Requirements

*All submissions must be Word documents. All MSU Hawks are entitled to the Microsoft Office Suite and must make use of this access in order to obtain credit for this assignment.

This is a final draft; however, you may wish to do another evolution of this project for your mastery assignment. See the labor contract for further details.

• Strong papers will:
  • Employ specific rhetorical terms (purpose, audience, genre, stance, kairos, etc.) appropriately.
  • Make an overall evaluation of the text’s effectiveness (for a particular audience)
  • Cite specific evidence from the chosen text to support all claims (using MLA format).
  • Offer insights that move beyond commonsense / obvious interpretations.

Grading

We will be using the FYW program assessment criteria as outlined in your syllabus.  For the purposes of this assignment, I’ll offer additional detail about these criteria below. We will spend time in class helping each other understand and perform well in these areas:

• Central Claim –The central claim is the point you want your story to make. As opposed to “the moral of the story,” the central claim of a story should be complex, engaging, and open to multiple interpretations.  
• Development –In order for your story to make a point, the details in your story should support your central claim.
• Analysis –Analysis explores and answers the questions “So what?” or “How?” or “Why?” The most successful analysis affirms and furthers the central claim by demonstrating its complexity and significance. In this particular case, you are analyzing how what you learned (or failed to learn) matters. The connections and relationships between the details in your story should connect to the significance of the story. This significance should become clear to the reader by connecting to their experience through a shared cultural insight.
• Organization — By controlling how you tell your story, you will keep your reader interested and wanting to know more. By keeping the reader in the scene of your story, you help them understand more completely what you want them to consider. If the reader gets lost in your story because the ordering of events becomes confusing, the reader is likely to disconnect from the point you want your story to make. The very best stories will attempt to connect to reader experience well before the last paragraph.
• Clarity of Prose — For this assignment, you will want to use active subjects and strong verbs in order to keep your readers engaged. Doing so will help you keep your details clear and your scenes well described.
• Mechanics — You should make sure that any errors in spelling, punctuation, and sentence fluency do not detract from meaning.

Middle draft to start from: 

Rhetorical Analysis: Malcolm X

In “A Homemade Education,” his rhetorical devices help Malcolm X persuade the reader 

to endorse his thesis (Malcolm, pg 122-131). According to this piece, educating yourself is the 

best way to learn about and understand the world around you. After examining the article’s 

structure, language, ethos, logos, and pathos, I’ve concuded that it successfully persuades the 

reader of the importance of a well-rounded educational experience. The article “A Homemade 

Education” uses a chronological framework to construct his argument; however, it is difficult to 

identify the article’s core assertion until you’ve finished reading it. He describes how he fought to 

learn while in prison and how his love of reading developed. Now he talks about what he learned 

in his history classes and how he came to grasp current events throughout the world at his 

graduation. 

As the last point, he points out that the oppressed African Americans cannot become 

cognitively engaged due to a lack of knowledge. As a result, they become uneducated, useless 

persons who cannot contribute or grow in society. For the sake of keeping things simple, he 

avoids declaring his premise and making his argument crystal apparent from the start. This 

structure, regrettably, reduces the effectiveness of his argument since you would have to reread 

the article to connect his support offered throughout the reading to his claim to make his 

argument more successful. Malcolm X’s writing style and vocabulary convey how strongly he 

believes in education. When the author talks about his views and experiences, we feel confident in the author and empathy for him. Also, Malcolm X does an excellent job showing his thoughts 

about the injustices faced by African Americans using tone and language. “With every new book 

that [he] read, [his education] gave him] a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, 

and blindness that was affecting the black race in the United States,” he says in his article 

(Malcolm, pg-128). By using such a wide range of words and phrases, he not only makes his 

piece more interesting but also strengthens his case. A positive ethos is developed by portraying 

Malcolm X as an educated and respected person. If the reader has no idea who Malcolm X is or 

how well-known he is before reading the piece, he goes out of his way to prove it in various 

ways throughout the text. For example, he says that “those who hear [him] somewhere in person, 

or on television, or those who read something [he] has] said, will think [he] went to school far 

beyond the eighth grade.” Many historical and international references in his speeches illustrate 

how well-informed and socially sensitive he is about the globe. We learn a lot about Malcolm X 

through his stories about his “DIY education” and get a lot of admiration for him. These 

components contribute to the ethos of his argument and make it worth hearing.

Malcolm X’s logos aren’t as strong as they may be since he relies so heavily on his views 

and experiences. Even though it’s simple, he doesn’t discuss any solid statistical evidence or 

study showing that education is essential to success. His extensive understanding of history and 

culture is demonstrated frequently, as evidenced by the numerous books and articles he has read 

and the lessons he has acquired due to his formal education. As a “hustler” turned “extraordinary 

individual,” his thesis about the necessity of education is bolstered by his frequent allusions to 

various works. His thesis may have been strengthened, though, if it had relied on additional 

outside sources of evidence Malcolm X relies heavily on pathos (Malcolm). His goal in writing this post is to elicit an 

emotional response from the reader about how education has impacted his life and how he now 

views the world in a different light. A good place to start is by stressing his educational 

problems, such as reading and writing down every word and its explanation from a dictionary, to 

let the reader empathize with and admire him. He points forth the intriguing things his studies 

have shown him to establish common ground. Any reader who finds these things intriguing is 

likely to agree that education is vital because you learn about these subjects in school, and he 

elaborates on them. It is not just those who value education that Malcolm X hopes to persuade 

through his writing, but also those who do not, by demonstrating his passion for literature and 

explaining the feelings he had after becoming enlightened by his studies. 

Ultimately, he highlights the disparity that African Americans experience and the reality 

that the vast majority cannot have a great educational experience even if they want to. It is 

apparent that education is a fundamental human right and that no one can be a valuable member 

of society if they are not intellectually active and well-informed. I think this post does a great job 

highlighting the significance of education. He used persuasive rhetoric to persuade the reader 

that education has improved Malcolm X’s life. The love of reading helped him transform from a 

criminal hustler in jail to an inspiring human rights activist and role model. After reading this 

piece, I believe that everyone should aspire to become informed and active thinkers, which 

shows that information is power