Overview: Rhetorical Analysis Essay Purpose: Tests your capability to read, understand, and analyze challenging texts Assesses how well you manipulate language to communicate your written analysis of a specific topic to a mature audience. AP is looking for connections between your analysis and the passage. You will be presented with a prose passage that can be drawn from various genres and time periods. The specifics of the task vary from year to year; however, they generally involve to analysis of language, including rhetorical strategies and stylistic element.

Timing and planning Here is a suggested breakdown of how to plan and use your time effectively: 1-3 minutes reading and working the prompt. 5 minutes reading and making marginal notes regarding the passage. Try to note two parts that strike you in general. This could be used in your intro and/or conclusion for additional insight. 10 minutes preparing to write. Choose 1 or 2 of the methods below: Annotating (underline and make marginal notes) Charting Outlining 20 minutes writing your essay based on your preparations. 3 minutes for proofreading.

Deconstructing the prompt Read the prompt carefully, including all introductory information. Circle or underline the essential terms and elements in the prompt. To understand the rhetorical context: Strategy 1: Answer Who, What, When, Where, Why questions. Strategy 2: SOAPSTone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone) Look for hints of specific rhetorical strategies in the prompt. Identify the specific task the prompt asks you to address.

Common Rhetorical Devices: All Writing Utilizes: Tone Style Diction Syntax Most Writing Utilizes: Rhetorical Mode(s) Rhetorical Appeal(s) DIDLS for Style: Diction Imagery Details Language Syntax

Practice: Breakdown the Prompt: SOAPS (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject) Come back to the purpose after reading the passage and get more specific! Read and Annotate the passage: Purpose? Rhetorical Strategies Appeals (Ethos, Logos, Pathos) Style (diction, syntax, details, imagery, tone, etc.) Other Rhetorical Devices? Connection to the Prompt WHY does the author chose those strategies for that particular audience and for that particular occasion? (Effect) HOW do the rhetorical strategies help the author achieve his/her purpose? (Purpose)

Notes on writing about rhetorical devices: This lesson focuses on how to write a body paragraph of the rhetorical analysis essay, that is, how to explain how the author of the passage uses rhetorical strategies to develop an argument.

Notes on writing about rhetorical devices: Basic structure #1: (do not limit yourself to this—you don’t want to sound like a robot!) Sentence 1: Topic sentence—identify the device or strategy you are focused on Sentence 2: First example—give a direct quotation or paraphrasing of an instance where the author uses this device. Sentence 3: Explain how the author’s use of this device develops a specific argument (bonus if you can mention how this device appeals to the author’s specific audience!) Sentence 4: Second example—give a direct quotation or paraphrasing of another instance where the author uses this device. Sentence 5: Explain how the author’s use of this device develops a specific argument

Basic structure #1: In John Stewart Mill’s On Liberty, he develops his primary argument through the use of extended definition of the words “liberty” and “tyranny.” He focuses on redefining tyranny to include what he calls the “tyranny of the majority,” the oppression that occurs when the majority exercises their “democratic” rights together to oppress another group. He must redefine tyranny this way because his audience, people living England in the late 1800s, were used to thinking of tyranny as oppression of the people by the government. By redefining tyranny to include oppression caused when the majority of “free” people team up against a minority, he is able to better convince his audience that the only way to be truly free is to exercise your free-will without impeding the free-will of others. Topic sentence: introduce the device Direct evidence from passage Analysis of how this device develops an argument: BE SPECIFIC ABOUT THE ARGUMENT.

Notes on writing about rhetorical devices: Basic structure #2: Organizing your essay by IDEA or GUIDING DEVICE and using secondary devices within the paragraph Sentence 1: Topic sentence—identify the main idea or guiding device Sentence 2: First example—introduce the secondary device and give a direct quotation or paraphrasing of an instance where the author uses this device. Sentence 3: Explain how the author’s use of this secondary device develops a the primary device. Sentence 4: Connect to an argument Sentence 5: Second example—introduce 2nd secondary device and give a direct quotation or paraphrasing of another instance where the author uses this device. Sentence 6: Explain how the author’s use of this secondary device develops the primary device and connect to the argument.

Topic sentence: primary strategy Basic structure #2: John Stewart Mill relies on an authoritative, professional tone to convince his audience that their free-will should not impede the free-will of others. The first paragraph, for example, relies heavily on high-style with primarily complex and compound sentences. This portrays Mill as highly educated and would likely build his credibility with his also highly-educated audience. Also, he uses specific allusions to the legal and political documents of his time when he references the line, “The power of the people over themselves” and explains how his society is not living up to that line. This gives him an air of authority on the subject of liberty, making it more likely that his politically-involved audience will accept that they need to do more to protect against the “tyranny of the majority.” Topic sentence: primary strategy Secondary strategy 1 Explanation Secondary strategy 2