THE ULTIMATE STUDENT GUIDE TO
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
Vanessa Alonzo, Jessica Bui, Aldous Hong, Allyson Verzosa
WHAT IS
RHETORIC? Rhetoric is “the art of effective and persuasive speaking or writing especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.” Remember that rhetoric analyzes the strategies, techniques, and language the author or speaker uses rather than analyzing the actual content in the passage!
ANALYZING
RHETORIC 1. Create a SOAPSTONE chart based off of the passage classifying the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone into different categories in order to develop an awareness and understanding of the rhetorical situation. 2. When reading the passage, chunk it accordingly to the different points that are being made. In each chunk, examine the argument, purpose, audience, and strategies by briefly outlining a PAPA square chart. 3. Classify the textual evidence in each chunk made in the passage as logically appealing, emotionally appealing, or credibly appealing (strengthen author’s reputation) to the audience. 4. Identify and analyze the strongest strategies from each PAPA square chart in the chunks in order to create a defensible thesis that analyzes the strategies.
WHAT ARE
RHETORIC APPEALS? Speakers make 3 main types of rhetorical appeals that are the result of rhetorical choices:
APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
APPEAL TO EMOTION
Speaker
Speaker can
presents
accomplish their
details/evidence
goal by making
to establish
their audience
credibility:
feel emotions:
Experience Moral Character Credentials Accolades
Sympathy Sadness Anger Joy Pride Fear
APPEAL TO LOGIC
Accomplished by supplying:
Facts Statistics or data Evidence Rational and logical argument
Helps reader see author as reliable, trustworthy, competent, and credible
Evokes emotional response.
Evokes a cognitive,
Persuades
rational
audience by
response.
emotion.
WRITING THE
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS INADEQUATE: The writer misinterprets the prompt/rhetorical strategies or does not properly analyze the rhetorical strategies. The writer does not provide a sufficient explanation of the evidence. The commentary given may be brief and does not demonstrate the writer's understanding of the text.
Example: "He begins his speech by using ethos. He tells his audience that 'at this second appearing to take the oath there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first.' This makes the audience trust him."
ADEQUATE: The writer is able to analyze the rhetorical strategies in the document given, further explaining the significance of the evidence in relation to their argument. Also, the writer mentions the tone reflected from the text in correlation to their explanation in order to explain the author's main purpose and the effect on the audience.
Example: "With a precise tone, he informs his audience that 'no prediction in regard to the [progress of arms] is ventured.' This attitude reflects how he is tired of the war and ready to move forward as he hopes the audience will be after listening to his address."
SOPHISTICATED: The writer mentions the audience and the author's tone in relation to their main argument. They provide analysis of the evidence, explaining how the evidence and tone correlates to the effect on the audience. The writer provides commentary pertaining to the evidence and its relations towards the main argument. Moreover, the writer demonstrates the usage of complex academic language.
Example: "He informs the audience of his executive experience and acknowledges that there is 'less occasion' for long dialogue. This reflects the morale of the war-ravaged country and entices his audience to continue to listen to a 'detail of a course' that hopes to repair the nation."
EXAMPLES USED FROM THE COLLEGE BOARD.
APPLYING
MAIN IDEA, PURPOSE, and TONE These are three general characteristics you should always take into account when writing or analyzing rhetoric
MAIN IDEA -
the point being made in the passage; the central idea or “big picture” answers the question
“What is the passage about?”
it is important to consider the main idea in order to understand the
purpose
PURPOSE the goal of the written piece
“What does the speaker hope to accomplish through the main idea?” answers the question
TONE the author’s attitude towards the subject of the piece strong, extreme words and visual descriptions could help you identify the tone of the author
how the tone affects the audience and assists the speaker with achieving their purpose consider
Understanding these three elements as well as the audience, occasion, and speaker is a recipe for a coherent SOAPSTONE that will serve as a template when writing a rhetorical analysis.
Thank You for reading!
We hope this guide helped!