The first major paper we were assigned was the rhetorical analysis. We were to analyze an artifact of University of Illinois history and using the Toulmin method, illustrate its argument or its deep meaning.
I received a high score (89.50/100) on this paper but I could have easily gotten an A if I had simply used Toulmin vocabulary.
I analyzed an Illini Wise guide made for incoming U of I freshman women.
At a time where the rights of women were transforming to be equal to the rights of men, the guide demonstrated the University of Illinois’s beliefs.
My exact thesis in the paper was:
I used the word “thesis” in my introduction. This was the only portion of my paper where I used exact Toulmin analysis vocabulary.
According to Professor Hays, I failed to identify the warrant and other elements of the Toulmin argument. The overall goal of this revision is to state precisely what the warrants, qualifiers, rebuttals, etc. were in the Illini Wise guide.
This was an example of a missed opportunity to mention the book’s warrants:
In my revision, I reworded the phrase the include the word “warrant”.
Other revisions have been made to the essay. See them here: