I. Rhetorical Analysis and Close Reading

• 1,800-2,100 words / ~ 6-7 double-spaced pages
• 25% of course grade

Close reading/comparison of texts with a similar thematic focus across a variety of genres: essays, film, short fiction, poems, songs, film, cultural artifacts such as video games, television shows, music videos, using interpretive methods based on: 

• Rhetorical criticism (audience, purpose, genre, medium, delivery/circulation);
• Literary criticism (metaphor, plot, setting, point of view, theme); and
• Historical and cultural criticism

---

Kate Eickmeyer: Rotten Tomatoes
I designed this assignment to teach (1) “close reading” and (2) how to enter an existing critical debate or conversation.

Kate Eickmeyer: Critical Analysis Essay Using Spirited Away for Scaffolding
This assignment maximizes student choice of paper topic while anchoring process in a group viewing and development of a sample essay on Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.