis and considers the broader implications of the topic.
A Works Cited Page
Works cited page should be formatted using MLA guidelines