Call to Write,
Third edition
Chapter Two, Reading for Academic
Purposes: Analyzing the Rhetorical
Situation
Overview

The chapter looks at two ways of reading, with
two sets of strategies:
1.
2.

Strategies for close reading
Strategies to analyze the rhetorical situation
It includes an essay by Jonathan Kozol as a
writing sample and then demonstrates the
various strategies using that essay.
Two sets of strategies
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Strategies for close reading help you
understand what a text says and means, as
well as how a writer presents ideas and
conveys meaning.
Strategies to analyze the rhetorical situation,
referring to the larger context of issues, and
how a writer identifies and responds to the
call to write.
Reading…is it active or passive?

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Reading is more
than letting your
eyes glance across
the page.
The first set of
strategies enable
you to become a
more active reader.
Strategies for close reading

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Reading is research, whether it is done to
prepare to write a formal paper or decide
which movie to go see with friends.
Your reading style is tied to your purpose and
the context of the situation.
The purpose of this set of strategies is to
equip you to do active and critical reading.
Strategies for close reading
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Previewing
Underlining
Annotation
Summarizing
Exploratory writing
Outlining
Describing the writer’s strategy
Strategy one: previewing
We preview text to discover two things:
 Its genre (or category), such as essay, poem,
letter to the editor
 The writer’s purpose (and our purpose for
reading it)
How to preview

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Look at the title,
headings, and first
sentence of each
paragraph.
Answer the five
questions listed on
page 39.
Strategy two: underlining


Underline words and phrases to help
identify key points and main ideas.
The text encourages selective use, so don’t
underline too much.
Strategy three: annotation
Annotation refers to comments written in the
margins; the purpose is to keep you actively
engaged as you read.
Several suggestions include:
 Point out key features and ideas
 Agree or disagree with the writer
 Raise questions
 Draw connections

Benefits of annotation

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Annotation is one of the
most powerful skills you can
develop; the key ideas you
identify should make it
much easier to construct an
outline.
It helps you to master the
content.
Strategy four: summarizing
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Condenses material to focus on the key ideas;
generally the summary is half or less the
length of the original content.
The text lists five steps on page 42.
This section presents a sample summary of
the reading about the homeless.
Strategy five: exploratory writing

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Also called freewriting, the purpose is to
use what you’ve read for a starting point,
and then just write nonstop for five to 10
minutes.
Don’t stop writing to fix, edit or revise; just
see where your ideas take you before
stopping to read what you’ve read.
Strategy six: outlining
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Creating an outline helps you see how writers have
organized or structured their material.
See page 44 for a sample outline of the reading about
the homeless.
Outlines reveal the relationship of ideas, with main
ideas as Roman numerals and the supporting details
as Arabic numbers.
Strategy seven: analyzing the
writer’s strategy
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This strategy builds on the outline of key ideas,
which helps you to analyze the organization by
describing how the writer connects the parts.
It takes a look at the overall purpose of a document.
To do this, divide the document into sections,
grouping paragraphs together that fit together and
label each section and identify its function. See the
sample, page 46.
Writing strategies

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See the box on page 45 for the complete list.
It lists a dozen strategies.
Strategies include narration, description,
illustration, definition, compare/contrast, and
explanation of causes and effects.
Combining both sets of strategies
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The first set of
strategies helps you
understand the
content of the
document.
The second set helps
you to understand its
context.
Analyzing the rhetorical situation
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Use background information about the writer,
the publication, and the issues to better
understand the essay or document.
The purpose of this is to examine the writer’s
purpose and relationship to the readers.
It also includes looking at the writer’s use of
language (tone, denotation, figures of speech,
and stereotypes).
Sample rhetorical analysis
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See the article by Kevin Powell, “My Culture
at the Crossroads,” which first appeared in
Newsweek magazine.
It is followed by a student sample of a
rhetorical analysis; it is annotated to point out
the features and show how the writer pulled
the ideas together.
Writing assignment
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The assignment is to find a persuasive article and
then analyze its rhetorical situation, and write an
essay that presents your analysis.
More details are found on pages 59-60; your
instructor will let you know whether your class
will be doing this particular assignment, and
provide you with additional guidelines.
Student Companion Website
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Go to the student side of the Web site for
exercises, chapter overviews, and links to
writing resources for this chapter:
http://www.ablongman.com/trimbur
Click on the textbook cover, and then select
Student Resources.