There are three ways I want you to think about writing a long-form blog post for your Rhetorical Analysis:

1. You are writing a rhetorical analysis. There will be some audience expectations to consider when you are claiming to do this work. We talked a bit about that here: 3-1-2021 Lesson Plan – ENG 2100: Writing I, Spring 2021 (cuny.edu)
2. Genre is both flexible and rigid. Thinking about genre is useful but will not answer all your questions about what you should write and what audiences expect. Genre helps us think about the kinds of formatting, word choice, paragraphing, content, etc. that audiences will expect to see. However, it does not help us come up with every single word, every single formatting decision, every single piece of our argument or narrative. It only guides us about some general points of things to include when we write in a specific genre. Furthermore, sometimes it is important to intentionally do things that do not follow genre conventions as a way to emphasize something, innovate, or to simply do the thing that you feel best communicates what you want to communicate or think through. We talked more about this in Learning Module 5 here: Genre and MAYA – ENG 2100: Writing I, Spring 2021 (cuny.edu). Returning to the Derek Thompson reading on MAYA can also be helpful.
3. Think about what you read online. The blog post is a genre to be found only in reading you would do online. What things do you have to keep in mind about paragraphing, spacing, etc. that can also be found in print as well as things you can do online that you can’t do in print writing (i.e., physically printed pages vs. computer screen)?

For your Rhetorical Analysis, you will be writing a blog post. There also certain expectations for this kind of writing. Some blog posts are shorter, so also consider you are writing a long-form blog post (see prompt for Rhetorical Analysis assignment).

When you write anything, please consider what the sorts of expectations your readers are likely to have! It is good to know in terms of giving readers something familiar to hold onto, but it can also be helpful to know so you know when you are might violate expectations for rhetorical effect (e.g., to make something stand out, to surprise). Look for examples of the kind of writing you are doing and see what is worth incorporating based on common moves.

Task

Do the following in a comment below:

1. In a comment below, list as many things as you can think of in terms of content you read online. Be specific in terms of publication/website as you can (e.g., The New York Times instead of “news sites”; SB Nation instead of “sports sites”). (think, too, of social media but beyond that…to the things you find yourself clicking through social media leading you to a website to read something)
2. Talk about things you notice that are common in terms of as many of the following that you can: formatting, spacing, size of paragraphs, indentation, how sources are cited, word choice, sentence structure, organization of material, use of images or video, placement of videos or images, etc.

After commenting below, click the button to continue: