Rhetorical Analysis

In a rhetorical analysis essay, you are expected to interpret & evaluate/assess the ways in which a writer or speaker conveys a point to a targeted audience through various devices, including vocabulary, metaphor, hyperbole, example, allusion, and others. Your job, as the analytical writer, is to break down, dissect, observe, and describe the argument’s major point and describe how each element is meant to convince their target audience of the overlying message and whether the text does that successfully or not. Essentially, you will write an essay that answers WHAT the author’s main purpose and message is, WHAT audience it targets, and HOW the author uses rhetorical elements, strategies, and devices (covered in class discussion and the textbook) to persuasively convey his/her message to an identified audience. When in doubt, always try to answer the question: What is this article’s, novel’s, commercial’s meaning and how is this article/novel/commercial using rhetoric to make its audience believe, be persuaded by it, or be informed by it? This means that reading comprehension is crucial: You must first recognize and understand the author's purpose. Then, you have to read between the lines: What rhetorical strategies has the author chosen and why? In other words, you have to rhetorically situate that article you’re analyzing. You should NOT see yourself as part of the audience. You should stand apart as observers. You see the audience. You see the author. What is the author doing in order to affect the minds of the audience? Pretend as if you are an omniscient observer who has the ability to see the devices/techniques of the speaker and their effects on the audience. Now, below is a list of possible articles that you will explore. First, after reading the list, decide on what speech or text you will choose for your rhetorical analysis. (All of these works can be found by simply doing a Google Search or just click the links to the articles below). Pick only ONE to analyze. To be happier, stop focusing on things out of your contro Students are free to use other articles, but they must be approved by instruction first. All essays are to be written in accordance with MLA guidelines (2016 updates). Essay will be between 4-5 pages. Margins should be set at one inch, although the Microsoft Word default of one and one-quarter inch is acceptable. Font should be 12 point Times New Roman or Calibri. Students should NOT provide title pages or enclose papers in any type of folder. When sources are used, appropriate documentation must be included. Papers must be typed. Handwritten papers will not be accepted. Use correct grammar, word choice, sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation. A Quick How-To Refresher: First, you must decide how you will proceed with the paper. You must select THREE rhetorical elements that stand out to you in the piece that make it a good/bad piece of rhetoric. Perhaps one of the elements that will be a part of your thesis that you will hone in on will be the use of language used in the piece. Here, you would talk about the vocabulary used in the work; the use of “slang” hindered the understanding of the work. Or maybe you will address the use of extremely “unidentifiable” words, and that such use of these words only confuse and exacerbate the reader, making the reader feel inadequate or uneducated. Whatever elements you choose, you must make sure that you use the piece itself to support what you are saying. Remember, you have an entire paragraph to defend your point. Lastly, within this analysis, you are only to use the piece itself. You can do minor research to get an idea of who the person is and some basic information about the writer and background on the work. Basic background information is perfectly fine; usually that information is common knowledge information. Make sure to flesh out your paragraphs by referring back to the work itself…and make connections...