Week 6 — How It Persuades: From Label to Analysis

Assignment 6 of the term — sort the appeals in a short announcement, rebuild a bare label into an analytical paragraph, write your own analysis of one move in King's "I Have a Dream", and explain the move to someone outside the course.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into analysis that names a move, quotes a few exact words, and explains the effect. You remain the author. The coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it produces the required report. In Week 2 you learned to keep a summary apart from your response; this week you add a third job, analysis, and make it the main one. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Writing Studio practise the same moves from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together.

The task

This week you explain how a text persuades its audience, never whether you agree with it. Your material is an illustrative announcement written for this course and attributed to no one, plus the verified fragments of King's "I Have a Dream" (28 August 1963, the Lincoln Memorial). Quote King only in this week's verified fragments, copied exactly from the archived transcript: "Five score years ago", "promissory note", "bad check", "insufficient funds", "Now is the time", "the tranquilizing drug of gradualism", "content of their character", "the color of their skin", "I have a dream that one day", and "Let freedom ring".

Part A — sort the appeals and rebuild a label. Here is the illustrative announcement from a neighborhood association about reopening a community pool, one sentence per line:

1. "As lifeguards who have watched over this pool for ten summers, we know how much it means to this block."
2. "Picture a kid on the high board, toes curled over the edge, about to jump for the first time."
3. "The new filter cleans the water twice as fast, so the pool can stay open on the hottest afternoons."
4. "The city's repair crew finishes this week, the first heat wave is coming, and the pool can open the moment it arrives."
5. "Every season pass sold before opening day pays for one more lifeguard shift."
6. "Remember the summer the pool sat empty, and the long, hot weeks without anywhere to cool off."

Work this problem, showing your reasoning:

1. The illustrative pool announcement in Part A has 6 sentences; an appeal sort finds 1 leaning on ethos and 1 on kairos. How many lean on pathos or logos?

First sort all 6 sentences: beside each one, name the appeal it leans on most and the exact words that show it. Use the stranger test to keep ethos apart from logos, and the moment-or-feeling test to keep kairos apart from pathos. Then work the second problem:

1. An analytical paragraph runs on 3 engine parts: claim, evidence, and effect. A classmate's draft about the pool announcement supplies 1 of them, a claim, but quotes no evidence and explains no effect. How many parts must the revision add?

The classmate's draft is a label: "The announcement uses pathos to make people emotional." Rebuild it into an analytical paragraph of 4–6 sentences about the announcement. Make a claim that names how the announcement persuades, quote a few exact words from it as evidence, explain the effect on the neighbors who read it, and close with a link. Label each sentence claim, evidence, effect, or link.

Part B — analyze one move in King's speech. Choose one or two fragments from the verified list above and write one analytical paragraph of 150–200 words. Name the device (anaphora, antithesis, metaphor, allusion, or parallelism) and the appeal it mainly serves, quote only the fragment words, and explain the effect on the audience of that day, a crowd gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Keep summary and agreement out: the paragraph explains how the speech persuades, not whether you agree. Label each sentence claim, evidence, effect, or link. Choose a move other than the "Now is the time" paragraph the chapter already built, or build on it with a fragment the chapter did not use.

Explain it to a non-expert

A friend who runs the social media for a small bakery says a marketing class told them their posts "use pathos," and they have no idea what to do with that. Write a 3–5 sentence message that tells them, in everyday words, why naming an appeal is only a start: what it means to point at exact words and say what those words do to a reader. Use your Part A rebuild as your example. Name one honest limit — for example, that one post can lean on two appeals at once. Explain any term your friend might not know.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a cousin reviewing a movie trailer who writes only "it was emotional." Model answer: "Saying the trailer is emotional tells me how you felt, not why. Point at one moment, like the music cutting out right before the door opens, and say what it does to a viewer: it makes you hold your breath. That is the part a reader can check. One trailer can do two things at once, so you might find a second moment that works differently."

Use that pattern for your friend, with your own explanation of your rebuild.

Reflect on your revision

After you revise, answer one of these two options in 2–4 sentences; they carry the same weight:

• (a) Which change turned your Part A label into analysis for a reader, and what in your appeal sort showed you it was needed?
• (b) Which sentence in your Part B paragraph changed most after feedback, and what does it now tell a reader about the effect that it did not before?

