Rhetorical Analysis

1. Rhetorical Analysis Deconstructioning the Text and the Author’s Purpose

2. What is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay? • These essays examine how an author writes a piece of text • It examines all writing elements to show how it is effective or not effective • Structure-how the piece is organized • Purpose-why the piece was written • Style-the writing tricks that make it appealing and effective

3. Sample Analysis Questions • Analyze an author’s view on a specific subject • Analyze rhetorical devices used by an author to achieve his or her purpose • Analyze stylistic elements in a passage and their effects • Analyze the author’s tone and how the author conveys this tone

4. Sample Analysis Questions Cont. • Compare and/or contrast two passages with regard to style, purpose, or tone • Analyze the author’s purpose and how he or she achieves it • Analyze some of the ways an author recreates a real or imagined experience • Analyze how an author presents him or herself in the passage • Discuss the intended and/or probable effect of a passage

5. Rhetorical Structures To Know • Descriptive • Narrative • Example • Comparison and contrast • Cause and effect • Process/Division Analysis • Definition

6. Elements of Style to Know • Subject matter • Selection of detail • Organization • Point of view • Diction • Syntax • Language • Attitude • Tone

7. How to Make Your Analysis Effective • Use transition words/phrases • Have subject consistency • Have verb tense consistency • Have voice consistency • Use pacing/ sentence variety

8. Reading the Prompt… • Plan to spend 1-3 minutes carefully reading and deconstructing the question • Circle or underline the essential terms and elements in the prompt • If the prompt requires more than one element, you must use more than one! • DO A SOAPSTone to help you organize your thoughts

9. Answering the Prompt • Each prompt has an implicit and explicit subject it wants you to deconstruct and examine • Each subject (implicit and explicit) must be answered in order to receive a high score • Only answering the explicit prompt will get you no higher than a score of 5 on this essay • You must look for the real subject they want you to analyze

10. Answering the Prompt cont. • In 1962, the noted biologist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book that helped to transform American attitudes toward the environment. Carefully read the following passage from Silent Spring. Then write an essay in which you define the central argument of the passage and analyze the rhetorical strategies that Carson uses to construct her argument. • Explicit Prompt: analyze the rhetorical strategies that Carson uses to construct her argument • Implicit Prompt: define the central argument of the passage (what is Carson’s attitude toward the environment) • What You Should Write About: Write an essay discussing Carson’s attitude towards the environment & how she used rhetorical strategies to change other people’s views towards the environment

11. Reading the Passage… • Read the passage absorbing the main idea • Go back and annotate all rhetorical devices/patterns you can find (mark your CD’s) • Do a SOAPSTone on the passage • Outline a plan of attack

12. Introductory Paragraph • Begin with a provocative statement. You can do this in any of the following ways, or more: • Write an informational statement that helps prompt comprehension. • Make a statement of truth that shows a connection to the meaning of the passage. • Write a statement that judges the overall effectiveness of the passage. • If you cannot think of a beginning, just start and end the introduction with one sentence (a full thesis.) • Clearly state Audience, Purpose, and Subject • DO NOT RESTATE THE PROMPT!

13. Introductory Paragraph cont. • Make a correct interpretation of the author's message in your thesis statement. This statement should go beyond the subject to the metaphorical meaning of the passage. •  The thesis should reveal a thoughtful interpretation of the importance of the passage analyzed, based on the focus of the essay prompt.

14. Body Paragraphs • Base your organization on the author's organization. • Focus your causations on the essay prompt's focus. The body of your writing should show a progression of thought that leads to a new understanding expressed in the final thesis, your conclusion. • Discuss ideas fully. Count the number of different quotes used. Count the number of quotes ignored. What is the sum of each? Which is greater? • Embed quotes to show an appreciation of the author's talents. Make a continual connection between the language and the meaning: How does the author's choice of language devices create meaning? • Analyze the author's use of language in simple, clearly understandable ways. Example: “Stravinsky’s use of simile clearly demonstrates his disgust with those that seek favor.”

15. Body Paragraphs and Jane Schaffer • Each 2-3 chunk paragraph should do the following: • Have a thesis (TS) • Identify the rhetorical device/strategy used (TS) • Give an example (embed the quote-don’t copy word for word) (CD) • Tell the purpose of the rhetorical device/strategy used (COM) • Tell the effect of the rhetorical device/strategy used (COM) • Find a unifying factor or theme for the author’s purpose in using this rhetorical device/strategy (CS)

16. Conclusion Paragraph • The last paragraph of your essay. • It may sum up ideas, reflect on what you said in your essay, or say more commentary about your subject. • Your conclusion is all commentary and does not include concrete details. It does not repeat key words from your paper. • DO NOT RESTATE YOUR THESIS OR THE PROMPT!

17. Stylistic Points for Your Analysis • Use active verbs. Avoid "is, was, were" as much as possible. • Write legibly. BE NEAT! • Always try to select the best word. • Practice emulating stylistic devices that have been used effectively by accomplished writers. • End with closure that demonstrates your comprehension of the passage. • Begin with a thesis that shares the deepest insight discovered about the reading.

18. Things That Will Make Your Essay Shine • Avoid paraphrasing the material • Use TEXTUAL evidence • Actually analyze the textual evidence—make sure you use quotation marks and put the periods and commas inside!!! • Use transitions, pacing and correct subject and verb tenses • Vary your syntax! • USE AP TERMS thoughtfully indicating that you really know what they mean—Remember the duh example, “The author used diction…”

19. Things Never to Do in Your Essay • Avoid clichés. • Do not begin by renaming the essay and the prompt. • Do not organize around the devices. • Bad Assertive Sentence Example: Stravinsky uses the simile to compare. • Good Assertive Sentence Example: Stravinsky possesses disgust for the unoriginal. • If you name devices in your thesis, tie them to the abstract the device creates or carries. No thesis should read thusly: “Stravinsky uses analogies, similes and tone in order to state his true feelings concerning conductors.”

20. More Things Never to Do in Your Essay • The body of your writing should show a progression of thought that leads to a new understanding expressed in the final thesis. • Do not make general statements that do nothing but list and name the device. Define the connotation of the words. Be specific. Define the image the words paint, etc. • Do not quote whole sentences unless you need whole sentences. • Do not make empty statements that say nothing about the language: • “Using those two statements, one can clearly see the imagery that the author is trying to create”. • Transition based on “first,” “second,” and such. • Never say “you,” “I,” “the reader,” “we,” or “one.”