Demonstrate your ability to notice, explain and assess rhetorical features of a text,
which will help you build your critical reading and thinking skills.
General directive
Read, understand and conduct a rhetorical analysis of the Dark
Mountain Manifesto(https://dark-mountain.net/about/manifesto/). A rhetorical analysis examines how and why
an author chose to write a text the way he/she has. A rhetorical analysis explains the target audience of and
the potential motivations for writing the text, and describes the persuasive qualities of the structure of a text
and its compositional techniques and figures of speech. In your rhetorical analysis you should critically assess
the means by which the authors of each manifesto has tried to influence or persuade readers.
Steps
1.To begin your rhetorical analysis, construct a table of rhetorical features you will analyze and divide the table
into two columns to help you distinguish between what the author wrote and why he/she wrote it in this way.
For example, you may consider all or some of the questions in the worksheet in the syllabus.
Develop your own thesis statement for your rhetorical analysis.
In your essay compare the rhetorical features of each text in a logical way. For example, you could start by
identifying the author’s main thesis, his/her purpose in writing this piece and his/her intended audience. Next,
you could explain the rhetorical features of the text, the reason for their use and the extent to which they are
effective writing strategies. Make sure not to simply summarize the rhetorical strategies the author uses often,
but assess the extent to which they are compelling and effective.
Each paragraph should contain a strong topic sentence declaring the purpose of the rhetorical strategy you will
discuss. The order of the paragraphs should be logical and support your thesis statement.
A rhetorical analysis is not a summary. In a rhetorical analysis you have to analyze and assess not only what
an author wrote, but why he/she wrote it in a certain way