Columnist Assignment.Pdf
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COLUMNIST PROJECT You will be required to examine the writing of a national columnist in a newspaper. You must collect six current, consecutive columns by your author. Attached you will find a list of newspaper web sites. All can be accessed in school or at home. Archives can be searched on these sites, but many publications require payment for articles older than one or two weeks. The assignment has three parts: I. Each article must be annotated. Print a copy of each column and annotate for the following: A. speaker's tone B. rhetorical strategies C. organizational shifts D. rhetorical appeals or emotion E. Mark places in the text that evoke a reaction from you, be it laughter, anger, or confusion. II. After annotating, write a one-half to one-page response (typed, 12 point Times New Roman) for each column that includes the following: A. a brief summary of the author's main point B. a brief statement explaining the connection between the author’s overall purpose and the purpose of this particular column C. the most salient strategies employed by the author D. the article's effect on you III. The final task is to write an essay that delineates the following: A. The author's general focus in columns (e.g. political, family, arts) B. Three of the author's oft-used stylistic devices C. An analysis of the efficacy of those devices The format of this final essay is as follows: 1. Length should be between two to three pages, 12 point Times New Roman font plus a Works Cited page. 2. You should freely refer to the columns as a whole. Presume your reader is looking at your six columns and has read them. If you quote (preferably embedded) words, phrases, or lines from a specific column, follow the procedure of enclosing an abbreviated version of the title of the editorial in parentheses. I would like to see two to four internal citations for three reasons: (1) to show you know the citation form, (2) to show you know how to gracefully incorporate quotations, and (3) to allow you to reinforce the validity of your argument by referring to “proof.” (See III.B. above. I expect you to include specific examples in the body of your essay as you discuss various stylistic devices.) 3. This is a formal essay. You should write in the third person (avoiding the passive) except for the last paragraph in which you might shift to first person when you evaluate the readability of the columnist and explain your personal response to his/her style, perspective, and topics. 4. This is an analytical essay and a research paper based entirely on primary resources (your six columns). Please physically attach your annotated articles with responses to your essay behind your Works Cited page. DUE APRIL 30. A source for a wide selection of columnists is http://drudgereport.com A second source for a wide selection of columnist is http://www.jewishworldreview.com/ The New York Times: www.nytimes.com Click on Opinion and scroll down to Columnists on the left. Click on a columnist’s name. The Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com Click on Opinions and scroll to bottom to see a list of regular contributors. The Boston Globe: www.boston.com/globe Click on Opinion. Scroll down and choose a columnist whose name you can click on. When you reach the current opinion piece, click on the author’s name above the article title. The Nation : http://www.thenation.com/ Click on a columnist under “Nation Voices.” Chicago Sun-Times: http://www.suntimes.com/index/ Click on the three bars in the top left corner, then on Opinion Home. Choose a columnist whose name is also in the dateline, then click on the name in the dateline. Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Click on Opinion, then scroll down and click on a Columnist. The San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Click on Sections, then Opinion, then a columnist’s name. The Washington Times: http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/ Click on Opinion, then Opinion Main, and scroll down. Click on columnist’s name. Another site: http://www.commentators.com .