Q Post Final Letters Please post your revised and polished letters to the editor here. Below are the full instructions: Introduction We have been working on rhetorical awareness, analysis based on rhetorical situation, and understanding genre. In this first assignment, you will practice and refine these practices by writing two different letters to two different newspaper editors about two different articles. Learning Objectives (you should be able to…) • Conduct rhetorical and critical analysis of news sources to identify effective persuasion. • Recognize how news and opinion letters are a form of action that might create change. • Employ rhetorical strategies appropriate for creating an effective letter to the editor. • Write with awareness about the genre features and purpose of letters to the editor. Task and Content For project 1 you will write two letters to the editors of two different news media regarding the same topic. The news sources should emerge from different points of view and perhaps even political leaning. In each case you are to respond to a recent news story from that news source, and you are to convey your own point of view on the topic as objectively and persuasively as possible. This means you will write as yourself, representing your own views, in both letters. This project requires some research. In addition to finding your topic and news stories, you will want to fill in the information gaps you will encounter with credible information so that you have a more well-rounded and in-depth view of the situation at hand. How to proceed: 1. Select a topic from recent U.S. events that interests you. Really; you should feel passionate about the issue. 2. Identify the news sources you will use. They should be credible and respected with a strong editorial process and ethical journalism. And they should differ in point of view even if subtly. 3. Find relevant news stories from each. The more closely related and narrowly focused on your topic the better. (Example: Coronavirus is too broad, but vaccine roll out might be specific enough.) 4. Keep a list of questions and research answers about your topic. Keep track of sources. 5. Draft your letters to respond as directly as possible to the central point or argument of your article. Select a few key points you would like to make. Consider how you would present these points to the two different audiences and in response to the two different points of view represented by your articles. Your address should be different even if your main points are the same. Purpose and Audience Your purpose is to try to shift the way your readers think about this issue. Where you might like your readers to change the way they act, talk, or vote in relation to this issue, you should aim here to demonstrate¬ why they should try to think about this in a different way or consider a few points they hadn’t considered before. This means your audience is the readers of the paper, and, secondarily, your peers in the classroom (and m¬¬e). But don't forget, you are addressing the editor (letters to the editor), NOT the author. They may or may not read such responses to their articles, but you are writing to the editor, and us, about the article. Format Your letters should look like letters to the editor, with as many recognizable features of that genre including: length, tone, forms of argumentation, layout, and address. If you can include an image, please do. And you will also need to include a separate list of sources that helped you construct your response and point of view. This should be a MLA formatted Works Cited list, even though you won’t be using MLA in-text citation in your letter (since that does not fit the genre and purpose). Use at least one additional source per letter. This means your Works Cited list will include at least four sources (the two articles, two sources for support), but many of you might include even more. Remember, any source information mentioned requires a source to be listed. Due Dates See Canvas for exact dates Grading Criteria / Peer Review Sheet (Extra Credit for actual submission of letter to the editor.) We will look for the following in your letters: • Clear indication of the rhetorical context at the outset • Use of evidence to persuade • Appropriate tone and diction and length • Accurate and critical reading of the original article • Sound knowledge and informed perspective of the issue at hand • Effective paragraphing and organization of key points • Attribution of sources for supporting evidence • Use of 3-step process for using sources • Correct grammar and sentence structure for clarity • MLA format for Works Cited • MLA format for the titles of all articles and sources mentioned in the letter.