L. May, English 101 (Winter 2010)
BASIC OUTLINE of your rhetorical analysis essay
INTRODUCTION (1-3 paragraphs). Include the follow elements in your
introduction section (not necessarily in this order).
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GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. Introduce your reader (me and your classmates) to the piece
you’ll be analyzing. (Yes, we already know about it. But pretend we’ve forgotten . ) You don’t have
to provide much by the way of a “hook” to get the reader interested. Assume the reader would not
have picked up your essay had she/he not been interested in reading an analysis of the piece in
question already. So you can jump right in by immediately introducing the writer to the piece itself.
For example, you could start with, “In “A case for faith,” an op-ed piece for The Tufts Daily, the student
newspaper of Tufts University, student Sharon Neely argues that religious faith is as valid as
scientific “faith.””
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STATE WRITER’S MAIN POINT (THESIS) AND REASONS. State the writer’s one main point
(thesis), if you haven’t already: “In “Imagine No Heaven,” Salman Rushdie argues that religion
provides no benefits at all to society. In fact, he confidently asserts that all religion has a negative
effect on society because ______________, _______________, and ___________”
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SUMMARIZE. Summarize the supporting reasons and evidence the writer provides. See They Say, I
Say, chapter 2, “The Art of Summarizing.”
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PROVIDE NEEDED BACKGROUND INFORMATION. Provide the reader any background
information needed on the issue at hand. For example, if you were writing about “God Diagnosed
with Bipolar Disorder,” you’d want to make sure your reader understood that this piece was
published in a magazine known for its humorous and satirical pieces. Basically, give your reader
some basic background information on your writer (not just any information, but information which
helps the reader understand your analysis) and on the circumstances of the piece’s publication (for
instance, where – in what publication – was it published, what type of piece it is (an opinion piece, a
humorous piece)).
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STATE YOUR MAIN POINT (THESIS) AND REASONS. Include an explicit statement of what you
are arguing, what your claim about the rhetorical effectiveness / ineffectiveness of this piece is. For
example, “While Sharon Neely’s piece may be somewhat effective on people who already agree with
her, due to its many logical fallacies, this piece would likely be completely ineffective on readers who
doubted the validity of religious faith.” Here the thesis is basically “Neely’s piece is ineffective on
readers who don’t already believe in the validity of religious faith.” And the reason is “due to its many
logical fallacies.”
BODY (2-3 pages). Include these analytical “moves’ in this section.
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FOCUS ON PROVING YOUR SPECIFIC THESIS. Your thesis statement should have zeroed in one
to three significant ways in which this writer effectively (or ineffectively) achieves her purpose with
her/his audience(s). Now provide your reader with a detailed and coherent analysis and explanation
of exactly how this piece is effective or ineffective for this audience.
L. May, English 101 (Winter 2010)
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ANALYZE THE PIECE IN DETAIL. DON’T JUST IDENTIFY RHETORICAL ELEMENTS. Here is
where you’ll want to follow the “formula for rhetorical analysis” (on a handout I handed out last
week).
a. Make a claim/assertion that supports your main claim (aka “main point,” “thesis).
b. Identify an example (or more) that supports this claim.
c. Re-state / interpret the example in your own words
d. Explain how this example works to support your thesis.
a.
CLAIM: “Rushdie’s use of pathos is especially evident in his vivid word choice. This word
choice would likely effectively persuade even some agnostics and religious believers in his
audience.
b. IDENTIFY AN EXAMPLE: For instance, in one of his most powerful lines, he boldly asserts
that one’s religion “may at some point come to feel inescapable, not in the way that the truth
is inescapable, but in the way that jail is” (paragraph 6).
c. RE-STATE / INTERPRET THE EXAMPLE IN YOUR OWN WORDS: Certainly, no one,
not even the most devout religious believer would want to live in a jail.
d. EXPLAIN HOW THIS EXAMPLE WORKS TO SUPPORT YOUR THESIS: Also by using
the word “jail,” he is showing the reader not just telling them. In other words, he could have
simply said, “Religion will limit you your entire life.” But that would just be telling his
reader, and thus not making much of an impression on them on the level of values and
emotion (pathos). By picking a word like “jail,” on the other hand, he picks a word every
reader can visualize and vividly imagine, whether they’ve ever actually been in a jail or not.
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CREATE A “QUOTATION SANDWICH” EACH TIME YOU INCLUDE A QUOTATION IN YOUR
ESSAY. See Chapter 3, “The Art of Quoting,” in They Say, I Say. In this way, your quotations are
smoothly integrated into your essay and make your essay a lot easier to understand.
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SET UP AND DOCUMENT YOUR QUOTATIONS PER MLA FORMAT. See TSIS Chapter 3 as
well as Hacker “MLA-3” (362-369)
CONCLUSION (likely only one paragraph, but it could well be two)
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STICK TO RHETORICAL ANALYSIS. DON’T COMMENT ON THE QUESTION AT HAND. In
your conclusion, remember to stick with a summary or reflection on what your analysis revealed
about the piece. In other words, DO NOT get “off topic” by slipping into a commentary on the issues
at hand. Don’t say something like, “Even though Rushdie doesn’t believe that religion is valuable, it
actually very much is.” That would be switching your topic from a rhetorical analysis to an argument
about the topic of religion itself.
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SUMMARIZING IS FINE. Basically, simply summarize in fresh words (not, in other words, the
same phrases and words you used in the body) what your analysis revealed: the piece’s
effectiveness/ineffectiveness for a particular audience, and how it was especially effective /
ineffective.
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YOU COULD REFLECT ON WHAT YOU”VE LEARNED ABOUT THE POWER OF
RHETORICAL APPEALS (logos, ethos, pathos). If you wanted to get creative (which I would love to
read), you could comment on the particular strategy the writer used. For example, if you emphasize
the way in which a writer uses pathos, you could reflect on the way in which writing that appeals to
readers’ emotions and values is often so powerful.