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Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Background
We have been discussing how human beings try to persuade each other to change each others’ minds about things, to take different positions, to come over to our point of view. The study of persuasion and how people go about it, especially in writing and public speaking but also in our lives in general, has been called Rhetoric, at least in the Western world for the past 2500 years. Soon we will study how to employ rhetoric in our own writing, but we are starting but analyzing the way other authors employ rhetoric in their “texts.” How is the author trying to persuade you, as the reader? What choices is the author making in the way s/he writes (or take a photo, or edit a movie, etc) to be more persuasive? In short – what makes a certain “text” have a certain “effect” and power?
Assignment
Write a 3 page (full pages, double-spaced, 12-point font) rhetorical analysis of a “text” of your choosing – it can be an image, article, youtube or film clip, object, building, or any etc. (Entire books or movies are usually too complicated for a single analysis of this sort, but a scene from a book or a movie is great.) Don’t forget to think about and discuss alternatives – what details could have been different in the text, and what difference would it have made in its effect on me? Don’t forget to show the details that show why your interpretation makes sense, and don’t forget to interpret the details you talk about!
Apply each of the following (using the term!) at least once in your paper: Ethos (inside and outside), pathos, logos, kairos, purpose, audience. This is an analysis essay, so make sure to group your insights into appropriately organized paragraphs – not just a list!
A paragraph in an academic essay is usually between 1/2 page and one page long.
Here are questions to answer for each of these elements. One more time - don't just make a list of your answers, use your answers to make an essay about your text and the specific ways it makes its meaning! For each one, make sure to a) give details from your text that show you that element, and b) explain what those details do - how do they have this effect on the meaning?
Ethos:
Who made it, and how does that effect the meaning? What details show you something about the person who made it, and what do you they show you?
- What else do you know about the person (from “outside” this text), and how does that effect how you understand this text?
- What do you learn about them from “inside” this text - even if you don’t know anything about them, what kind of person do you think they are from the choices they’ve made in this text?
Pathos:
What emotions does the text make you feel, and what details in the text would make you feel that?
Logos:
What idea does this text give you? What details show you this idea?
Kairos:
When was this text made, and how does that effect the meaning? What details show you this timing?
Audience:
Who is this text for, and how can you tell - what details show you this? (Audience is NEVER “everyone” - what kind of people are these choices supposed to appeal to?)
Purpose:
Why did the author make this text? What is it for? How can you tell - what details show you this?
A good paper will:
- analyze their text appropriately using each of the elements, by name
- connect the details of the text with an interpretation of what these details are doing
- demonstrate insightful, thoughtful use of the analytical ideas we’ve used in class
- consider their academic audience in presentation and organization of the essay
- use the conventions of Standard Edited English without letting them get in the way of explaining the writer’s insights
Background
We have been discussing how human beings try to persuade each other to change each others’ minds about things, to take different positions, to come over to our point of view. The study of persuasion and how people go about it, especially in writing and public speaking but also in our lives in general, has been called Rhetoric, at least in the Western world for the past 2500 years. Soon we will study how to employ rhetoric in our own writing, but we are starting but analyzing the way other authors employ rhetoric in their “texts.” How is the author trying to persuade you, as the reader? What choices is the author making in the way s/he writes (or take a photo, or edit a movie, etc) to be more persuasive? In short – what makes a certain “text” have a certain “effect” and power?
Assignment
Write a 3 page (full pages, double-spaced, 12-point font) rhetorical analysis of a “text” of your choosing – it can be an image, article, youtube or film clip, object, building, or any etc. (Entire books or movies are usually too complicated for a single analysis of this sort, but a scene from a book or a movie is great.) Don’t forget to think about and discuss alternatives – what details could have been different in the text, and what difference would it have made in its effect on me? Don’t forget to show the details that show why your interpretation makes sense, and don’t forget to interpret the details you talk about!
Apply each of the following (using the term!) at least once in your paper: Ethos (inside and outside), pathos, logos, kairos, purpose, audience. This is an analysis essay, so make sure to group your insights into appropriately organized paragraphs – not just a list!
A paragraph in an academic essay is usually between 1/2 page and one page long.
Here are questions to answer for each of these elements. One more time - don't just make a list of your answers, use your answers to make an essay about your text and the specific ways it makes its meaning! For each one, make sure to a) give details from your text that show you that element, and b) explain what those details do - how do they have this effect on the meaning?
Ethos:
Who made it, and how does that effect the meaning? What details show you something about the person who made it, and what do you they show you?
- What else do you know about the person (from “outside” this text), and how does that effect how you understand this text?
- What do you learn about them from “inside” this text - even if you don’t know anything about them, what kind of person do you think they are from the choices they’ve made in this text?
Pathos:
What emotions does the text make you feel, and what details in the text would make you feel that?
Logos:
What idea does this text give you? What details show you this idea?
Kairos:
When was this text made, and how does that effect the meaning? What details show you this timing?
Audience:
Who is this text for, and how can you tell - what details show you this? (Audience is NEVER “everyone” - what kind of people are these choices supposed to appeal to?)
Purpose:
Why did the author make this text? What is it for? How can you tell - what details show you this?
A good paper will:
- analyze their text appropriately using each of the elements, by name
- connect the details of the text with an interpretation of what these details are doing
- demonstrate insightful, thoughtful use of the analytical ideas we’ve used in class
- consider their academic audience in presentation and organization of the essay
- use the conventions of Standard Edited English without letting them get in the way of explaining the writer’s insights