“In a rhetorical analysis essay, the author analyses the text rhetorically. A rhetorical analysis essay uses figures of speech to have a compelling or persuasive effect on the audience.”
This means that it looks at how the author says what they are saying rather than what they are saying. In a nutshell, a literary analysis essay explores the techniques, goals, and appeals to the readers.
Steps to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay
- Understand the rhetorical situation you are going to discuss in the essay.
- Identify why you are writing it, your target audience, and the broader context of the topic.
- Analyse rhetorical appeals involved (ethos, pathos, logos)
- Examine the style and tone of the text.
- Gather supporting evidence or references from journals or books (quotes, statements, etc.)
- Organise the whole discussion into introduction, body, and conclusion.
- Use a reliable paraphrasing tool to revise distorted sections for clarity and flow.
What are the Key Concepts of Rhetorical Analysis?
Rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive writing, especially the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques to figure out how they are designed to persuade the readers. Here are a few important rhetorical concepts that you should know about.
Text and Context
When analysing text in terms of rhetoric, a text is not necessarily a piece of writing but a piece of information that needs to be analysed. This means that a text can be a piece of writing, an advertisement, a speech, or a sarcastic image.
So, in rhetoric, you will examine not only the language but also the visual components of the piece of information. Take into consideration all the elements surrounding the text, including the information about the author (or creator, designer, maker, etc.), the audience the text was developed for, and where, when, and why the text was developed.
Keeping these elements of the text in mind can help you produce an informed rhetorical analysis essay.
Example
“I Have a Dream” speech from Martin Luther King, Jr., remains one of the most powerful and influential speeches. However, a person who doesn’t know the civil rights movement’s context will not understand its power.
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Appeals: Logos, Ethos, Pathos
It is the appeals that enable the author to persuade the readers. The three rhetorical appeals, including logos, ethos, and pathos, were defined by the famous philosopher Aristotle and referred to as the rhetoric triangle.
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Logos
Logos, also known as logical appeal, is the most popular approach to making an argument in academic writing. In rhetoric, it refers to the use of reasoned arguments to convince the audience.
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Ethos
Ethos, also called the ethical appeal, is about the writer painting themselves as a subject expert. For example, if you are making an argument about the quality of distance education, then present your qualifications to show you are an expert in the field of education.
Similarly, if you are arguing for the moral permissibility of after-birth abortion, then you could present yourself as a medical expert to enhance your authority and authenticity.
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Pathos
Pathos, also called the pathetic appeal, evokes the readers’ emotions of anger, love, sympathy, or hate. It involves the use of vivid imagery and emotional speaking to induce the audience’s emotions.
All three appeals are essential aspects of rhetoric. The author can use one or all three of them to persuade the readers.
What are the Claims, Supports and Warrants in Rhetorical Analysis?
The arguments involve claims, supports, and warrants
A claim is a bold statement that the author expresses to grab the attention of the readers. The argument can be made out of one single claim or out of several. Claims are generally overtly specified, but they may also just be implied in some kinds of text.
Each claim needs support, which could be anything that enables the author to persuade the audience. These may appear in the form of hard evidence or responsive appeals.
Claims need support, and the warrant acts as a bridge between them. A warrant takes the form of an assumption or logic. The warrant may not be stated outside the boundaries of formal argumentation – the author shoulders the burden for the readers to recognise the connection between the claim and the support.
Example of a Rhetorical Statement
“Both teams were missing their star performers; the crowd was not entertained.”
We can see a claim and support in the above statement, but the warrant is not apparent. It is up to the readers to assume the warrant implied in the statement.
For example, the warrant in the above statement assumes that the presence of star performers in the two teams would have entertained the crowd. Depending on the individual reader’s assumption, they may or may not be convinced by this argument.
How to Analyse the Text Using Rhetorical Analysis?
The rhetoric analysis is all about reviewing the text in detail and raising questions to figure out the real meaning and aim behind it. Avoid selecting concepts in advance and applying them to the text. Here are some questions that you should ask:
- Who is the author of the text? What is their background?
- What is the purpose of the text?
- Did the author discuss a range of topics or focus solely on the key claims made in the text?
- Did the author use emotional appeals (sympathy, anger, love) to persuade the readers?
- What tone did they take? Formal or informal? Imposing or personal?
- Who was the targeted audience? Did the author successfully reach and convince their desired audience?
- What is the nature of the support provided by the author?
By finding answers to these questions, you can successfully establish the rhetorical devices used in the text. Rather than cramming in every rhetorical device you can think of, it would be appropriate to consider the ones that directly relate to the text.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most authors use metaphors, similes, anaphora, antithesis, rhetorical questions, parallelism, and so on, as commonly used rhetorical devices in the essay.
You need to follow the standard essay writing structure for your rhetorical analysis essays as mentioned below:
Introduction: Containing context and a clear thesis statement on rhetoric.
Body: Each paragraph focusing on exploring one rhetorical strategy at a time with evidence.
Conclusion: Focused on assessing the overall persuasive impact of the essay.
Focus on analysing the essay while writing a rhetorical essay and briefly summarise only to introduce quotes, then explain how the rhetorical device affects tone, persuasiveness, or audience reception.
SOAPS Tone stands for speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, tone used in coordination to uncover the context of the essay, key roles, and the rhetorical effect the sentences are creating.
