A Few Rhetorical Structures and Literary Techniques to Consider:

In the body of your essay and your commentaries, you will be discussing the methods
that authors use to convey their messages or to achieve their purpose. Some of the
possible ideas that you might check for are listed below:
Technique or Definition and/or What you should ask yourself about style and
structure:
Allegory: A story told with one coherent set of circumstances, which has a second
correlated meaninglike a fable. This second or deeper meaning is often conveyed using
symbols. The story is often considered second to the message.
Allusion: A reference to a historical event or another literary work. Ask yourself, "What
effect does the author achieve with this reference?" How does the reference convince
you?
Analogy: A comparison between two thingsoften made in an argument in order to help
you remember an argument. For instance, when a school is compared to a prison
students are likely to remember the comparison.
Anecdote: A simple story about a single incidentthe most basic short story. The story
is usually used to show a single, direct message.
Appeal: This is any attempt to persuade you by gaining your approval. There are three
main appeals:
Appeal to Ethics / Appeal to Ethos: The use of a sense of right and wrong to
convince the reader. For instance, by giving an example of how children are
negatively affected by a war, the writer can convince you to oppose that war,
because we feel that children are innocent.
Appeal to Logic / Appeal to Logos: The use of our sense of what makes logical
sense. By providing examplesthe essayist can lead us to draw a logical
conclusion about an idea. For instance, if an author points our several instances
where a leader has lied in the past, we can logically assume that the leader may be
lying right now.
Appeal to Emotion / Appeal to Pathos: The use of our feelings to convince us.
By including details that make us feel a certain way, the essayist can convince us
of an action. For example, when a writer discusses a brutal beating, we often will
support ideas that support the victim.
Diction: The words chosen by the author. Why does the author choose a certain word but
not another? For instance, "girl" and "lady" both indicate femalesbut how do we feel
about the authors choice?

Fallacy: The use of faulty logic or poor arguments. For example, if a writer opposes war
by suggesting, it is cruel to force mothers and fathers to send their children off to war,
the logic is faulty. Normally, young men decide on their own to go off to warthey are
not sent off as children.
Humor: If you are laughing, ask yourself why the writer wants this reaction? Perhaps he
is mocking the opposing view.
Hyperbole: Exaggeration or overstatementwhich serves to move an argument forward.
Authors can use hyperbole to mock an opposing viewor to demonstrate an extreme to
engage the readers emotions.
Imagery: Phrases that engage your senses. While the technique is called
imagery an example is called an image. There are seven types of imagery:
Visual: How do these pictures contribute to a message?
Auditory: How do these sounds make you feel?
Tactile: How do you react to the texture?
Olfactory: How do the smells make you react?
Gustatory: How do you react to the tastes?
Organic: Images of body functionssuch as hearts beating.
Kinesthetic: Descriptions of how muscles or the body moves.
Juxtaposition: Differences--between two ideas, characters, or images pointed out by
placing the different aspects next to each other. Usually the author wants you to prefer
one of the two sides presented. Often, the writer will end with the idea that he wants you
to take.
Loaded diction: Emotionally charged wordswhich an essayist uses in order to unfairly
sway you toward her opinion. Such biased or prejudiced language might convince many
readersbut it may also throw the entire argument into question.
Metaphor: An idea that is compared directly to another ideafor instance a bear
market. How might the comparison support the author's argument?
Parallelism: Two ideas or arguments being developed in similar ways. One might be
physicalthe other mental. By structuring ideas in this way, the writer can make the nonphysical easier to understand or he can make the argument easier to understand.
Point of View: The angle of vision from which a story is told. While this is usually
considered a literary technique, if an essayist makes an argument by using a narrator, you
may find it in an essay.
Omniscient point of view: The narrator tells the story, using the third person. He
knows what all characters are thinking and can explain why they act as they do.

Limited omniscient point of view: The narrator tells the story in the third person,
but limits himself to a complete knowledge of one character in the story, knowing
only what that character thinks, feels, and decides.
First-person point of view: The story is told by one of the characters, using the
first person: I.
Objective point of view: The narrator tells the story in the third person; however,
the narrator only reports what his characters say or dohe knows neither the
reasons for their behavior nor their private thoughts or feelings.

Red Herring: A red herring distracts an audience's attention from the main point. Many
quotes on IB exams are in fact red herrings and they often indicate that the question
that follows is easy. In essays, this technique is often pointed out as a fallacy.
Register/Tone: The register or tone of an essayists argument can be formal or informal.
Ask yourself, "Why would the author select a certain register?" Often, informal language
might invite us to see the writer as a friend, while a formal register often helps us to
respect a writers intelligence. Tone can also be the overall sentiment (feeling) that the
writer is trying to convey sarcastic, serious, inspiring, etc.
Rhetorical question: A question meant to be pondered in order to advance an argument.
Often a rhetorical question will initially suggest the issues that need to be considered,
after which the essayist will lead you toward her own argument.
Simile: An idea that is compared to another ideausing the words as or like. How
might the comparison persuade you to follow the writers argument?
Structure: Includes all the writing forms that essayists use in order to convince their
readers.
Compare/Contrast: A structure that points out the similarities and differences
between ideas or arguments, often in order to indicate which a reader should
prefer.
Cause and Effect: A structure that demonstrates the reasons or consequences of
actionsoften used to persuade readers.
Definition: An essay form used to point out a common definition so that the
reader can agree with or accept the writers views. For instance, if a writer defines
euthanasia as murderthen hell probably want us to oppose it; however, if
he defines the term as mercy killing, hell probably argue for us to accept it.
Persuasion / Argument: A structure that begins with an argumentand employs
the other structures to achieve the readers agreement.
Style: Style includes the many literary techniques that go into making the essay work.
They include the diction, the tone, the organization, and other key techniques that
altogether contribute to the effectiveness of the written work.

Syntax: Syntax is the sequence in which words are ordered in phrases or sentences. Ask
yourself, What effect does the writer achieve by giving the information in this order?
The sophistication or simplicity of the sentence may well help convince you.
Understatement: The opposite of hyperbole: representing something as much less in
important that it actually is. Usually the writers effect is to create ironysuch as when
Mark Twain wrote: The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
Warrant: Warrants are the general assumptions, widely held values, or commonly
accepted beliefs that help to gain the readers agreement. Murder is wrong.