Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetoric is a term that is broadly used, but its most classical definition is the art of persuasion.

 It could be said that rhetoric is a body of techniques used to grab attention, manipulate emotions, and sneakily win arguments when you are backed into a corner. 

Ultimately, rhetoric  provides a means to magnify your cause. It can be used for good or evil.

We encourage students to use rhetoric for good.

A rhetorical analysis paper aims to identify the particular strategies that an author is using to appeal to or persuade a given audience. It has the purpose to give an evaluation of how the author or speaker did his/her job.

Three main components of the rhetorical situation are:

The writer/speaker, the audience, and the message.

A rhetorical analysis paper asks for an identification of these three elements and to determine how they are working together.

To analyze the rhetoric, we start asking:

·What strategies is the author employing to communicate his or her message to his or her audience?
·What is the effect of such strategies? Can it be measured? 
·Are those strategies convincing? How?

Slide 2

The Writer or Speaker

• How does the author present himself or herself?

• Is the author familiar with the subject? How can you tell?

• How does the author show good judgment or a broad perspective?

• Is the author reasonable? How can you tell?

• How does the author treat those who disagree?

• How does the authors value others’ welfare?

• How does the author treat the reader?

• Does the author use stereotypes or show prejudice?

• Where is this published? What does that say about this work?

• What did you expect to see what was not on the page?

• How does the author distract your attention from this?

• What does this work look like? Is it neatly done? Does it use the page well?

• How does the font interact with the text? Is there white space on the page?

• Are there relations between parts of text?

Slide 3

The Audience

• What are the characteristics of the audience? How can you tell? Consider:

*Race, age, sex, physical characteristics, habits

*Economic or educational level

*Religious or educational level

*Ethnicity, citizenship, location

• Is the reader/audience encouraged to have an emotional response to this writing? How can you tell?

• How should the audience use information about opposing views?

• Is the reader encouraged to examine or question the opposition’s motives?

• What reader needs, values, or beliefs are presented here? How can you tell?

• Is there a pattern to word choice or word order? Is the language simple or complex? Are terms defined?

• What is the style of this work? How is this style created? Does the style of this piece resemble that of other works?

• Consider imagery, coherence, emphasis, repetition, rhythm, analogy, metaphor, simile.


Slide 4

The Message (i.e. the text)

• How is this work organized? What are the indicators to this organization?

• Does the organization work?

*Process, narration

*Comparison/contrast

*Division/classification

*Cause/effect

*Definition, description

• What claims are made? Are these claims strong, obvious?

• What evidence is used to support the claims?

*Examples and illustrations

*Facts, statistics

*Precedents, laws

*Memories, records

*Expert or witness testimony or opinion

• How does the work look?

*Is it neat or sloppy? *Is the layout good? *Do font and font size seem appropriate?

• Do visual aid(s) add to the overall effect?

 




 


最后修改: 2020年08月14日 星期五 12:56