Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect by Stephanie Hanes

The Assignment: develop a 1000-1500 word summary/rhetorical analysis of one of the essays located in Chapter 23 of your textbook (p.507-567).

Available essays you can pick from:

Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect by Stephanie Hanes
Appropriating Native American Imagery Honors No One but the Prejudice
Disability and the Media: Prescriptions for Change by Charles A. Riley II
An Introduction: At the Root of Identity by Claude M. Steele
Playing with Prejudice: The Prevalence and Consequences of Racial Stereotypes in Video Games by Melinda C. R. Burgess and others
It Aint Easy Being Bysexual on TV by Amy Zimmerman
Your goal in the rhetorical analysis is to demonstrate how the various aspects of the text work together to achieve the writers goal, and to achieve that goal you will need to consider the rhetorical situation, the author, the audience, and the use of rhetorical strategies in the article.

The purpose of this assignment is to help you implement the methods of rhetorical analysis youve learned in class so far so that you can develop the expertise in rhetorical argumentation that you will need for other projects throughout your college career and beyond.

Process: In order to develop your analysis, you need to look through a rhetorical lensthis is an opportunity for you to work through a professional and disciplinary perspective. 

You must, for instance, evoke and mention explicitly the terms of our discipline (pathos, logos, ethos, kairos, audience, purpose, genre).

Your argument should be about the strategic use of rhetorical appeals and persuasive power of the particular text and not about the content itself. 

Focus on HOW it works, not simply WHAT it conveys; discuss how the use of rhetorical appeals determines the effectiveness of the argument and dont get distracted into arguing passionately a particular position or extolling the beauty/creativity of the article! 

To complete the essay successfully, you will need to discuss specific and concrete elements of the essay. Rely on the guidance provided by discussion and the textbook.

Invention: Before you begin writing the essay, write out your answers to following questions.

Describe all the elements of the article in as much concrete detail as possible.

What do you think is the overall argument and purpose of the article?
What is the purpose(s) of the argument?
How does the writer want the audience to think and/or act differently having read the article?
Who do you think is the specific persona and audience of the article?
What prompted the argument? That is, why did the writer take the time to produce this particular article at the particular time s/he did?
What rhetorical appeals operate in this text (list each one in turn)?
What are the effects of these rhetorical appeals on the persuasiveness of the article?
What is the primary claim, and what are the supporting claims in the article?
What type of support is used: appeals, evidence, examples?
What counter arguments or concessions are made in the article?
What fallacies are present in the article?
Guidelines:

1000-1500 word count
MLA format 
MLA style citation (Papers without in-text citation and/or a Works Cited page will be given automatic 0 for plagiarism!)
Formal tone and appropriate academic language – do not use I, we, or you pronouns
Explained and utilized the role pathos, logos, ethos, kairos, audience, purpose, genre in the essay
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