Mr. Phelan

English 4 Academic

Rhetoric – Argument

Casebook Assignment

Purpose: To study how the claims in a topic don’t necessarily fit neatly into two sides.

Directions:

  1. Pick 1 out of the 2 casebooks in the argument chapter (ch. 14) in the rhetoric textbook. See the Table of Contents p. xxx – xxxi.
  2. One casebook is on immigration, the other is on torture.
  1. Read 3 out of the 4 articles in the casebook.
  1. Answer the following questions for each article:***
  2. Purpose & Audience (P&A)
  3. Style & Structure (S&S)
  1. Culmination: Write 1 paragraph that evaluates the claims in the casebook.
  2. Which claim was the strongest? Why?
  3. Which claim was the weakest? Why?

o  6-8 sentences

***Amendments to the article questions:

·  Immigration

o  Feinstein “Statement in Support…” – S&S #1: omit

o  Buchanan “To Reunite a Nation” – S&S #3: omit

·  Torture

o  Levin “The Case for Torture” – S&S#3: “begging the question” is defined on p. 559

o  Young “How Much Torture is OK?” – P&A #1: omit

Grading

·  10 points/ article = 30 points

·  10 points for the paragraph

=40 points

Due Date: ______