1. Introduction to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Analysis

2. Essay Tips (Thus Far) The Argument and the Synthesis
Intro: brief context + a strong, clear, one-sentence thesis
Body paragraphs: should prove/support your thesis, include a concession/refutation, and incorporate sources (for synthesis)
Conclusion: leave an impact – a strong final image/thought.
Tips: Do NOT use first person, make literary, historical/scientific, and personal examples. Do not begin or end paragraphs with a source.

3. Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetoric: The act of choosing the most effective means of convincing or persuading an audience. Also, the choices made by the author in order to influence the audience and convey particular effects.
Rhetoric is, most importantly, about choice. The key question to ask is this; “Why did the author choose to use this strategy over any other? What is the intended effect on us as readers? How does this strategy help the author achieve his or her purpose?”

4. Writing that separates the content (what the passage is about) from the methods (rhetorical strategies) used to successfully convey that content.
Prompt offers an effect; answer should identify and discuss rhetorical techniques used to create the effect.
Is not a discussion of the content, nor does it take a side on the issue.

5. How To
Analyze the prompt to determine what kind of analysis and what strategy/major claim to address.
Understand the passage!
Deal with “hidden” questions, such as: What IS the effect? Answer these in the first body paragraph.
Given the time, select three techniques to discuss. Keep in mind the type of essay presented by the passage and look for typical techniques for that rhetorical mode.

6. A RA Thesis The author’s name
plus an adjective (sophisticated, carefully crafted, flashy, inventive)
plus the rhetoric strategies (three specific rhetorical strategies used as topics of body paragraphs)
plus a strong verb (demonstrates, creates, emphasizes, generates, fulfills)
plus the function (what the rhetoric does for the piece)
Example: Douglass’ sophisticated use of diction, imagery, and figurative language establishes his unfavorable attitude towards slavery and ultimately aids in condemning anti-abolitionist. *This is a good beginning thesis, but it’s basic. We will learn how to expand this.

7. Analysis Paragraphs Diction: Author’s name plus adjective
plus the term “diction”
plus a strong verb
plus the function
plus examples from text.
Example: Douglass’ colorful diction recreates the dynamic personality of Abraham Lincoln with choices such as “flamboyant” and “teetotaler”.
You need to quote often in a RA. However, you only want to have 6 words at the most for quotes. Embed the evidence and then comment/analyze.

8. SOAPSTone Plus Speaker Occasion Audience Purpose Subject Tone PLUS…
Strategies
Stylistic Devices
Rhetorical Devices

9. Speaker/Author: Remember that the speaker cannot simply be the author/writer.
A SPEAKER aims to create a particular persona. A persona is the personality that the speaker projects and that the audience interprets from the work.
A speaker also has a real-life background, a personal history.
Analyze both persona and personal history to arrive at a complete understanding of a speaker.

10. QUESTIONS FOR ANALYZING SPEAKER
What is the background of the speaker? This can include many things; age, gender, race, economic status/class, profession, political party, religious affiliation, personal philosophies and beliefs, etc.
Speakers want to appear credible—they want us to believe them, trust them, maybe even like them.
How does the speaker accomplish this?
Appeals based on the persona of the speaker are known as ethical appeals, or ethos.

11. Occasion: Remember that naming the occasion is not simply identifying the time/place.
Ask: What is the genre of the piece? Is the text a memory? Speech? Letter? Critique? Argument? About what event? Where and when does the text take place?
Also Ask: When was the piece written? What events occurred in the world at that time that may have influenced the speaker to create this piece? What were the prevailing beliefs at the time? What were the major philosophical outlooks? Scientific outlooks? Political outlooks? Social problems and trends?

12. Audience: The speaker or writer appeals to the audience through the three Aristotelian appeals; logos, ethos, and pathos.
Ask: Who is the intended audience? Whose attention does the speaker seek to gain? To whom is the writer speaking? For example, in MLK’s “I Have a Dream,” he is not speaking to African Americans, but to readers who may harbor racial prejudices—perhaps to policy makers.
Is the intended audience general or specific?
Also treat this as the “flip-side” of the speaker: what does the audience believe? What are their biases—what do they like, dislike, want? What are the philosophies and belief systems among audience members? The audience are the people who need to be move/persuaded.
Look for evidence in the text (and via inference) to support your interpretation of the intended audience.

13. Purpose (also, Intention/Aim)
“A rhetor’s intention is what he or she wants to happen as a result of the text, what he or she wants the audience to believe or do after hearing or reading the text. In some rhetorical situations, the rhetor knows his or her intention right from the start; in other situations, the intention becomes clear as the text evolves” (Roskelly and Jolliffe 17).

14. More on purpose
“In one text, the writer may announce a purpose—in this case, a persuasive one—at the beginning of the essay: ‘We need to take the bus to work. And here’s why.’ …In another text, the writer might begin with a story and wait to announce the aim, or use the story to imply the aim” (Roskelly and Jolliffe 18).

15. Purposes: explicit and implicit, and theses
Purposes may be explicit or implicit (stated in a thesis, for example, or merely implied.) In either case, base your analysis of the purpose on all of the information you have so far gathered on the speaker, audience, and occasion—these offer clues as to the purpose of the piece.
If the piece contains a thesis, state the thesis (either explicit or implicit). Do the same for any claims you find.

16. Even More on Purpose It is better to think about movement.
Often, writers have a dual purpose as in Amy Tan’s “Fish Cheeks”—to entertain and to teach a lesson about accepting one’s culture.
It is not enough to say “to inform”—to inform about what? To complain about what? To explain what? Why did the author use this type of communication and not some other to convey his or her point?
It is better to think about movement.

17. Subject
The subjects of texts are often abstract—the right to die, racism, poverty, conformity, etc. They are concrete just as often—immigration reform laws, the Iraq War, application of the death penalty to a particular case, etc.
When looking at concrete subject matter, it often helps to “look behind” the actual issue and try to peer into the speaker’s worldview, philosophies, assumptions, etc.—the abstracts behind the concrete.

18. More on Subject
The subject is the issue or idea at hand, not the character or specific situation.
Be specific about the subject in your own writing and in your analysis; your claims must be arguable and supportable!
What is said is intimately connected to why certain elements are included in a composition, whom the speaker or writer is communicating with, and what kind of text he or she is composing.

19. TONE
Tone: Tone is the attitude of the speaker towards his subject and audience.
What is the speaker’s attitude towards his subject? Towards his audience?
Use your tone vocabulary words for reference.
DO NOT confuse tone with mood—mood is the audience side of this coin, while tone is analyzed from the perspective of the author.

20. STYLISTIC & RHETORICAL DEVICES
Stylistic Devices: DIDLS: diction, imagery, detail, figurative language (simile, metaphor, synecdoche, metonymy, etc.), syntax.
Rhetorical Devices: The writer’s use of mode—narration, exposition, description, and persuasion. The primary genre of the piece. The writer’s use of evidence such as personal experience, example, definition, statistics, research; the writer’s use of satire, sarcasm, irony, understatement.

21. You cannot write about what you don’t know
You cannot write about what you don’t know. You need to analyze what you are reading.
Do not confuse rhetorical strategies with devices. An author’s strategies need to achieve something. Devices are used, but not necessarily to achieve the purpose. For example: not every metaphor will be linked back to the purpose. You need to find the right things to analyze.