Portfolio 2: Issue Analysis Report
Overview: To complete this analysis, you will define the
primary approaches writers have taken in their writing about your issue. Then
you will analyze the diverse purposes, audiences, historical events, social
factors and cultural contexts shaping the debate about this issue.
Purposes for
this Report: To convince your readers that the issue you are
examining is more complicated than a pro/con debate.
Audience: Address your issue analysis to readers of the online
journal, Talking Back (https://writing.colostate.edu/gallery/talkingback/).
You can assume that this audience will be unfamiliar with theories of writing
situations and, as a result, will appreciate some explanation of what specific
terms mean. In general, this audience will expect you to explain the points you
are making and to demonstrate (using evidence) how you have come to understand
your issue as complex.
Portfolio
Content: Please submit your report in a folder clearly labeled
with your name and email address. Your portfolio should include:
- The final draft of your issue analysis report,
formatted with one-inch margins, double-spaced lines, and a readable (e.g.,
not in italics or script) 12-point font
- A works cited (MLA) or references page (APA)
- Rough drafts of your issue analysis reports
- Any homework you completed as you worked on this
portfolio.
- Workshop comments you received from your
classmates on your drafts
- The final draft of your annotated bibliography.
- The final draft of your audience exploration
report.
- Your interview or survey questions
- A record of responses to your questions
- Printed copies of your topic proposal and my
reactions to it
Report Requirements: Your
issue analysis report should be between 1,000 and 1,250 words in length. In
your report, clearly identify (following MLA or APA style) the sources to which
you refer. Your report should:
- Define the issue addressed by the sources.
- Explain why it is important to understand the
complexity of this issue.
- Show that your issue is complex by describing the
primary approaches taken by writers addressing the issue
- Analyze the writing situation shaping these
approaches (e.g., writers’ purposes, readers’ needs, interests, values,
beliefs and attitudes, historical influences, social factors, and cultural
contexts) to show readers that there are various factors determining the
shape of the debate.
- Use information from individual sources as
evidence to support your claims and your analysis.