A rhetorical analysis examines how an author uses rhetoric to achieve their purpose and sway their audience. Learning how to write a rhetorical analysis can help you become a more critical reader and thinker. This comprehensive guide walks you through the process step-by-step.
What is a Rhetorical Analysis?
A rhetorical analysis is a type of essay that looks at how an author uses rhetoric to achieve their purpose and persuade their audience.
Rhetoric refers to how writers use language structure and other writing techniques to communicate effectively. Every rhetorical choice an author makes is strategic.
In a rhetorical analysis essay, your job is to break down the text and explain how the author built their argument, appealing to emotions, logic, or credibility.
Why Write a Rhetorical Analysis?
Learning rhetorical analysis teaches you how to become a more engaged, critical reader. It also helps you:
- Strengthen your reading comprehension
- Improve your critical thinking skills
- Enhance your attention to detail
- Learn techniques for developing persuasive arguments
Rhetorical analysis is common in high school and college English classes. Understanding rhetoric can make you a better writer. It enables you to explain precisely how good writing affects readers.
How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis in 5 Steps
Follow these steps to write an effective rhetorical analysis essay:
Step 1: Gather Information
Start by gathering key information about the work you’ll analyze:
-
Author: Who is the author? What is their background, credibility, bias?
-
Subject What is the subject and context of the work? Is it a speech, advert poem etc.?
-
Purpose: What is the author’s purpose for writing? Who is their target audience?
-
Message: What is the key message or main idea? What supporting details does the author use?
-
Rhetorical Appeals: What appeals does the author use to build their argument?
-
Style: What stylistic choices affect the tone and meaning?
Step 2: Examine the Appeals
A rhetorical analysis focuses on how the author uses three key rhetorical appeals:
-
Ethos: Credibility and ethics. Ethos establishes trust in the speaker/author.
-
Logos: Logic and reason. Logos aims to persuade the audience through facts and objectivity.
-
Pathos: Emotion. Pathos appeals to the audience’s values, feelings, and biases.
Analyze how the author uses these appeals to advance their purpose with the chosen audience.
Step 3: Identify Style Choices and Details
Look at the author’s stylistic choices and specific details that build the argument. Consider:
-
Diction: Word choice and language style (formal, informal, medical terminology, etc.)
-
Syntax: Sentence structure and length. Are the sentences long or short? Simple or complex?
-
Organization: How the work is structured. Does it start with the main argument or build up to it?
-
Tone: The attitude of the author conveyed through word choice and detail.
-
Rhetorical devices: Techniques like repetition, analogy, irony, and metaphor.
Step 4: Build an Analysis
Piece together your analysis using the information you gathered. Consider:
-
How does the work appeal to the target audience?
-
When does the author rely on emotion over logic, or vice versa?
-
How do diction, syntax, structure, and tone choices affect the argument?
-
Which rhetorical devices strengthen the persuasiveness?
A strong analysis avoids just summarizing. Dig deeper to interpret and explain how the rhetoric operates.
Step 5: Write the Essay
Now it’s time to put together your rhetorical analysis essay.
Introduction
- Introduce the work and author, providing key background information.
- State the author’s purpose, audience, and overall message.
- Briefly preview the rhetorical appeals and devices you’ll analyze.
- End with your thesis statement responding to this prompt: How does the author use rhetoric to persuade the audience?
Body Paragraphs
- Devote each body paragraph to a different appeal or strategy.
- Provide evidence and analysis of how the author uses that rhetorical technique.
- Link back to the overall effectiveness of the argument.
Conclusion
- Restate the thesis in different words.
- Summarize your main points and analysis.
- End by reflecting on how the work achieves its overall purpose through rhetoric.
4 Tips for Writing an Excellent Rhetorical Analysis
-
Read closely. Pay attention to rhetorical choices and how they shape meaning.
-
Analyze, don’t summarize. Avoid simply restating content. Interpret how rhetoric persuades the audience.
-
Support your claims. Use quoted evidence from the text and explain how it supports your points.
