You must choose your text for project 1: the rhetorical analysis from this list. Please note that I switched out MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech for Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
1. The Death of Marat painting: https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Death-of-Marat (Links to an external site.)
2. Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” speech: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/ (Links to an external site.)
3. Gandhi’s “Quit India”/”Do or Die!” speech: https://www.mkgandhi.org/speeches/qui.htm (Links to an external site.) (contains typos)
4. Elon Musk’s “Becoming a Multi-Planetary Species” article/presentation: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/space.2018.29013.emu (Links to an external site.)
*His actual presentation is online (but he’s not the best speaker!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5V7R_se1Xc (Links to an external site.)
5. Emelina Minero’s “Schools Struggle to Support LGBTQ Students” article: https://www.edutopia.org/article/schools-struggle-support-lgbtq-students
Rhetoric (an attempt to persuade) is everywhere. It permeates all forms of media, politics, entertainment, and it is the driving force of commercialism. The best defense against rhetoric is learning how it works, being able to dissect it at a cursory glance.
Purpose: A rhetorical analysis examines and explains how an author (or artist) attempts to reach, maybe even influence, an audience. Rhetorical analyses use specific evidence from a text (oral, written, verbal, or visual) to establish a general claim (thesis) about how the text “works.” No matter the text you select, you will be identifying and analyzing its details to make an argument. In writing this paper, you will become more familiar with important rhetorical strategies and gain a greater understanding of the flexible capacities of rhetoric. As the foundation for this course, rhetorical analysis will play a role in all of your assignments; by rhetorically analyzing another text, you will be better prepared to think about your own position as an academic writer.
Step 1: Find a text to analyze.
Choose a meme, traditional printed argument, a speech, a website, a photograph, a commercial, or some other type of text that you deem to be interesting and that has a discernable purpose. By “interesting,” I mean that the text in question should have some sophistication about it: it should be tantalizing and potentially effective at reaching its audience. (There is no point in analyzing the obvious; pick something that makes an interesting argument that readers might be resistant to.) By “discernable purpose,” I mean that you can see that the text is attempting to move an audience in some way and for some reason. On Canvas and in class, you will provide an explanation of what makes this text an interesting subject for a rhetorical analysis.
Step 2: Choose a text from the approved list to analyze for the first major assignment.*
Step 3: Study the text, explain it in your own words, and make observations.
Step 4: Generate a thesis statement.
Step 5: Support your thesis.
Questions to consider:
The following basic questions may help you as you plan and draft your analysis. These questions are not meant to provide an outline for the paper; rather, they simply help you to think about the rhetorical aspects of the text. It is up to you to decide what to focus on in your paper and to arrange and organize your analysis so that readers can follow your argument.
Note: Every paper must at least identify the author of the text, the method of publication or distribution, the intended audience for the text, and the argument you understand the text to be making. This information will set the foundation for the rest of your analysis; every argument you make about how the text works will depend on who is communicating, to/for whom they are communicating, what they are communicating, and why they are communicating.
What is the text’s message/argument/purpose?
Who is the text’s author/who is making the claim? (Google the author and research who publishes his/her work)
Where and when did the text originally appear?
Was there a particular reason why the writer needed to write or speak at that moment (writer’s exigence)? Is the argument timely?
Who is the intended audience/rhetorical audience? What specific attitudes, beliefs, and values of the audience must the author appeal to or counteract in order to succeed?
How does the writer establish credibility (ethos)?
How does the writer appeal to the reader’s emotions (pathos)? Pathos is frequently communicated through vivid stories, descriptions, details, and examples; pathos, like ethos and logos, is also communicated through the style and tone of an essay so pay attention to word choice, metaphors, and other stylistic features.
How does the writer appeal to the reader’s logic and reason (logos)? Is there evidence or data to support the argument? Are there implied claims? Do they reinforce the overall argument?
Is one of the rhetorical strategies listed above (ethos, pathos, logos) dominant?
How is the text organized? Why are its elements arranged as they are? Could the writer have organized elements in another way, and if so, why did he or she pick this arrangement?
What is absent from the text?
Does the text use transitions, headings and subheadings, documentation of sources, juxtaposition of images?
What is the overall tone, voice, and style? Style is one of the most important aspects of any rhetorical text. Style speaks to the overall shape, mood, and atmosphere of the text; it has to do with decisions at the sentence and word level, and sometimes is revealed through visual appearance.
What is the context (social, political, etc.)? Is the writer responding to or trying to address something? What outside factors might have influenced the text’s creation and/or reception?
What plausible claims and good reasons does the writer make?
Does the text use media?
Do not use “This Is America,” short stories, poems, novels, movies, or plays.
