Rhetorical Analysis Outline
INTRODUCTION
Describing the Rhetorical Situation:
Harvey milk speech
Identify or briefly describe each part of the rhetorical situation.
Speaker
harvey milk, first openly gay politicain
Purpose
increase acceptance of lgbt community and get more in office
Audience
american citizens
Context
Exigence
just got elected as the first openly gay politicans
faced alot of backlash against himself and his platform simply for being
gay
Thesis:
Identify the author’s specific purpose and two rhetorical choices (rhetorical or stylistic, appeals, and tone).
Purpose
Line of Reasoning
Choice 1:
personal apeals
get more lgbt members to hold public office
Choice 2:
anecdotes
Harvey milk intended to increase acceptance of the lgbt community by
THESIS STATEMENT: _____________________________________________________________________
encouraging more to run for office, and he uses anecdotes and peronal
______________________________________________________________________________________
appeals to persaude his audience
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
To write your introduction…
Start by describing the rhetorical situation, using your SPACES analysis above. Then compose a thesis
statement, using purpose and the choices you identified. Remember, the thesis must be defensible!
BODY PARAGRAPHS
Create an outline for the body of your essay be composing claims sentences – one for each rhetorical choice – and
identifying the evidence to support that claim. Remember: This is just an outline. You need to also provide commentary
when actually composing the essay.
Body Paragraph 1
Claim
uses personal appeals to relate to auidence to show they too can hold office because he ca
Evidence
. So if there’s a message I have to give, it is that I found one overriding thing about my personal
election. It’s the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it’s a green light. And you and you and you–
you have to give people hope. Thank you very much.
Body Paragraph 2
Claim
Evidence
uses anecdotes to further the audiences understanding to make politis not seem so abstract
After Dade County, I walked among the angry and frustrated night after night. And I looked at their faces.
And in San Francisco, three days before Gay Pride Day, a person was killed just because he was gay. And that
night I walked among the sad and the frustrated at City Hall in San Francisco, and later that night, as they lit
candles on Castro Street and stood in silence, reaching out for some symbolic thing that would give them
hope. These were strong people whose faces I knew from the shop, the streets, meetings, and people who I
never saw before but I knew. They were strong, but even they needed hope.
To write the body of your essay…
Start with a clear claim that presents the rhetorical choice you recognize in the text as well as WHY
that choice is used.
Then, cite evidence. You can direct quote the passage, paraphrase, or offer a combination of the two.
Make sure that you avoid simply dropping a quotation in.
Commentary should accomplish two things:
• Link to Claim: Explain how the evidence demonstrates the rhetorical choice.
• Link to Thesis: Explain how this rhetorical choice supports the author’s purpose.