Essay: Rhetorical Analysis
The objective of this assignment is to enable you to write a well-constructed rhetorical analysis that makes a claim regarding the rhetorical tools exhibited in a text.
The subject of your analysis must be a rhetorical article (editorial) at least two full pages long. Please find an editorial article from a major news source, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, the London Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, etc. If you are unsure whether your source is a major news source, please have your idea cleared by your professor before using it.
Sample Websites from which to harvest such editorials include:
In a rhetorical analysis, you should:
· Make a clearly stated, complex claim about the text’s rhetoric and its effectiveness (thesis)
· Contextualize the text using the Rhetorical Triangle (author, audience and purpose)
· Discuss rhetorical appeals of the text (logs, ethos, pathos)
· Observe proper MLA quotation and citation formatting requirement
· Observe proper MLA paper formatting requirement
· Choose a clear organization for the paper that clearly aids understanding (think about your audience the whole time you are writing)
· Create interesting and functional introduction and conclusion paragraphs
Your essay should include the following parts:
- Introduction: this is where you introduce the text you will analyze and let the reader know what your standpoint on this text’s rhetoric will be. Be sure to include an explicitly stated thesis. Write in the third person throughout, and use an authoritative tone.
- Body:
*Contextualize: who is the author, who is the audience, and what is the author’s purpose in this piece of writing?
*Identify and discuss each of the rhetorical appeals---ethos, pathos, logos
*Make sure each paragraph has a main point, evidence from the text to support that point, and explanation of the evidence
*Remember to keep your analysis as objective as possible; discuss the text’s rhetoric, not its subject
- Conclusion: this is where you restate the claim you have made about the text and explain why your analysis supports the claim. You should also use a recognized concluding strategy (signal words for conclusions: CH 2 ARQ); a formal conclusion, an implied conclusion, a broader point made of the thesis.
Length: at least three full pages, typed, double spaced, MLA format, including internal citations and a Works Cited page.
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