Rhetorical Analysis Purpose: to determine how and why texts are

Rhetorical Analysis
by Richard Johnson-Sheehan and Charles Paine
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Purpose: to determine how and why texts are
influential, or not.
– Advertisers, marketing analysts, and public relations agents use
rhetorical analyses to understand how well their messages are
influencing target audiences and the general public.
– Political scientists and consultants use it to determine which
ideas and strategies will be most persuasive to voters and
consumers.
– Historians and rhetoricians use it to study historic speeches and
documents to understand how and why they were influential in
their day and perhaps still influential today.
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The ultimate objective: to show why a text was
effective or persuasive.
By studying texts closely, we can learn how writers
and speakers sway others and how we can be more
persuasive ourselves.
Any time you are asked to analyze a nonfiction
text, you are most likely writing a rhetorical
analysis.
In your career, your supervisors may ask you to
closely analyze your organization’s market materials
and messages to determine their effectiveness.
Thus, these critiques are rhetorical analyses, too.
A rhetorical analysis requires you to step
back from a text and consider it from
multiple perspectives.
 Writing a rhetorical nalysis can give you a
heightened awareness of a text and better
appreciation of what the author
accomplished.
 Understanding how communication works
or fails to work is a worthy goal by itself,
but rhetorical analysis has other benefits.
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It enables you to think about a text in more
depth.
To help you better understand the arguments
the artifact makes
To appreciate how the artifact was put together.
In turn, this knowledge helps you in writing your
own texts.
You have a much better sense of what has been
said and written about your subject, and where
you have opportunities to contribute your own
ideas.
Analyze the Context and the Text
Select a text that has significance for you, either
because it was important when it was written or
it is about a subject that is important to you.
 Think of your analysis as running on a
continuum between considering the context
(the relationship between the piece of writing or
speaking and the larger society surrounding it)
and the text itself (what it is about and how it is
designed.
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We can think of the context, which lies at
one end of the continuum, in two senses:
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First, the immediate context: refers to
where the text was written and read or
heard.
– For example, Abraham Lincoln delivered his
10-sentence, 272-word Gettysburg Address on
November 19, 1863, at the dedication
ceremony of a national cemetery, where he
followed a speaker who had talked for two
hours.
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Second, the broader
context refers to the
larger cultural and
historical circumstances
in which a text is
produced and read.
– The broader context was,
of course, the Civil War,
which had taken thousands
of lives and was far from
over when Lincoln spoke.
– Lincoln’s brief remarks
have been immortalized
because he could envision
an end to the war and a
healing process.
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At the other end of the
continuum lies the text itself.
We can consider a text as if it
were a piece in a museum,
where we closely scrutinize it.
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For example, if you look
carefully at the language of
the Gettysburg Address, you’ll
begin to appreciate Lincoln’s
tactics and skill.
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He says of his purpose: “We
have come to dedicate a
portion of that field, as a final
resting place for those who
here gave their lives that the
nation might live.”
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But then he immediately turns
this purpose on its head: “But
in a larger sense, we can not
dedicate—we can not
consecrate—we can not
hallow—this sacred ground.
The brave men, living and
dead, who struggled here,
have consecrated it, far above
our poor power to add or
detract.”
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Lincoln’s words become
powerful because they defy
expectation: we cannot
consecrate the field because
the field is already
consecrated.
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Lincoln does not once
refer to “the enemy” in
his address. Instead he
says, “The brave men,
living and dead, who
struggled here.”
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Even though the
cemetery was a burying
ground for Union soldiers,
Lincoln’s language
invokes the heroism and
sacrifice of both sides.
 Often
in the back and forth
movement between text and context,
we gain surprising insights about how
a text achieves certain effects.
 These
questions will help you get
started in composing a rhetorical
analysis:
Analyze the Immediate
Context
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Examine the author:
– What is the author’s purpose: To change
beliefs? To inspire action? To teach about a
subject? To praise or blame? To amuse?
– How did the author come to this subject?
– What else did the author write?
