based on my outline here ( Object/Artifact: LEGO BRICKS
Source for Rhetorical Analysis:
Arevalo, E. A. (n.d.). Lego therapy: HOW BUILDING WITH LEGO bricks can aid in child development and therapy. Game of Bricks. https://gameofbricks.eu/blogs/news/lego-therapy-how-building-with-lego-bricks-can-aid-in-child-development-and-therapy
Additional Source for Extended Definition:
Jones, Sarah. “The Evolution of LEGO: From Toy to Therapeutic Tool.” Child Psychology Today, vol. 12, no. 3, 2022, pp. 45-58.
Identification of how LEGO Lights Define Childhood:
Through the construction and design of lit constructions, children may explore and express themselves through the use of LEGO light as a creative and imaginative medium.
Childhood is a time for play and adventure, and LEGO light provide kids with a special chance to learn about ideas like light, color, and design while also engaging in hands-on investigation.
Extension of the Definition:
Metaphor: LEGO Lights are the vivid paintbrushes that kids use to bring their imaginations to life, and childhood is like a canvas.
Historical Context: LEGO Lights highlight how play and technology have developed over time, illustrating how classic toys have adapted to the digital age without sacrificing their fundamental principles of discovery and creation.
Criteria: The capacity of LEGO Lights to pique children’s curiosity, encourage creativity, and offer a sensory-rich learning environment is what makes them unique.
Negative Definition:
Childhood should not be restricted by preconceived beliefs about play; LEGO Lights dismantle barriers and inspire kids to think creatively, questioning traditional views of what play should entail.
Quotes and Examples from Sources:
Jones (2022) emphasizes, “LEGO Lights offer a dynamic way for children to engage with their environment, combining the tactile experience of building with the visual stimulation of light and color.”
Arevalo (2023) notes, “LEGO Lights have revolutionized the way children interact with LEGO, transforming simple structures into illuminated works of art that captivate the imagination.”
Conclusion:
LEGO Lights provide kids with an exclusive platform for inquiry and expression, demonstrating the convergence of play and learning. LEGO Lights serve as a beacon of creativity and innovation as we continue to reimagine childhood in the digital age, encouraging the next generation to create, imagine, and light up the world.).
And the feed back the professor gave me here ( A Overall Feedback
The rhetorical analysis source still needs to be put into MLA format. There’s a lot of interesting examples in here. I’d like to see you bring together your voice and the sources more to show how you’re in conversation with each other. Aim for the paragraph structure of topic sentence that shows part of your definition, example from the source, your analysis of the example, and then you showing the audience how the example supports the exigency of the definition (why it matters).).
construct an essay with this instructions from the professor (Extended Definition Assignment (12 points; required to pass the course; Brightspace)
Continue using the same object/artifact that you analyzed for your Rhetorical Analysis.
Cite (in MLA format) the source that you used for your Rhetorical Analysis.
Cite (in MLA format) an additional high-quality source to provide more context for your Extended Definition.
Since the sources for the Rhetorical Analysis are typically broad, the source choice for the Extended Definition directs the rest of the project. Think carefully about what information and context you can add with your second source. Do not use more than two sources for this essay; remember, the goal of the assignment is depth of analysis–not writing a traditional research paper–so choose a source that gives you enough material to work with.
Identify how the object/artifact defines childhood.
Think about what qualities, values, expectations, and assumptions the source makes about what childhood is for (returning to our Wicked Question). Sometimes using the structure “Childhood is a time to…” and filling in the blank helps writers frame this as definitional work. Based on what your source says about your object/artifact, childhood is the time to do what? If your definition shifts slightly in this process, that’s OK; it might be helpful to think of a related term (youth, adolescence, girlhood, boyhood, emerging adulthood, tween, etc.) depending on your topic.
Extend the definition.
There are several strategies we can use for extending definitions. Think about metaphors; for instance, childhood as a building block uses terms from toys to indicate that childhood sets up the structure for the rest of our lives whereas childhood as a kingdom sets up children as absolute rulers of their separate domains.
Definitions also have histories, so you can think about how your term fits in with ideas of childhood before or after it; for many of us, the ideology behind the expression “children should be seen and not heard” is offensive, but it reveals a historical view of childhood as being under surveillance with little agency.
Consider the criteria for the definition. Criteria are traits that limit the scope of a topic and tell the reader about the important values for the rhetorician. So, an argument based on healthy child development might focus on social skills or language acquisition, which would be different criteria defining development in different contexts.
Write a negative definition.
A negative definition defines by virtue of what something is NOT. So, according to your source, childhood is NOT a time to…filling in the blanks can help enhance the argument that you are making. The negative definition works most effectively as a counter-argument right before your conclusion (where you can refute it).
Use quotes and examples from your sources to support your arguments.
Aim for one-two strong quotes or examples per paragraph; I recommend using the paragraph structure of topic sentence, example/quote, analysis of the example, and then development (not repetition) of your thesis statement at the end of the paragraph. Try not to use quotes longer than two-three lines, as they will start to dominate the argument; for analysis of quotes and examples, don’t summarize, but think about what you want your audience to do with the information. Returning to our Wicked Question (what is childhood for?) is a good strategy for developing your analysis.
Conform to MLA format and rhetorically-appropriate conventions of grammar and punctuation.
Write between 500-750 words.)
