1. RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

2. What rhetorical analysis is NOT:
It is not a summary of a literary work or scholarly article
Trying to understand the meaning of a work or summarize a story is NOT the goal of a rhetorical analysis

3. Definition
A Rhetorical analysis requires you to apply your critical reading skills in order to “break down” a text. You break off the “parts” from the “whole” of the piece you’re analyzing.
The goal of a rhetorical analysis is to articulate HOW the author writes, rather than WHAT they actually wrote
You will analyze the strategies the author uses to achieve his/her goal/purpose of writing their piece

4. First, you want to make sure you READ the scholarly articles, literary work, etc., carefully and understand what you have read. Try to identify the author’s thesis, or their main idea or argument

5. Now we start analyzing them for rhetorical features

6. Questions to ask yourself when reading articles
What is the thesis, what is the overall argument the author presents?
What did the author choose to study? Why?
What is the writer’s purpose? To inform, persuade, criticize, etc.?
Who is the author’s intended audience?
How does the writer arrange their ideas? Chronologically?

7. How does the writer use diction
How does the writer use diction? (word choice, arrangement, accuracy, is it formal, informal? Slang vs technical?
Does the writer use dialogue? Quotations? Why?
Are important terms repeated?
What is the sentence structure of text? Are their fragments, run-ons? Is it declarative, imperative, exclamatory? What effect does this have?
Does the writer use punctuation to create an effect? Italics, underlining, parentheses? When do they use these marks?

8. The key idea in answering these questions is understanding WHY the author chooses to write the way they do.
When you answer the question “who is the intended audience?”, make sure you also think about why the author would write for that particular audience.

9. NOW WHAT? Come up with your own thesis
Arrange your strategies in a logical way. For example, you could start by identifying the purpose of the intended audience and why the author chose to write about the topic. Next, identify specific stylistic choices, such as word choice, formal/informal language, etc. The idea is to logically transition from analyzing one rhetorical strategy to another. Stay on topic!

10. Have a strong declaration of the overall purpose of the rhetorical strategy you are discussing
Make logical, thought-provoking points and evaluations about these strategies, not simply summarize them
Check for grammar, transitional ease, fluidity, and a logical argument - PROOFREAD!

11. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
SUMMARY: Smith says global warming has negative effects and we should care about our world’s future
ANALYSIS – Smith provides multiple negative effects of global warming and punctuates his sentences with exclamation marks; thus, he uses quantitative descriptions and punctuation to create a sense of urgency in his readers to care about the planet’s status regarding global warming.

12. SUMMARY: Johnson has a lot of formal language through his paper and hardly any informal words
ANALYSIS: Johnson employs formal language throughout his essay. For example, he argues unequal funding in public schools creates a “horrific imbalance between affluent communities and those that are impoverished” (27). In using formal, academic writing, he etablishes himself as a credible and valid author (thus, creating ethos from the classical form.).

13. INTRODUCTION Use SOAPS in your introduction and follow this format:
1. Speaker, Occasion, and Subject (writer’s credentials), (writer’s first & last name), in his/her (type of text), (title of text), (strong verb) (writer’s subject)

14. 2. Purpose (writer’s last name)’s purpose is to (what the writer does in the text)
3. Audience - He/she adopts a[n] (adjective describing the attitude/feeling conveyed by the writer) tone in order to (verb phrase describing what the writer wants readers to do/think) in his/her (intended audience)
4. Your thesis

15. EXAMPLE
Novelist, Amy Tan, in her narrative essay “Fish Cheeks”, recounts an embarrassing Christmas Eve dinner when she was 14 years old. Tan’s purpose is to convey the idea that, at fourteen, she wasn’t able to recognize the love her mother had for her or the sacrifices she made. She adopts a sentimental tone in order to appeal to similar feelings and experiences in her adult readers. Thesis…

16. BODY
Go chronologically through the text – go either by paragraph or by beginning, middle, and end
Some chronological transitions:
Begins Shifts Opens Contrasts
Juxtaposes Ends Closes Moves to

17. Identify the strongest rhetorical strategy used in a particular section. This includes incorporating specific text examples (exact words from text) into your own words. Don’t pick every strategy, just the strongest
LOGOS
PATHOS
ETHOS

18. Let’s Practice Who is the target audience? How is the text organized?
What significance does this hold?
How does it appeal to ethos, pathos or logos?
What connections or associations is the reader supposed to make?

19. Who is the target audience?
* How does it appeal to ethos, pathos or logos?
What connections or associations is the reader supposed to make?
How is the text organized? *What significance does this hold?