English 101 Paper #1: The Rhetorical Analysis
Due Date:
Rough, Rough Draft Due:
Peer Review Draft Due:
Formatting/Length: 4 Full Pages Minimum, Double-spaced, 12 Point Font, Default Margins
As we have been discussing, rhetorical analysis asks us to look not only at what a text says, or the meaning of the text, but also at how that meaning is created in the text. Our shorthand for this has been “the what and the how”—the meaning or message the text creates and how it persuades us to identify with or act upon that message. As we have noted, these simple words—what and how—describe processes of communication and persuasion that are as complicated as the humans they are designed to persuade. For this assignment, I want to challenge you to not just analyze the “ethos, pathos, and logos” of a text, but to delve deeply into how the text moves us to identify with its message, and to think, feel, or act in a specific way.
Your Tasks:
(1) Critical Rereading: Choose one of the texts we have read and discussed for your analysis. You may choose “All She Has, $150,000, Is Going to a University,” “French Quarter’s Black Tapping Feet,” or “Valley of Broken Hearts,” all by Rick Bragg. Choose the text that sparked your intellectual interest and that you found to be the most persuasive. Then, reread the text critically and carefully. During the first reading, you got a sense of the text’s meaning and the experience of the text, or how it attempted to persuade you. The second reading is where writing actually begins to take place. Annotate the text heavily during this process and begin taking notes on the major ideas, arguments, and quotations you might use in your paper. Also, look back to your short response paper on the text for ideas that you might want to pick up again.
(2) Drafting Your Rhetorical Analysis: Develop an argument or interpretation of how the text moves or persuades its audience to identify with or act upon its message. To do this, you will want to make sure that you identify and address the Audience, Purpose, and Context of the text, as well as any major rhetorical strategies that you feel are most persuasive.
As you begin to draft, you will want to consider the following elements of your own rhetorical situation:
- Audience: our class. Think of our class as having discussed and read the text and having a good knowledge of the basics of rhetoric. Now, as you write, your goal is to think of yourself as writing for a group of people who are engaged in a discussion of you about the text you selected. Think of your paper as an extension of our discussion in class.
- Purpose: the purpose of an analysis is to provide an interpretation of a text that helps your audience understand it more deeply. For your assignment, your purpose is to help us understand how the text develops ideas and strategies that move us or persuade us to identify or act on its argument.
- Context: your context describes the atmosphere that surrounds your writing—the ideas, key terms, and concepts that we have been discussing in class, such as ethos, kairos, cultural context, etc.
Structuring an Effective Rhetorical Analysis: Here are a few elements to an Analysis that you will want to include:
- An introduction that sets the text against the larger context of the subject or issue it addresses and creates a tone appropriate for the type of analysis to be used.
- A full description of the text’s rhetorical situation, including any examples that reveal its intended audience and purpose.
- Identification of what you feel are the most important rhetorical strategies and illustration and analysis of each of those strategies.
- Evaluation of the overall effectiveness of the text in persuading its intended audience and accomplishing its purpose.
How To Craft a Successful Rhetorical Analysis:
- Keep the Purpose of Your Analysis in Mind: You are analyzing the strategies that the text uses to persuade its audience to identify with or act upon its argument. You need to not only identify this argument, but you need to analyze the most important strategies used to make this argument persuasive. Finally, feel free to develop a paragraph that evaluates how successful the text is in persuading its audience.
- Go for Depth Rather Than Breadth: Do not try to cover all of the rhetorical strategies that we have discussed. Instead, focus on the one or two that you feel play the biggest role in moving the audience.
- Cite the Text: in MLA Format. Use both In-Text Citations and a Works Cited Page. See the “MLA Papers” tab in A Writers’ Reference for tips on integrating sources and developing your Works Cited.
Finally, remember that I am here to help if you should have questions. Feel free to bend my ear!
Links for Reading for Rhetorical Analysis:
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/08/01/the-valley-of-broken-hearts/
/french-quarter-s-black-tapping-feet.html”>https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/14/us/french-quarter-s-black-tapping-feet.html
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