Background: John Muir was a naturalist, writer, and an early advocate of preserving America's natural resources for future generations. His writing was instrumental in the foundation of the National Parks System.

First steps: This paper is a combination of research and rhetorical analysis. Use the library to do research on John Muir, and the National Park system. Using Edmund Burke's Of the Sublime and the Beautiful, look at John Muir's writing about the Yosemite and see where he has used Burke's thinking about the sublime in his writing.

Write: In your introduction, you will give some background on John Muir's development of the National Park System and how he wrote articles to interest people, and then move into a rhetorical analysis of how he used the concept of the sublime in his writings, and what persuasive techniques were used. In this last part you will be quoting and paraphrasing Muir and Burke. Talk about who Muir's intended audience was and how that influenced his technique, tone, and word choice.

Make sure you have a clear thesis, and that you support it with quotes and specific information properly cited.