Response to Post, Writing About Writing, pp. 469-477
Help Received: None
In order to have identified the moves that both King and Obama made in their respective speeches, she would have had to know the backgrounds of each candidate. King and Obama both made allusions to the Bible in each of their speeches, which is appropriate considering they are both Christians. In fact, Dr. King was also known as “Reverend King” and regularly gave sermons about the civil rights movement, which is what made his allusions so powerful. In order for Post to have made this connection – and to add Obama’s speech into the mix – she would have had to research the religious ideals of both men. While it’s common knowledge that Dr. King was a Christian, there have been controversies in the past suggesting that Barack Obama is in fact a Muslim, due to both his middle name, Hussein, and his father’s nationality. While these rumors are obviously false, it would stand to reason that they presented Post with at least a mild challenge to identify the candidate’s true religion.
For my paper, I already know the intended audience of the syllabus and assignment sheet I will be analyzing: college freshmen being introduced into the Mechanical Engineering major. As a student in this particular course, I also know what general knowledge the student will already know, as well as what the student will need to learn in order to complete the assignment. As a student in the school system that this course is offered in, I know what institutional aids are available for the student to use. This should be plenty of knowledge for me to create my analysis.