Question

Write a paragraph in which you explain how Brent Staples’s opening anecdote establishes his credibility and frames his argument.
Row A — Thesis (0–1 point)
1 point — Clear, defensible claim that answers the prompt (for example, about the author’s purpose or main argument) that indicates at least one rhetorical choice.
Student checklist: I wrote a one‑sentence claim that says what the author argues and names or hints at a device/strategy.
0 points — No thesis, or thesis merely repeats the prompt or is too vague.

Row B — Evidence + Commentary (0–2 points)
(Score holistically for evidence quality and explanation connecting evidence → device → purpose)
2 points — One specific, well‑chosen quotation or precise textual reference PLUS a clear explanation that:
Identifies a rhetorical device (e.g., diction, repetition, analogy, contrast);
Explains the literal meaning of the evidence; AND
Shows how that device furthers the author’s purpose or affects the audience (connects device → effect → purpose).
Student checklist: I quoted or cited a specific line, named a device, explained what the quote literally shows, and explained how it persuades the audience.
1 point — Some textual support present (paraphrase or vague quote) and an attempt at explanation, but missing one element (device ID, clear literal reading, or explicit link to purpose), or the explanation is superficial.
0 points — No textual support OR no explanation of why the evidence matters.

Total score = Row A + Row B (out of 3)

Answer 1

Thesis: By opening with a specific, ironic personal anecdote — the nighttime incident in which a woman crosses the street to avoid him — Brent Staples establishes his credibility (ethos) and frames his argument about racial stereotyping and misperception. In the anecdote Staples precisely recounts that a woman, seeing him approach, hurried away and crossed to the other side of the street while clutching her bag, a concrete detail that literally shows how his presence was instantly read as dangerous despite his harmless intent. That use of a vivid, firsthand narrative both demonstrates Staples’s direct experience with the problem he analyzes and presents him as a calm, observant witness rather than an abstract critic; his measured tone and specific detail make his claim harder for readers to dismiss as merely theoretical. At the same time, the anecdote frames the essay’s larger argument by dramatizing the gap between perception and reality — the contrast between the woman’s fear and Staples’s actual harmlessness — which primes the audience to accept his subsequent explanations of how stereotypes shape public behavior. Thus the opening story functions rhetorically to build trust, elicit sympathy, and set up the essay’s examination of how black men must navigate public spaces shaped by others’ fears.