(Argument Essay)
PURPOSE & AUDIENCE
The purpose of this first essay is to demonstrate your skills in analysis and argumentation. You will be doing the
critical thinking work of our rhetorical analysis assignments, but this time using your findings to build your own
comparative argument. Your explicit audience for this essay will be the members of this class, but your argument
should be one of value to all Americans hoping to interpret the meaning, efficacy, and value of political events.
PROMPT
The issue and conclusion for this argument is quite simple. You will be choosing one of the executive orders
signed by President Trump and then identifying two arguments concerning that order: one in favor of, and one in
opposition.
Your issue will therefore be: Which interpretation of the executive order is more logically sound?
To develop your argument, you first need to select an executive order, then identify two opposing arguments in
response; you will begin by conducting some of your own background research on the executive order, then
completing a thorough rhetorical analysis of the two articles you’ve chosen. You will be assessing each
argument’s assumptions, ambiguous language, fallacies, and use of evidence, as well as enumerating each’s
reasons and clarifying their conclusions.
Your essay should explain the executive order and provide any relevant background information your audience
might need to understand it fully. Your thesis will assert which of the two argument is more logically sound and
why, and your essay’s body will support, in detail, that assessment using a compare & contrast structure that
closely examines the two arguments (pro & con). Your conclusion should provide recommendations for the
reader moving forward.
Remember, in order to accurately analyze things like assumptions, fallacies, and use of evidence, you need to
have a full understanding of the order, so your background research will be crucial in helping your to assess the
two arguments at the heart of your essay.
ESSAY EXPECTATIONS
Be careful to avoid any fallacies in your reasoning as you construct your argument. Your introduction should
introduce the order in a way that is engaging and clearly demonstrates why it is important to your reader. Your
essay should have an engaging introduction, narrowly focused and developed body paragraphs, a concise and
compelling conclusion, strong transitions, and a variety of sentence structures and word choice.
