English 101 Rhetorical Strategies and Techniques Instructor: Jamie Wilson
Four-Part Rhetorical Analysis Model
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The situation that motivated the author to write, and how this situation is described and clarified in the text
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The author’s target audience and how he/she appeals to this particular group of readers.
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The author’s general and specific purpose in writing (to inform, to persuade, to change/influence the reader’s thoughts and behaviors)
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The author’s main claims, and the forms of evidence used to support them
Self-Presentation
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Does the author come across as credible and trustworthy, as a fair and knowledgeable person of sound character and judgment? Does the author make a personal connection with readers?
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Does the author acknowledge opposing viewpoints and address them fairly in his/her argument?
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Does the author use credible evidence to support his/her claims?
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Does the author write in a professional and respectful tone?
Emotional Appeal
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Emotional appeal attempts to arouse strong feelings in the reader—feelings of sympathy, anger, fear, a shared sense of injustice or moral outrage, compassion, a sense of urgency and/or the need to take action.
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Evocative facts and illustrations are typically used to illicit these feelings and to establish this sense of shared values and emotional common ground. Personal experience tends to stir a reader’s sympathies as well.
Rational Appeal: Forms of Reasoning
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Arguments from cause and effect claim that one condition or event contributes to or brings about another condition or event.
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Arguments from example seek acceptance for some general rule or principle by offering a concrete, particular case.
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A generalization argument reasons that what is true of certain members of a class will also be true of other members of the same class or of the class as a whole.
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Analogy arguments draw connections between two objects that resemble each other in certain key respects.
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Definition arguments specify terms and concepts to reach agreement on what things mean.
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Analysis—breaking a whole down into its component parts.
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Synthesis—bringing component parts together to form a whole.
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Dissociation arguments disengage one idea from another and seek a new evaluation of both ideas.
Language and Tone
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Word choice (emotionally charged, exaggerated, confrontational, sympathetic, conciliatory, cold, rational, professional, objective, elevated, colloquial)
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Sentence structure (repetition of key words or phrases, parallel structure, direct or passive voice)
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Figurative Language (metaphor, simile, personification)
Three types of claims:
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Claims of fact (industrial slaughterhouses sometimes skin animals while they are still alive)
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Claims of value (eating meat is morally wrong because it causes widespread animal suffering)
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Claims of policy (people should not eat meat; eating meat should be illegal)
Evidence: Expert testimony, historical examples and context, scientific studies, statistics, theory, personal experience, referencing literature/film, appeals to authority.