The term “text” in a rhetorical analysis essay refers to whatever object you’re analyzing. It’s frequently a piece of writing or a speech, but it doesn’t have to be. For example, you could also treat an advertisement or political cartoon as a text.
The goal of a rhetorical analysis is to explain the effect a piece of writing or oratory has on its audience, how successful it is, and the devices and appeals it uses to achieve its goals.
In these cases, your analysis would focus on more than just language—you might look at visual or sonic elements of the text too.
Pathos, or the pathetic appeal, evokes the audience’s emotions. This might involve speaking in a passionate way, employing vivid imagery, or trying to provoke anger, sympathy, or any other emotional response in the audience.
Concluding a rhetorical analysis
The body of your rhetorical analysis is where you’ll tackle the text directly. It’s often divided into three paragraphs, although it may be more in a longer essay.
The context is everything surrounding the text: Who is the author (or speaker, designer, etc.)? Who is their (intended or actual) audience? When and where was the text produced, and for what purpose?
Rhetoric, the art of effective speaking and writing, is a subject that trains you to look at texts, arguments and speeches in terms of how they are designed to persuade the audience. This section introduces a few of the key concepts of this field.
A rhetorical analysis is a type of essay that looks at a text in terms of rhetoric. This means it is less concerned with what the author is saying than with how they say it: their goals, techniques, and appeals to the audience.
You want to include everything you found out about the chosen text in this single sentence. If you didn’t skip the first two steps, it shouldn’t be a problem! A decent thesis statement would look like this:
There are several steps you should follow to hit the highest score for your essay. First, you should work with SOAPSTone and rhetorical appeals. Then, you should proceed with basic tasks, such as writing a thesis statement and outline. When you have these done, it’s time to put it all together into the three main parts of the essay.
SOAPSTone is a very handy tool to help you understand the text you are dealing with. The following questions allow you to gather all the information you will need for future analysis.
It doesn’t matter which option you prefer, but make sure you provide enough support for your arguments. The most effective way to make it work is to use quotes. Also, stick to using the third-person so that you don’t break the rules of academic writing.
Logos
Emotions are not always enough to convince someone to follow you, are they? Therefore, the last crucial mode is logos. Logos is responsible for logic. Appealing to reason is mostly used in an academic environment, but it’s not uncommon in other fields. The speaker could use reliable data, facts, and evidence to convince the audience.
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Then, in the form of a summary, briefly mention the main ideas that support your thesis. You might add a few words about the importance of your analysis as well. If you think that this issue is worth further research, write that down too.
If your task is to write a rhetorical analysis essay, you have one significant advantage. You can choose a text from an almost infinite number of resources. The most important thing is that you analyze the statement addressed to an audience. The task of a rhetorical analysis essay is to identify the speaker’s main objectives. However, it is also crucial to work through the rhetorical moves the speaker makes.
Now you have plenty of information to build your rhetorical analysis on. And yet, we have some extra advice to add to your arsenal for the best result.
Remember that all the answers are hidden between the lines. How you read the text will determine your understanding of it and, subsequently, the quality of your rhetorical analysis essay. While you’re reading, have the SOAPSTone question by your side and look for answers in the process. Note everything that seems important. If the text is not too lengthy, consider reading it several times.
This is the key point of the text, its underlying message. Your task here is to explain the subject briefly, in a few words. Consider what the author’s main idea was, how and when the subject was revealed in the text.
Think about whom the writing is directed to. The audience can consist of a large or small group of people or even one single person. Check if the author defines the audience and analyze why it is directed to specific individuals.
Read Thoroughly
This element implies the context of the story. Choose one of the two ways to analyze the occasion – micro view or macro view. Micro explores the setting of the writing piece, while macro focuses on the environment and the time when the text was written. Consider the historical events that occurred during that period, the social and political environment, and how they influenced the writer and his work.
The largest portion of your paper will consist of main body paragraphs. In these paragraphs, you are supposed to justify your arguments, illustrating it with the help of examples. Analyze the literary techniques and strategies that the author employs in their writing. Do not stuff all the information in one paragraph. Instead, devote one paragraph to a separate persuasive technique. Use quotes as supporting evidence for your arguments.
Prior to starting the text analysis, a good idea would be to create a rhetorical analysis essay outline. It will help you structure the paper logically and add natural flow to the text. Besides, you will be less likely to miss important points when sticking to an outline. Here is a proper rhetorical analysis essay structure you should follow.
If you still can’t figure out what to write in the introduction or how to end a rhetorical analysis essay, get professional help from our talented writers. They will help you sort things out and create a great paper.
- If the author has created an effective argument and used all three appeals, it’s better to devote each paragraph to a separate appeal (ethos, logos and pathos)
Here is a great sample of a rhetorical analysis essay that illustrates how this outline can be developed into an essay.
The author managed to build a persuasive argument in favor of … due to the effective use of ethos, logos and pathos. The author has started with an effective argument in favor of a gun carry, but later focus on emotional appeal with little factual support has weakened the author’s argument.
- the author’s message = the author’s argument = what the author wants to say
- examples of rhetorical appeals the author uses (be sure to make notes on quotations that prove the use of a specific rhetorical appeal)
Writing a Rhetorical Analysis Essay
To write a rhetorical analysis essay, you need to carefully analyze the text and find:
Writing an argumentative essay, you argue for a specific idea. You analyze and quote other authors to support your argument. In a rhetorical analysis, you analyze and cite ONLY ONE SOURCE. You do not have to agree/disagree with the author’s position or provide counterarguments to what he says. You just analyze how what the author says helps him achieve his goal, which is to persuade his audience in this or that idea.
For you not to fall for tips that will lower your rhetorical analysis essay grade, let me explain what rhetorical analysis essay is and, most importantly, what it’s not.
Logos is an appeal to logic. The author appeals to logos through citing facts and statistics, making the speech/writing coherent and structured, introducing what he is going to speak about and making intermediate conclusions, drawing parallels between different events and phenomena, etc.
The 3 main rhetorical appeals, established by Aristotle, are ethos, pathos, and logos. They describe how the speaker appeals to an audience’s ethics, emotions, and logic, respectively. This can be done in a number of ways, including imagery, anecdotes, examples, or specific data.
A rhetorical analysis is an essay that examines and evaluates a text (or sometimes other types of media, such as video) based on its rhetoric. Rather than focusing on what the actual message is, a rhetorical analysis looks at how that message is created and delivered.
Your thesis statement should summarize: 1) the argument or purpose of the speaker
Purpose: What is the speaker’s purpose? What is the outcome that they wish or intend to incite? What are they trying to convince their audience of?
3. Analyze.
As noted above, there are many ways for a speaker to use these devices and appeals. Analyze which methods they chose, how they applied them, and why you think they chose them.
Identify and describe the rhetorical appeals used by the speaker, as well as other devices, such as tone, syntax, imagery, etc.
However, this practice is useful not only for students, but for all of us who want to evaluate everyday arguments—whether they’re made by advertisers, politicians, or our friends—and learn to think more critically on our own.