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Chapter 5: Rhetorical Analysis. Understanding the Purpose of Arguments You Are Analyzing. To understand any argument you must ask yourself what its purpose is and be aware that the purpose may be hidden. Consider the following:. Find College Scholarships Take a Tour Login
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Understanding the Purpose of Arguments You Are Analyzing • To understand any argument you must ask yourself what its purpose is and be aware that the purpose may be hidden.
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Once the viewer enters his or her profile and contact information, the website links to an ad for ITT Technical Institute…What was the original argument’s purpose?
Understanding Who Makes an Argument • Knowing who is claiming what is key because the interest and motive might be very different!
Identifying and Appealing to Audiences • Pay attention to specific words used to attract a particular audience. • Note length of text and how it draws or detracts. • Consider the tone and style of the argument and how it works for certain people.
Examining Arguments Based on Emotion: Pathos • Your task in a rhetorical analysis is to study an author’s words, the emotions they invoke, and the claims they support and then to judge whether or not they all worked to make the argument a “winner”.
Check the following ad for its use of pathos: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyXFN4ocN_o • What emotions were evoked? • What claim did they support? • Was it effective?
Examining Arguments Based on Character: Ethos • Readers believe writers who seem honest, wise, and trustworthy. • Pay attention to details, right down to the choice of words or, in a visual argument, the shapes and colors.
Check out the following ad for its use of ethos. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyET522rKMA • Does the speaker have the authority to talk about the product? • Are the claims reasonably qualified? • Are important objections to the speaker’s position acknowledged and addressed? • Was the speaker effective?
Examining Arguments Based on Facts and reason: Logos • You must decide if the argument makes a believable claim. • The way an argument is presented must itself be reasonable and ordered logically. • Specific facts and reasons support the claim.
Consider the closing arguments in a Palo Alto Youth mock trial. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csWjSiIuq-Y • Which advocate had a more logical argument? • How were the claims supported with facts?
Examining the Arrangement and Media of Arguments • Arguments have a basic structure of statement and proof. • There is no set pattern in which an argument must be presented. • Sometimes the choice of media can make a difference in the way the argument is understood, so pay attention.