The Development and Impact of New Energy Vehicles in China
Length: approximately 750-1000 words
Topic and Article Check
Before you choose your topic, please read the “Purpose” article in the Good Writing series
Find an article or an essay that deals with a topic that you find particularly interesting or compelling. Using that article or essay as a "pushing off" point, write an analytical essay of approximately 750-1000 words on the same topic. You can find articles and essays on the internet or in newspapers and magazines. (Don't forget to look at syndicated columnists and letters to the editor for ideas.) Attach a printed off or Xeroxed copy of the article you are using to the back of your essay when you hand it in (Unless the article is an internet print-out, attach a COPY, not the original, which would be torn up in my bag). This is very important. I need to make sure you have chosen a topic that will lend itself to this sort of essay assignment. (You could also send me your topic and an article link by email by Wednesday)
NOTE:
Please notice that what I am asking you to write is analysis, not argument. These two genres are actually related, but there are significant differences, and most of the papers you will be required to write as a college student will be primarily analytical rather than argumentative. (BTW, the Everyone’s an Author textbook has a chapter on analysis: ch.13, 201 ff.) and chapters on argument: chs. 17 &18, 379 ff.).
Analytical papers usually do have some persuasive component, since the writer is using evidence, rational argument, and rhetoric to support a claim or an interpretation of a set of data.
The main difference between the two genres is emphasis. The emphasis in an analytical paper is on understanding a subject from an angle that you believe offers significant clarification. The main emphasis in argument is on persuading a reader to believe your claim about a controversial issue and/or act on it. In fact, I usually refer to analytical papers as analytical/persuasive.