RHETORICAL ANALYSIS PAPER

Background for This Assignment

For this paper you will be analyzing a written argument chosen from the readings in our
textbook. The aims of this assignment are to have you demonstrate a working
understanding of the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos (context), and to
develop your facility with analysis (which is different than summary and response).
To help you consciously read for rhetorical analysis, think about the elements of the
arguments we have been reading. They tend to have certain content in common, and often
in the following order:

Summaries of opposing views that are refuted or qualified (They Say)

A thesis/main point (I Say)
Reasons and evidence that support the thesis (facts, observations, anecdotes,
research, expert opinions, etc.) the development of the I say)
Responses to naysayers/counterarguments (Skeptics May Object) (may be at the
beginning or interspersed throughout)
Explanation of the significance of the issue and thesis for the reader (So What/Who
cares?)

How writers develop this content depends on the kind (genre) of argument they are
motivated to write: an academic argument, an editorial, a commentary, a magazine article,
a speech. Writers must make rhetorical choices about how best to communicate their
point of view given the purpose, audience, and place of publication of their arguments.
As academic readers and writers, our purpose is to read carefully and critically others
arguments about important issues in order to evaluate them fairly and use them effectively
in our own writing.
Assignment Purpose
Rhetorical analysis requires you to evaluate whether an argument is convincing and
effective by analyzing how writers have composed their texts to persuade their audience.
In other words, you focus not on your opinion about the topic presented in the
argument but rather on explaining what rhetorical choices the writer has made to put

together an argument that appeals (or fails to appeal, or both) to the intended audience.
Rhetorical analyses aim to evaluate the content, the rhetorical appealskairos, logos,
pathos, ethos that attempt to persuade the audience, and the language/style the
writer uses to be persuasive.
Content and Process for Generating Content
1. Start by carefully reading, rereading, and annotating your chosen argument. To
annotate,
Keep track of places where you notice the various appeals by putting an
"E" (ethos), "P" (pathos), "L (logos), or "K" (kairos) in the margins
(sometimes these will overlap as various appeals do spill into each other).
Note the structure of the piece and identify parts of the argument that are
present or missing (see bulleted content of arguments above).
Underline passages that help you analyze the writer's style, tone, and
word choice (diction) as described in Section III of the Rhetorical Analysis
Questions. Such choices create the writer's personathe sense you have
of the person behind the writing as well as their attitudes and/or biases
about the issue.
2. Continue annotating and note-taking by answering as many of the questions as
you can in the document "Rhetorical Analysis Questions."
3. Based on numbers one and two, develop an interesting and specific claim about
how the text is working to persuade the audienceyour thesis.
4. Next identify those places in the text that directly support your thesis: How and
why did the elements in those places help you arrive at your thesis?
5. Think about the best way to order the rhetorical points you have now identified
and to present the evidence for your thesis.
Structure for Your Rhetorical Analysis Paper
The following is a common generic structure for a rhetorical analysis. For each bolded
heading, you may well have several paragraphs.
Introduction and Thesis: To inform and engage your reader, provide a context,
some interesting background, for the issue addressed in the argument. Briefly

discuss the authors background, purpose, audience, and the text's place of
publication. Summarize the argument you are analyzing concisely and objectively
(about 200 words), and then state your thesis: the main point you are making about
the writer's rhetorical effectiveness and chief rhetorical strategies.
First rhetorical appeal/strategy*: State your point about the rhetorical
appeal/strategy and analyze how it works in the argument with examples and
discussion/interpretation. Specifically, summarize and/or briefly quote the part of
the text you are focusing on and then discuss how it works to affect the audience
using one or more of the strategies for persuasion.
Second rhetorical appeal/strategy: Same as above.
Third rhetorical appeal/strategy: Same as above.
And so on, for as many points as you want to make: Be sure to provide plenty of
specific details from the text as evidence to support the claims you are making
about the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of each rhetorical appeal/strategy.
Conclusion: Emphasize your sense of the text's credibility and persuasiveness for
its audience. Discuss whether or not you are a part of that audience and explain
why the text did/did not persuade you, either fully or partially.
*Remember that you will often find the appeals intertwined, so don't feel it
necessary to separate your paper into sections for each appeal. It will be more
useful to think of the points you want to make about how the writer uses
persuasive strategies to appeal to his/her readers.
Grading Criteria

The paper follows all the guidelines given above.

The analysis focuses on analyzing the effectiveness of the rhetorical

appeal(s)/strategies used in the argument and not on responding to the
argument.

The thesis is specific and detailed.

The rhetorical appeal(s)/strategies are clearly explained with a developed

discussion of evidence (plenty of evidence) from the text to show how each
concept works to affect the audience.

Apply all the principles youve learned in Chapters 1- 7.

Format: MLA
Length: 3-4 pages