Analyze A newspaper editorial essay – 1000 Words

In an essay of 1,000 words analyze how an author uses ethos, pathos, and logos in a newspaper editorial. Your essay is not about whether you agree or disagree with the author, although you will address this at the very end of your essay, but instead how the author creates her or his argument.

Choose a newspaper editorial or op-ed piece that is related to music / orchestra only from the following websites:

New York Times, (http://www.nytimes.com/)
Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/public/us)
Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/)
Chicago Sun-Times, (http://www.suntimes.com/index.html)
Sacramento Bee (http://www.sacbee.com/)
Mercury News (http://www.mercurynews.com/)

– Introduction

In your paper you will need to create an introduction that informs and engages your reader while also briefly summarizing the editorial, including its main argument, and offering your own thesis. The Purdue Owl has some useful suggestions about creating effective introductions:

Introduction

The introduction is the broad beginning of the paper that answers three important questions:

1. What is this?

2. Why am I reading it?

3. What do you want me to do?

You should answer these questions by doing the following:

1. Set the context – provide general information about the main idea, explaining the situation so the reader can make sense of the topic and the claims you make and support

2. State why the main idea is important – tell the reader why s/he should care and keep reading. Your goal is to create a compelling, clear, and convincing essay people will want to read and act upon

3. State your thesis/claim – compose a sentence or two stating the position you will support with logos (sound reasoning: induction, deduction), pathos (balanced emotional appeal), and ethos (author credibility).

Please do not start off with your summary. Think of how you can invite your reader to engage with the topic first—before you introduce the editorial and your thesis.

-Thesis

Your thesis needs to claim whether or not the editorial effectively uses ethos, pathos, and logos to make an argument. Please remember that your thesis needs to be debatable and will benefit from having a “because” clause. Please review materials form the previous weeks for strategies to use when creating an effective thesis. You may also wish to review our discussion about theses in 3c in the Discussion Board section of class and in week three of the course materials section of our class. This time you will not be posting a provisional thesis on which I will be giving feedback.

– Here are some useful strategies for writing an effective conclusion; they come from Literacy education Online:

– Strategies for Writing a Conclusion

Conclusions are often the most difficult part of an essay to write, and many writers feel that they have nothing left to say after having written the paper. A writer needs to keep in mind that the conclusion is often what a reader remembers best. Your conclusion should be the best part of your paper.

A conclusion should

* stress the importance of the thesis statement,

* give the essay a sense of completeness, and

* leave a final impression on the reader.

Suggestions

* Answer the question “So What?”

Show your readers why this paper was important. Show them that your paper was meaningful and useful.

* Synthesize, don’t summarize

Don’t simply repeat things that were in your paper. They have read it. Show them how the points you made and the support and examples you used were not random, but fit together.

* Redirect your readers

Give your reader something to think about, perhaps a way to use your paper in the “real” world. If your introduction went from general to specific, make your conclusion go from specific to general. Think globally.

* Create a new meaning