Relevance: Please make sure that you answer EACH prompt directly and fully.
Length: Each response needs to be AT LEAST 750 words (this is a bare minimum and is not a guarantee of “A” work). Longer is fine; there is no maximum.
Creativity: A repetition of ideas readily recognizable in the semester’s reading is less compelling than a developed idea that shows your creativity and the development of your thinking.
Sources: Utilize class readings or research developed from additional study (e.g., academic journal articles) to support your characterizations/observations/analysis. A good benchmark is to use three sources per prompt in meaningful way.
Composition: Writing matters. A clear, well-written set of responses is naturally going to reflect a high degree of engagement, insight, and execution.
Style:
Prompt 1: Across multiple speeches examined this semester, the theme of restoring America’s promises as part of the quest for racial justice stands out. Identify three or more speeches studied in class that examine this theme (you can include additional speeches, including those not assigned as part of this class). Explain how the identified speeches/rhetors justify the connection between America’s founding ideas and racial justice. Take a position on the potential to persuade the American public with this connection: is it effective or not?
Prompt 2: Pick an anti-racist artifact: a speech, image, essay, book, or the like not assigned this semester. Justify how it works as an anti-racist artifact. Select a type of rhetorical criticism and apply it to develop an understanding of the artifact that reveals something not otherwise obvious. (Hint: the point of all research methods, including rhetorical criticism, is to reveal something to the researcher/audience that is not otherwise obvious about what is being studied.) Please include your artifact as a link or attachment with your submission.
Prompt 3: Anti-racism is a complex and multi-faceted social phenomenon. What lessons do you take away from the rhetors/speeches examined this semester in advancing the cause of anti-racism? (Please make this response distinct from prompt 1.)