-
Maintain an objective tone. A rhetorical analysis should not be opinionated. Remain impartial.
Rhetorical Analysis Examples
Want examples? Here are two sample rhetorical analysis essays:
Sample Rhetorical Analysis of a Speech
This rhetorical analysis examines Barack Obama’s 2004 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. The essay outlines the context, rhetorical appeals, language choices, and effect of Obama’s address.
Sample Rhetorical Analysis of an Advertisement
This rhetorical analysis dissects an ad campaign for Old Spice men’s body wash. It analyzes how the company uses humor, hyperbole, and celebrity endorsement to appeal to male consumers.
Key Takeaways
-
A rhetorical analysis examines an author’s rhetorical choices and their effect on the audience.
-
To write one, start by gathering key information about the work. Then analyze how appeals like ethos, logos, and pathos are used to persuade.
-
Look at word choice, tone, structure, and rhetorical devices. Piece together an analysis of how these choices operate persuasively.
-
Maintain an objective tone and support all claims with quoted evidence from the work.
Mastering rhetorical analysis provides valuable critical thinking skills. With this guide’s help, you can learn how to perform an effective rhetorical analysis and become a more engaged reader.
Claims, Supports, and Warrants
To make any kind of argument, a writer needs to put forward specific claims, support them with data or evidence or even a moral or emotional appeal, and connect the dots logically so that the reader can follow along and agree with the points made.
The connections between statements, so-called “warrants”, follow logical reasoning but are not always clearly stated—the author simply assumes the reader understands the underlying logic, whether they present it “explicitly” or “implicitly”. Implicit warrants are commonly used in advertisements where seemingly happy people use certain products, wear certain clothes, accessories, or perfumes, or live certain lifestyles – with the connotation that, first, the product/perfume/lifestyle is what makes that person happy and, second, the reader wants to be as happy as the person in the ad. Some warrants are never clearly stated, and your job when writing a rhetorical analysis essay is therefore to identify them and bring them to light, to evaluate their validity, their effect on the reader, and the use of such means by the writer/creator.
What are the Five Rhetorical Situations?
A “rhetorical situation” refers to the circumstance behind a text or other piece of communication that arises from a given context. It explains why a rhetorical piece was created, what its purpose is, and how it was constructed to achieve its aims.
| Purpose | Why was a text written or a cartoon drawn? Does it want to inform someone? Instruct a certain audience? Entertain a specific group of people? |
| Audience | Who will read/see this (or read/saw it in the past) and be influenced by it/motivated to do something? |
| Genre | What type of writing/advertisement/communication is this? |
| Stance | What views does the piece represent? How do these views fit into the situation the writer was in at the time or the reader is in now? |
| Medium | What forms, means, and techniques does the piece use to communicate with its audience? |
Asking such questions when you analyze a text will help you identify all the aspects that play a role in the effect it has on its audience, and will allow you to evaluate whether it achieved its aims or where it may have failed to do so.
How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay
How do you write a rhetorical analysis?
A rhetorical analysis is structured similarly to other essays: an introduction presenting the thesis, a body analyzing the text directly, and a conclusion to wrap up. This article defines some key rhetorical concepts and provides tips on how to write a rhetorical analysis.
What is a rhetorical analysis essay?
A rhetorical analysis essay is, as the name suggests, an analysis of someone else’s writing (or speech, or advert, or even cartoon) and how they use not only words but also rhetorical techniques to influence their audience in a certain way.
How do you write a good rhetorical essay?
Understanding and analyzing the rhetorical situation is essential for building a strong essay. Also think about any rhetoric restraints on the text, such as beliefs, attitudes, and traditions that could affect the author’s decisions.
Where can I find examples of rhetorical analysis?
You’ll find countless examples of rhetorical analysis online, but they range widely in quality. Your institution may have example essays they can share with you to show you exactly what they’re looking for. The following links should give you a good starting point if you’re looking for ideas: Pearson Canada has a range of good examples.
