Analyzing Rhetoric in Just one Sentence! Carolyn Talcott Wiki for the conference

Analyzing Rhetoric in Just one Sentence! Warm-up Do you enjoy watching horror movies or reading horror stories? Why or why not? Even if you don’t enjoy horror, what do you think its appeal might be? Do you think it serves a purpose in our society?

Standards… Reading Informational Texts: Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text. For a score of 8 or 9 on the Rhetorical Strategies essay: students must demonstrate a significant understanding of the passage, its intent, and how the rhetorical strategies and figurative language that the author uses enhance meaning.

Some background…  This strategy was given by Carol Elsen at an AP Language and Composition seminar.  I would do this activity after students are already familiar with rhetorical strategies and figurative language.  However, I will give you some background on ethos, pathos, logos today…

Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle Ethos: convincing by the character of the speaker/author. What is the speaker’s reputation? How does he convince us we should believe him? Logos: persuading by the use of reasoning. What evidence does the speaker use to convince us? Facts? Analogies? Anecdotes? Statistics? Pathos: convincing by the character of the speaker/author. What is the speaker’s reputation? How does he convince us we should believe him?

The Rhetoric of Stephen King… Read the Stephen King article, annotating for appeals to ethos, pathos and logos. Pay special attention to sentence structure, placement, and diction.

Pair up… With a partner, discuss your reaction to the article. Do you agree with King? Did he change your mind? What were his most powerful or intriguing phrases? What rhetorical appeals stood out to you?

Analysis Sentence Work with a partner to write a one sentence analysis of King’s rhetoric Author’s name + strong verb Adjective + type of appeal Author’s purpose for using this tone Two example phrases or words to prove/ demonstrate the strategy and purpose. Example: Benjamin Radford’s humorous use of logos reveals the infallible fact that ghosts are not real with his admirable use of proof such as: “it’s all made up, like speculating on the different races of fairies or dragons…” and “if ghosts are human souls, why do they appear clothed…?”

Next step:  I usually ask students to turn in their written cards, and I type them up.  At the next class meeting I have a handout with all the sentences and we read and discuss them to check for completeness  We often vote on the best one and discuss what makes it so good.

And then…  The next step is to have students expand on their sentence by writing another one that explains the effectiveness of the strategy.  Another step is to have students examine another device/strategy the author uses (imagery, tone, diction, parallelism, ethos, pathos, logos, metaphors..), and discuss how the devices/strategies effectively work together to achieve the author’s purpose.  This builds them toward the longer essay.  Students should practice this several times before moving on to a full-length essay.  You may also find AP Rhetorical Analysis sample essays online and have students search for these types of sentences to see how they are integrated into the essay.