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English 1301: Rhetorical Analysis, Essay 2 A Rhetorical analysis evaluates the persuasiveness of the author’s words based upon the rhetorical appeals and strategies

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English 1301: Rhetorical Analysis, Essay 2

A Rhetorical analysis evaluates the persuasiveness of the author’s words based upon the rhetorical appeals and strategies. You are evaluating the persuasiveness of one of the assigned essays.

As you reread the article you selected to write about, look for and note any of the following:

• Alliteration
• Allusion
• Anaphora
• Assonance
• Metonymy
• Hyperbole
• Parallelism
• Personification
• Simile and Metaphor
• Synecdoche

 

Select three of these rhetorical devices or three examples of one rhetorical analysis. These three points will help form your thesis. Each body paragraph will be about one of the rhetorical devices, so I recommend you use source material in each body paragraph as support.

 

This will be a traditional 5 paragraph essay.

Length: 750 to 800 words (2-3 pages) in MLA format. Length includes heading and citation.

Use MLA formatting to document your source.

• Make sure you have a works cited page where you list any sources you use.
• Put directly quoted material into quotation marks and cite with a parenthetical citation.
• Make sure you also cite any paraphrases or summaries with a parenthetical citation.

For this assignment, you will choose to analyze one of the following articles: You will only use one source.

• The Look by Larry Lehna EA-224 to 228
• Or
• The Santuary of School by Lynda Barry EA-853 to 858

Characteristic features of an analysis include the following (see p. 234 in Everyone’s An Author; see Chapter 14 for descriptions on each step):

• A question that prompts you to take a closer look
• Some description of the subject or text you are analyzing
• Evidence drawn from close examination of the subject of text
• Insight gained from your analysis
• Clear, precise language

A rhetorical analysis takes “a close look at how authors, designers, or artists communicate a message to an audience” (see page 238 in Everyone’s An Author). This type of analysis can look at several different ways the message is conveyed.

Then ask yourself these questions about what the text you are examining says and how it supports its claims to help you brainstorm the organization of your essay (see p. 265 in Everyone’s An Author).

1. What question are you asking about this text? What specifically are you looking for?
2. What claim is the text making—and what reasons and evidence does the author provide for the claim? Do they convince you?
3. Does the writer acknowledge or respond to counterarguments or other opinions? If so, are they presented fairly?
4. Are there any words that indicate what the author thinks—or wants you to think?
5. How does the author establish authority to address the topic?
6. Does the text use any emotional appeals? If so, how?

Helpful pages to review in Everyone’s An Author:

• Chapter 3 “Rhetorical Situations”
• Chapter 8 “Distinguishing Facts From Misinformation”
• Chapter 9 “Managing the Writing Process”
• Chapter 14 “Writing Analytically”
• Chapter 18 “Analyzing and Constructing Arguments”