AP English Language and Composition

 First - Reading and writing analytically are not rocket science. To read and write analytically means to examine any text, “literary” or “ordinary,” in order to determine both what its meanings, purposes, and effects are and to show how its parts work together to achieve those meanings, purposes, and effects. (Joliffe)

 All textual analysis is ultimately rhetorical analysis. What people call “literary,” “stylistic” or “discourse” analysis is a subset of rhetorical analysis.

 The practices of reading and writing analytically can be grounded in a body of theory from classical rhetoric dating back to Aristotle.  Rhetoric is the faculty of discovering all the things a speaker or writer might do in a given situation to make his or her text meaningful, purposeful, and effective.

 It is important to learn how often a text’s rhetoric can prevent fraud and injustice, and by the same token, perpetrate them. It is also important to learn how to do justice to both sides of an argument, and how seldom the media gives us the opportunity to do this.

 Twelve year olds will often respond to a movie with “it was cool” or “it sucked” and provide justification for their evaluations. Rhetorical criticism is involved in our daily lives whether we realize it or not. High school students reading college solicitation letters or adults examining credit-card pitches and political ads must be good rhetorical analysts.

 Everything you read for AP English Language- fiction, nonfiction prose, poetry, drama, graphics- were created by a writer to achieve meaning, purpose, and effect for an audience of readers or viewers

 Ethos- The image that the text develops of the speaker, an image that an author or speaker can use to influence listeners or readers. Consider how the speaker or reader presents himself. What aspects of his personality comes through in the text. Pay particular attention to qualifications. Should we listen to Derek Jeter’s advice on refinancing?

 Pathos- Emotional appeals made to influence an audience. Frequently appeals are made in a highly emotionally charged package. These are designed to make us feel sympathetic, fearful, angry, excited etc. (Animals, children)

 Logos- Formal arguments, reasons, facts and logical appeals developed in a text. However, even with hard and fast statistics and scientific fact, the truth can be skewed. “Experts” may be referenced. Circumstance, time and group should all be questioned.

 Repetition  Distinctive sentence structure such as long sentences or short one word sentences  Irony  Parallelism- (emphasizing likeness between two or more things)  Figures of speech like powerful metaphors, personification  Allusion- reference  Proper nouns

 “Starbucks Buckles Under to 9/11 Hypersensitivity”-- Chicago Sun Times  “Starbucks Yanks Ad Mocking 9/11”-- New York Post  What do the headlines regarding this issue imply?