The Addiction Within Us Rhetorical Essay
Writing Assignment 1: Rhetorical Response
Assignment: Write 4- to 5-page essay that
summarizes Chapter 2, “The Addict in All of Us,” of Adam Alter’s book, Irresistible, and
includes a strong response to that reading.
In the response, you should speak back to the reading from your own critical thinking, personal experience, and values. Try to consider the author’s ideas and his rhetorical choices as you develop your essay. Your essay should be an analysis of how the chapter influences its readers rhetorically—how it makes its argument or gets its point across. In addition, you should show how wrestling with the text has affected your own thinking about the ideas in the chapter.
NOTE: Do not do any additional research for this essay; the only source you will work with is your assigned chapter.
Purpose: The purpose of your paper is to communicate to your readers the content of the chapter you are summarizing and, even more importantly, to analyze the rhetorical strategies and ideas of the reading so as to demonstrate your own critical thinking about the issues in the reading.
Audience: You should address your paper to fairly well-informed adults. You can assume that your teacher and other students in your class are representatives of this audience. Although your paper should not become like a personal letter to these readers, you can assume that they are generally interested in your topic, but they may not have thought about it as much as you have.