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft Part A, Part B, and your message to your friend before opening a chatbot.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach will ask for your draft and then work one question at a time.
3. Answer in your own words. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one part of your rebuild or your King paragraph, even if your first attempt was strong, and then answer reflection option (a) or (b).
4. Continue until the prompt's exit condition is met.
5. Save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It must draw out your reasoning rather than write your paragraphs for you. If it offers a line from King's speech that is not on the verified list, do not use it; check every quoted word against the archived transcript.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful writing coach for a first-year college writing course. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about rhetorical analysis. Do not write my appeal sort, my rebuilt paragraph, my King paragraph, or my message for me, do not "improve" my sentences into smooth generic wording, do not supply any wording from King's speech, and do not invent work I did not show.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these two problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The illustrative announcement I am analyzing, written for my course and attributed to no one: (1) As lifeguards who have watched over this pool for ten summers, we know how much it means to this block. (2) Picture a kid on the high board, toes curled over the edge, about to jump for the first time. (3) The new filter cleans the water twice as fast, so the pool can stay open on the hottest afternoons. (4) The city's repair crew finishes this week, the first heat wave is coming, and the pool can open the moment it arrives. (5) Every season pass sold before opening day pays for one more lifeguard shift. (6) Remember the summer the pool sat empty, and the long, hot weeks without anywhere to cool off.
PROBLEM P1: The illustrative pool announcement in Part A has 6 sentences; an appeal sort finds 1 leaning on ethos and 1 on kairos. How many lean on pathos or logos?
PROBLEM P2: An analytical paragraph runs on 3 engine parts: claim, evidence, and effect. A classmate's draft about the pool announcement supplies 1 of them, a claim, but quotes no evidence and explains no effect. How many parts must the revision add?
For P1 I must also sort all 6 sentences, naming the appeal each leans on most and the exact words that show it. For P2 I must also rebuild the label "The announcement uses pathos to make people emotional." into a 4-6 sentence analytical paragraph with a claim, a few exact words from the announcement as evidence, the effect on the neighbors, and a link, labelling each sentence; then write my own 150-200 word analytical paragraph on one or two verified King fragments, naming the device and the appeal and explaining the effect on the audience of that day; then a 3-5 sentence message to a friend in everyday words that names one limit. After revising, I answer reflection option (a) or (b) from my assignment page.
The verified King fragments I may quote, exactly: "Five score years ago", "promissory note", "bad check", "insufficient funds", "Now is the time", "the tranquilizing drug of gradualism", "content of their character", "the color of their skin", "I have a dream that one day", "Let freedom ring". If I quote anything else from the speech, tell me to check it against the archived transcript.
The course meanings I must use: rhetorical analysis is an account of how a text persuades its audience, which appeals it uses, through which moves, and with what effect, setting aside whether I agree; the four appeals are ethos (credibility and character), pathos (emotion), logos (reasoning and evidence), and kairos (the opportune moment); a label names an appeal or device without the how or the effect; an analytical paragraph runs claim, evidence, effect.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply, out of 100 points. Appeal sort (P1): 30 if my sort covers all 6 sentences with an appeal and the exact words that show it for each, keeps ethos apart from logos and kairos apart from pathos, and gets the pathos-or-logos count without error; 18 if the count is right and most sentences are sorted with words, but one sentence lacks its evidence or one ethos/logos or kairos/pathos call is swapped; 8 if at least two sentences are sorted with evidence but others are missing or the count is off; 0 otherwise. Rebuilt analytical paragraph (P2): 25 if the rebuild states a claim about how the announcement persuades, quotes a few exact words as evidence, explains the effect on the neighbors, closes with a link, and labels every sentence; 15 if all parts are present but the effect stays general or one label is wrong; 5 if it improves on the label but still has no quoted evidence or no effect; 0 if no rebuild. King paragraph (P2): 25 if it names a device and the appeal it serves, quotes only verified fragment words, explains the effect on the audience of that day, keeps summary and agreement out, and labels every sentence; 15 if it does all of that but the effect is thin, one label is wrong, or a summary sentence slips in; 5 if it names a device or appeal but stays a label or quotes wording not on the verified list; 0 if missing. Plain-language explanation for a non-expert (P2): 10 if the message to my friend uses everyday words, explains pointing at exact words and their effect, and names a limit; 5 if it can be followed but omits the limit or leaves a term unexplained; 0 if missing. Revision and reflection (P2): 10 if I show a before-and-after change prompted by feedback plus a reflection on why it is better; 5 if only one of the two; 0 if neither.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my answer. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. When I name an appeal, ask me which exact words show it. When I write an effect, ask me who in the audience feels it and how. Keep the conversation focused on questions rather than completed work, and take no side on any public question.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, copied prompt, yes/no reply, or one-word answer is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or accept agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied both problems with their appeal sort, rebuild, King paragraph, and message AND revised at least one part AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my appeal sort, rebuild, King paragraph, and message]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised work, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised work: the Part A appeal sort and rebuild, your Part B King paragraph with its labels, your message to your friend, and your reflection — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 6 skills — sorting a text's moves by the four appeals, turning a label into a claim with quoted evidence and an explained effect, analyzing one move in a real speech without summary or agreement, and explaining the move to someone outside the course — for comparable time and effort, about 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete Part A, Part B, the message to your friend, and one reflection option. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion: put claim, evidence, effect, or link beside every sentence of both paragraphs, circle each quoted word and check it against the announcement or the verified King list, and mark any sentence that is summary, agreement, or a bare label. Write a second draft. Add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one change you made, the label or test that prompted it, and one question you still have. Submit the revised work, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The appeal sort, the rebuild, your King paragraph, the message, the revision, and the reflection must be your own words. Do not ask the chatbot to write any of them or to supply quotations. Quote King only in this week's verified fragments, copied from the archived transcript; a chatbot's "quotation" is unverified until you find it there. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and requires no AI account.

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