Project 2 Outline

Strategy and Structure

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I will outline my Rhetorical Analysis for Project 2 in this blog post, and include advice on structure from Writing Public Lives.

The "Sections of the Paper" portion of the reading holds many pieces of advice when in comes to writing an analysis. It is important for me to shape my introduction around my purpose - or thesis - to help me achieve the goal of educating the new students in my field in rhetorical analysis (122). My thesis should be an analytical claim that is debatable, supportable, and explanatory of reasons behind that point (122-123). A tip is to draw strong conclusions in my body paragraphs, and that the final sentences of my paragraph must explain why each set of information is important to the persuasiveness of the text (124). In my conclusion I shouldn't just restate the main points that have come before it, I should consider the implications of my analysis and how they affect persuasiveness (125). I will keep these pieces of advice in mind as I construct an outline of my rhetorical analysis.

Introduction

• Background information on religious censorship
• Harry Potter / Chronicles of Narnia example?
• types of books that fall into this category
• THESIS: In her essay "Those kinds of books: religion and spirituality in young adult literature," Margaret Auguste appeals to fellow school librarians as well as parents, administrators, and the library community at large to shatter the taboo on the presentation of 'religious' books to children. The author achieves this message by using personal stories of encountering this issue to build their credibility with the audience while convincing them of the presence of 'religious' censorship, emotionally compelling narratives of a certain spiritual book that is a prime example of 'religious' literature being suppressed in schools and homes, and a multitude of convincing statistics that illustrate the positive link between interaction with spiritual texts and growth in youth.This author uses a well-organized arsenal of rhetorical tools to enlighten her audience's perspective on the issue of denying children access to spiritual texts, and inspire within them a motivation to dismantle the system which denies children access to 'religious' materials.

Body

1. Use of personal stories, etc. to build credibility, see counterarguments, and inform the reader of the issue of censorship in schools
• First paragraph quotes on a conversation with a fellow librarian
• counterarguments
• acknowledges that the issue lives on
• shows credibility - position as librarian
• Descriptions of personal experiences as librarian
• credibility
• issue
• How this affects her rhetorical & argumentative strength
2. Use of emotionally compelling narratives to change perspective of religious texts, provide an example of 'inappropriate' material, and show connection between spiritual texts and growth
• "Does my Head Look Big in This" narrative
• makes reader question why it's labeled as inappropriate
• a religious text that doesn't preach (most common form of YA / CHILD literature?)
• kids can identify with the main character
• How this affects her rhetorical & argumentative strength
3. Use of statistics and scholarly opinions to connect spirituality and growth in youth, show audience that religion is already an integral part of children's lives, and give evidence of how religious texts can help children find identity and spirituality
• Statistics: National Study of Youth and Religion
• shows that vast majority of children are already influenced by religion anyways
• definition of religion attempts to encompass any moral system to create lack of exclusion
• Scholarly opinions / theories
• connection between spirituality & child development
• spirituality has a similar inclusive definition akin to morals and personal meaning of life to make it seem more relatable
• how children gain a sense of identity via spirituality & religious texts
• How this affects her rhetorical & argumentative strength
• majority of the article integrates data / evidence of scholars
• makes her argument appear logical and acceptable

Conclusion

• Rephrase thesis
• Answer 'so what'? in context of how to analyze rhetoric
• Connection to the field overall?

Reflection: As I looked over the outlines of Sam and Annelise, I become concerned that my outline may not be as developed or organized as it should be. I was also confused about whether I needed to create separate sections for Analytical Claims, as I just used them as my topic sentences for each body paragraph. Overall I'm pretty sure these differences just echo how each of us plans out our writing differently and shouldn't impact meeting the criteria for this post. Both Sam and Annelise had awesome outlines, and I can't wait to see the finished product they will create!