what is it?!

mike patton by puppenjung on deviantART

In an effort to offer encouragement as you begin to draft your CARA (Cultural Artifact Rhetorical Analysis), I want to make clear that you can do this. What is "this"? The activity of writing itself, writing that is uncertain, ambiguous, inquiring. It will not be terrifically polished at first. Don't care. Start writing. 

You know this, of course. So, Start writing. Begin,  as my instructions make clear, by summarizing sources. Use sources that will help you establish that the artifact is circulating widely enough to suggest that it meets Brummett's criteria (see earlier post). This summary work may present the clearest route to the confidence that will compel you forward.

So, you have 2 pages by now, yes? Of course you do!

Moving on, then, I am pasting here (and linked, at "samples") a version of a model I wrote a few years back for a different Rhetorical Theory class. I am sharing here to let you know, again, that you can do this. This draft I'm sharing is a thing I wrote in about 30 minutes. It needs work, to be sure, and it needs more sources, more documentation, and ... just more. At the same time, it stands as a pretty great start! I am perfectly certain that you can produce something of value by just starting to write with an analytical mind about your artifact.