Rhetorical Analysis Texts: The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

Complete the following steps to familiarize yourself with the controversy that you will be analyzing for the Rhetorical Analysis Essay.

#1. For the Rhetorical Analysis Essay, you'll be analyzing an argument about the Standing Rock protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline.  Read this overview of the situation to get yourself up to speed: Time Magazine,  Links to an external site. "What to Know about the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests." Links to an external site. 

#2: Read all of the following ARGUMENTATIVE TEXTS.  Each one takes a position on the controversy.  As you read, consider which one you will select to analyze for the Rhetorical Analysis Essay:

• The position of the company building the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners Links to an external site. (if you select to analyze this text for your essay, you will analyze the "Home" page of Energy Transfer's site, just for simplicity's sake.)
• The position of the Standing Rock Sioux, the native American tribe whose reservation neighbors the pipeline, as explained by the tribe's chief in this New York Times opinion article Links to an external site., "Taking a Stand at Standing Rock."
• This New York Times article, explaining the history behind the pipeline protests: "'I Want to Win Someday': Tribes Take Stand Against Pipeline." Links to an external site.  This article is not explicitly argumentative (the author himself is not taking a position); however, it presents a clear "side" of the issue, and it can be analyzed in terms of how it favors a position without doing so explicitly.
• "What the Dakota Access Pipeline is Really About" by Kevin Cramer. Download "What the Dakota Access Pipeline is Really About" by Kevin Cramer.
   This Opinion article from the Wall Street Journal presents a pro-pipeline position. Note the bio of the author at the end of the article to understand his perspective better.