Rhetorical Analysis (of a Text)

For your second writing project, you will analyze a text of your choice** using the rhetorical elements and appeals we will discuss during this sequence. This assignment will enable you to practice your critical reading skills and your ability to analyze a text.
We will begin with the Rhetorical Situation:
• What is it and how do we understand it?
• What are its constituents and how do we identify them in our text?
We will review Rhetorical Appeals: Ethos, Pathos and Logos, and identify examples in our readings and print ads.
As you begin drafting this project, we will start with a Pre-Draft: WP2 Rhetorical Analysis, where you will create a short summary of your chosen text, then continue in-class exercises and handouts on claims and supports, and ethos, pathos, and logos. Your final draft should be between 5-6 pages.
As you analyze your text, consider the following conventions of rhetorical analysis:
• identify the central claim of the text and consider the author’s occasion for writing it
• locate and evaluate any uses of ethos, the emotional appeals (pathos), and the evidence and logic used in the text (logos)
• describe the context in which the text produced
• describe the audience(s) (both the real and the ideal)
• address the ways in which this text (and its author) represents its subject, what it includes and excludes, and what the combined effect of these choices has on the purpose of the text
Follow these steps as you construct your rhetorical analysis:

  1. Select a “text” that interests you. You might think about using a text that represents your desired field of study or a speech by a person of your choosing. Or, you might select an advertisement for a particular product you use, want, or hate. (The website www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html might be a good place to start looking if you are stuck.)
  2. Summarize the text. Offer readers a visual description of your text and/or examples of the author’s main ideas, supporting evidence, key terms, and other relevant information (tone, style, word choices).
  3. As you prepare to analyze the text, look to your summary for help explaining the main ideas and organization of the text. Then, focus on its rhetorical effectiveness using the list above as a guide.
  4. Absolutely, positively remember to cite and discuss examples from the text to illustrate and support your analysis. Do not assume that your reader is familiar with the text. Summarize the aspect of the rhetorical situation before integrating your in-text citations.

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