BA5: Rhetorical Analysis

1. BA5: Rhetorical Analysis Tips For Success

2. What is Rhetoric? How you say what you say. The tools a writer uses to convince his/her audience. A rhetorical analysis seeks to discuss the effectiveness of these tools on a particular audience.

3. Ethos, Logos, Pathos • Ethos • Ethos: the persuasive power of the writer’s credibility or character • Credentials, pedigree, record, trustworthiness, experience • Tone: professional, sarcastic, mean-spirited, looking down, generous, neutral, etc. • Logos • Logos: the persuasive power of the author’s reasoning, evidence, and logic • Numbers, statistics, examples, historical evidence, explanations • Pathos • Pathos: the persuasive power of the author’s appeal to interests, emotion, and imagination • Emotional language, pleas, personal examples • Using fear • Using references to the past, nostalgia • Using emotionally loaded words and phrase: liberty, peace, freedom

4. Linguistic Tools • Diction: Word Choice • Big words vs. small words; using a specific lexicon or lingo, or is the language plain and easy to understand by everyone (This might tell you something about audience.). • Repetition • Alliteration: repetition of beginning sounds • Anaphora: repetition of beginning phrases • Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds • Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds • Parallelism: arrangement of structures that are similar in form • Figurative Language • Metaphor: ______ is _______ • Simile: _______ is like ______ • Personification: Human characteristics to inanimate objects • Paradox: statement that seems contradictory but turns out to be true • Why do writers use these linguistic tools to convince you? Why are they effective?

5. BA5: How to Begin • Determine the text’s claims. • What is the writer trying to get you to believe? • About what does the writer want your agreement? • Narrow Your Topic: Which rhetorical strategies is the writer using? • Do not point out every single rhetorical device the writer uses. • Instead, point out two or three strategies that seem particularly effective or ineffective. For example: • Clarity, including clear reasoning and direct language • Emotion, including fear, nostalgia, and emotionally loaded words • Literary devices such as metaphor and simile • Logical support, including historical evidence and statistics • Written structure, including diction, parallelism, and repetition

6. Introduction • Your introduction should give a one or two sentence summary of your article. • Include the writer’s name and the title. • You might give the context for which the article was written. • For some occasion? In response to some event? • You might also talk about the reactions of readers to the article. (you = readers) • Surprised by use of language? Surprised by tone? Offended? Find it humorous?

7. Thesis • Your thesis will list 1) the rhetorical tools you’ll discuss, as well as 2) the writer’s purpose and 3) the effectiveness of those tools in achieving that purpose. (You can be complimentary, critical, or both.) • The writer uses clear reasoning and direct language to convince readers that it is important to wash their hands before eating dinner. This combination creates an effective argument due to its simplicity and clarity. • Although the writer uses clear reasoning and direct language to attempt to convince readers to wash their hands before eating dinner, the writer’s sarcastic tone may cause readers to disregard his advice. • While the writer attempts to convince readers of the importance of washing their hands before dinner, his lack of logical support, including statisticsand pertinent historical examples, leaves his argument thin. It is unlikely readers will heed his advice.

8. The Body of your Essay • Should discuss each of the rhetorical tools you’ve chosen. • Point them out by quoting. • Then tell WHY they are effective. Why did the writer use this tool and not some other? • Moreover, you’ll need to discuss the writer’s assumptions about the topic or the audience. • Who does the writer believe his audience to be? • Is he/she leaving anyone out? • Can his/her tone be misread? Offensive to the audience?

9. Remember . . . Read the assignment description and specific questions for your article in Raider Writer. Use in-text citations. Give a Works Cited. Refer to writers by their last names. Avoid excessive summary. Write in present tense. Use transitional phrases in between your sentences and to reduce choppiness and increase flow and readability.

10. For Next Monday Begin thinking about your 2.1. What issue would like to argue for or against? Choose some aspect of your Literature Review? Start over with a completely new topic?