Rhetorical Analysis Essay Assignment
Introduction/Rationale
This assignment has three primary goals. First, it is designed to develop your understanding of
some key ENG 1020 concepts: scene, genre, rhetorical situation, argument, and persuasive
appeals. Second, it is designed to provide you with practice analyzing complex pieces of writing,
similar to the kinds of texts you'll be asked to read in other classes. Third, this assignment is
designed to give you practice writing in the genre of the academic essay. As your instructor, I
will use this assignment to assess your achievement across all three of these objectives.
The analysis essay is a common college assignment across many majors. In some ways, the
analysis essay is similar to the argument essay genre in which writers take a position on a topic
but there also some important differences that can make the analysis essay difficult for 1020
writers to learn. Whereas argument essays provide writers with the opportunity to take a position
on an issue, analysis papers are focused on describing and analyzing how something works. In
this version of the analysis essay assignment, the something you'll study is a piece of writing. To
do your analysis, you will use what is called rhetorical analysis. The goal of rhetorical analysis
is to explore how rhetorical messages work in specific rhetorical situations.
Assignment Prompt
Write a 1000-1250-word MLA-style essay that describes and analyzes the argumentative and
persuasive strategies used in a persuasive text of your choice. The text you analyze must be at
least 2000 words long and should come from a mainstream scene of writing such as Rolling
Stone magazine, The Daily Beast website, or a position-oriented blog such as ThinkProgress.org
The genre features of analysis essays are described on pages 297-352 of The Wayne Writer.
Rhetorical analysis, which is the reading strategy you’ll use to study the text you choose, is
described in Laura Bolin Carroll's article "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical
Analysis."
Consistent with the features of the analysis essay genre, your essay must have a claim in order to
receive a passing grade. Higher achieving papers are those that develop a clear argument about
the relationship between the argumentative and persuasive strategies of the text you’re studying
and particular elements of the text’s rhetorical situation. The type of claim you develop in your
paper can mirror the type of arguments described in chapter 5 of The Wayne Writer: definition,
evaluation, causal, and proposal. Here are examples of the kinds of arguments you might
consider about an imaginary text and author:
Definition argument: Jackson’s appeal to an older audience using the concept of “loyalty”
is an appeal to pathos. (X is Y)
Evaluation argument: Jackson’s appeal to an older audience using the concept of
“loyalty” is an effective appeal to pathos because of the way Jackson successfully
attempts to arouse readers’ anger… (X is a good Y)
Casual argument: Jackson’s use of a definition argument has a number of likely
consequences for her audience of older readers. (X causes Y)
Proposal argument: Given Jackson’s effective use of a definition argument to make her
case to an older audience, I would recommend that more writers involved in this debate
use the same strategy. (X should do Y)
Included below is my suggested outline for the assignment. It is adapted from the suggested
outline for analysis essays described in chapter 9 of The Wayne Writer. I have put resources for
each item in parentheses.
I. Introduction (TWW, 341-342)
a. introduce topic
b. introduce purpose of paper
c. introduce claim
II. Source Summary (“Writing Effective Summaries” assignment)
a. identify title, author, source, date of publication, etc.
b. describe rhetorical situation of text (TWW, chapter 1)
c. summarize text (“Writing Effective Summaries” assignment)
III. Claim (TWW, 343-346)
a. identify and describe types of arguments used in text w/examples (TWW, chapter 5;
Smith, “Logos and the Enthymeme”)
b. identify and describe at least one enthymeme implied in the text
c. identify and describe types of persuasive appeals used in text w/examples (Carroll,
“Backpacks vs. Briefcases”)
d. develop paper’s claim with examples (They Say I Say, chapter 3)
IV. Conclusion (TWW, 346-347)
a. restate main claim
b. discuss significance of claim-why does your claim contribute to our understanding of
arguments and persuasive appeals?
c. discuss limitations of analysis-what interesting questions were you not able to answer in
your paper that other writers might take up?
V. Works Cited page (Presentation: MLA Style; MLA Style Guide-Purdue Online Writing Lab)
Learning Objectives (official course outcomes w/assignment sub-outcomes in italics)
Writing
● Compose persuasive academic genres, including argument and analysis, using rhetorical
and genre awareness.
○ demonstrate understanding of rhetorical concepts: scene, genre, rhetorical
situation, argument, and persuasive appeals
● Use a flexible writing process that includes brainstorming/inventing ideas, planning,
drafting, giving and receiving feedback, revising, editing, and publishing.
○ demonstrate understanding of the MLA-style analysis essay genre
Reading
● Use reading strategies in order to identify, analyze, evaluate, and respond to arguments,
rhetorical elements and genre conventions in college-level texts and other media.
○ use the concepts of scene, genre, rhetorical situation, argument, and persuasive
appeals as a reading strategy
Researching
● Use a flexible research process to find, evaluate, and use information from secondary
sources to support and formulate new ideas and arguments.
○ use the concepts in The Wayne Writer and Carroll’s “Backpacks vs. Briefcases”
to formulate new ideas and arguments to analyze other texts
Minimum Requirements
-1000-1250 words
-typed; double-spaced
-MLA style w/Works Cited page
-paper must identify and describe the type of argument used in the text being analyzed
-paper must identify and describe at least one enthymeme implied by the text being analyzed
-paper must identify and describe the use of at least two specific persuasive strategies used in the
text being analyzed
Due Date
-Upload to Blackboard by XXX
Grading
-This assignment is worth 100 points and XX% of your final grade. A grading rubric is linked
below.
EXCELLENT
FORMAT (10%)
Is your assignment
correctly formatted
for the scene and
genre of the
assignment and the
expectations of
your readers?
CONTENT (50%)
Does the content
of your writing
effectively fulfill
the rhetorical
situation of the
assignment and the
expectations of
your readers?
ORGANIZATION
(20%)
Does the
GOOD
SATISFACTORY UNSATISFACTORY
organization and
structure of your
writing effectively
fulfill the
rhetorical situation
of the assignment
and the
expectations of
your readers?
GRAMMAR &
STYLE (20%)
Is your writing
appropriately
polished for the
rhetorical situation
of the assignment
and is the tone
appropriate for the
expectations of
your readers?
Supporting Materials
-The Wayne Writer, chapters 1, 5, and 9
-”Writing Effective Summaries” assignment
-MLA Style Guide-Purdue Online Writing Guide
-Presentation: MLA Style
-"Briefcases vs. Backpacks: Steps Towards Rhetorical Analysis"
-Smith, “Logos and the Enthymeme”
-Excerpt from Writing Arguments (coming!)
Reflective Blog Post Assignment
Introduction/Rationale
In this post to your Wordpress blog, you'll publish your reflections on your experiences with the
rhetorical analysis essay.
Before you draft your post, which is described in the prompt included below, please read the
short article "What Meaningful Reflection on Student Work Can Do for Learning" by Larissa
Pahomov.
Assignment Prompt
As a post on your Wordpress blog titled "Rhetorical Analysis Essay Reflection," write a post of
200-250 words that describes the things gone right, things gone wrong, and things to do
differently next time as they relate to your experience writing the analysis essay this past week.
Learning Objectives
Reflecting
● Use written reflection to plan, monitor, and evaluate one’s own learning and
writing.
Minimum Requirements
-200-250 word blog post identifying things gone right, things gone wrong, and things to do
differently next time in your rhetorical analysis essay
Due Date
-Publish blog post by XXX
Grading
-This short assignment is worth 5 points and 1% of your final grade. It will be graded using the
short assignment rubric.