Analyze the Immediate
Context (continued)
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Examine the audience:
– Who was the intended audience?
– What were their attitudes and beliefs about
the subject?
– What were their attitudes and beliefs about
the author?
– What does the author assume about the
audience?
Analyze the Broader Context
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Examine the larger conversation:
– Why did this text appear at this particular
time?
– What else has been said or written about the
subject?
– What was going on at the time that
influenced this text?
Analyze the Broader Context
(continued):
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Examine the larger society:
– What social, political, and economic influences
can you find in the text?
Analyze the Text
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Examine the kind of text:
– What kind of text is it: speech? Essay?
Letter? Editorial? Advertisement?
– What is the medium: print? Web site? Voice
recording?
Analyze Text (continued)
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Summarize the content:
– What is the author’s main claim or main idea?
– How is the main claim or main idea supported?
– How is the text organized?
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Examine the appeals:
– Ethos: How does the author represent him/herself?
How does the author build or fail to build trust?
– Logos: What kinds of facts and evidence does the
author use?
– Pathos: How does the author appeal to values shared
with the audience?
Analyze the Text (continued)
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Examine the language and style:
– Is the style formal? Informal? Academic?
– Does the author use humor or satire?
– What metaphors are used?
Organize and Write a
Rhetorical Analysis
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Before you write:
– Take stock of your initial analysis
 If your selected text isn’t working for the
assignment, find one that works better.
 Look at your notes on the author, the audience,
the circumstances of original publication or
delivery, what other texts the author was
responding to, and what else was going on at the
time.
– Spend some time think about how to organize
your analysis.
Organize and Write An Analysis
(continued)
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Think about your readers:
– How much do readers know about your text?
The author? The events surrounding the
text? Other texts like it?
– What will readers gain from reading your
analysis?
Write an Introduction:
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Begin your analysis by giving the
necessary background
– Inform your readers about the author and why the
author selected this particular topic.
– Tell readers about the original audience and the
conversation about the topic that was going on at the
time the text was written.
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Make a claim
– Make a claim about how the text you are analyzing
used rhetoric for particular purposes.
Organize and Write the Body of
Your Paper
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Support your claim with your detailed
analysis of the text and context:
– Give examples from the text to show how the authors
builds credibility with the audience, appeals to their
values and beliefs, and convinces them with facts and
evidence.
– Analyze the author’s style, tone, and language,
including metaphors.
– Analyze how the author responded to the immediate
context and to the broader context.
Organize the body of your
paper (continued):
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This is a researched paper. Therefore,
you must find additional sources to
support your claim:
– Apply theories, viewpoints, argumentative
strategies (that we’ve learned about this
semester) from other writers, experts, and
examples, and from other similar texts to
support your claim.
– Use 3-5 credible sources. Use APA in text and
as a Reference Page.
Write a Conclusion
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End with more than a summary
– Draw larger implications from your analysis.
– End with a vivid example from the text.
• Finally, revise, revise, revise!
• Evaluate your draft:
• Make sure your analysis meets the requirements of the
assignment.
• Consider where you might provide more information about the
context.
• Consider where you might provide more evidence supporting
your claim about the text.
• When you have finished revising, edit and proofread carefully.
Class Exercise
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Public speeches are usually intended to persuade. You can find many
examples of public speeches on the Web. Many politically oriented Web
sites contain transcripts of speeches and often the audio and video. (For
example, go to www.whitehouse.gov for speeches by the president, or to a
history site, such as the History Channel, for other famous speeches).
Select a speech to analyze and answer the following questions.
– 1. What is the rhetorical purpose? What did the speech indent to
achieve?
– 2. Where was the speech given? How does the speaker connect with
the beliefs and attitudes of the audience?
– 3. What appeals does the speech rely upon: the rational appeal (logs)
the emotional appeal (pathos), or the ethical appeal (ethos)?
– 4. How is the speech organized?
– 5. How formal or informal is the style? Is humor used?
– 6. Does the speaker use any metaphors and for what purpose?
– When you have completed your analysis, formulate a thesis about the
speech.