Rhetorical Analysis Essay
3rd Major Assessment
First Deadline: Mon. Sept. 28 Last Deadline: Thurs. Oct. 8
Purpose:
●
To give a detailed analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of one of the selected editorials and then
offer the rhetorical significance of the author’s argument.
●
To analyze the editorial carefully, examining the strategies the author uses to convey his or her purpose.
Prompt:
You will read, annotate, and identify how the writer has chosen to appeal to his intended audience due to his
intended purpose. Then, in a well-developed essay, identify the rhetorical situation and analyze the effect of the
rhetorical techniques within the context of the arrangement choices made by the writer.
Audience: Ms. Schmitt
Requirements:
✓ No longer than 4 pages
✓ MLA Formatted* (Refer to Purdue’s OWL site.) For example: Typed, double-spaced, 12-point font, Times
New Roman font, oneinch margins, MLA heading, format, and documentation (internal citations,
Works Cited page)
**Correct MLA format is an EXPECTATION that must be met. If not, the assignment will be penalized 10
points from the total grade.
Approach:
✓ Choose ONE editorial to evaluate. Do not use any outside sources in any part of planning or writing your
essay, or you risk not receiving credit.
✓ Mark and follow the specific prompt as indicated above.
✓ Be very careful not to summarize the editorial. You are analyzing and evaluating the rhetorical strategies
that make it effective. Assume your reader has already read and understood the article.
✓ Your editorial should contain a well-supported claim, paragraphs and main points that help your
audience follow your argument, and contain few, if any, errors in composition and conventions of writing.
✓ Think about connections between the strategies you find in the text and the text’s purpose and intended
audience.
✓ When writing about rhetorical strategies, always focus on their function/effect. (i.e. How do they help the
author convey his or her purpose?)
✓ Hint: If you can’t write an entire paragraph about a rhetorical strategy, it’s probably not purposefully
used enough to analyze as one of your main points.
✓ Use textual evidence to support your claim, and copy the provided citation onto a Works Cited page.
(Refer to Purdue’s OWL site and easybib.com.) Just as before, your Work Cited page will only have one
entry.
✓ See the back/sample rubric for important progress deadlines toward final product and grade.
Sample outline for your essay:
o
o
o
o
o
Introduction with claim and main points (Remember a thorough and accurate rhetorical precis
will provide an adequate introduction for a rhetorical analysis.)
Main point #1 (use of technique 1)
▪
Evidence that supports main point #1
▪
Effect/Function to support writer’s purpose and intended audience
▪
Explain connection
Main point #2 (use of technique 2)
▪
Evidence that supports main point #2
▪
Effect/Function to support writer’s purpose and intended audience
▪
Explain connection
Main point #3 (use of technique 3)
▪
Evidence that supports main point #3
▪
Effect/Function to support writer’s purpose and intended audience
▪
Explain connection
Conclusion (“so what” regarding writer’s effectiveness)
SAMPLE RUBRIC
Part 1: Process Work
+10
+5
0
PEAP & Annotated Passage
Due: Mon. Sept. 28
complete
adequate or
incomplete
missing
Precis & Outline
Due: Wed. Sept. 30
___
thorough
___
adequate
___
missing
Typed, Complete Draft #1
Due: Fri. Oct. 2
_____
thoughtful
_____
incomplete
_____
missing
Revised, Rough Draft #2
Due: Tues. Oct. 6
___
on time
w/peer revising
___
late/incomplete
___
missing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 2: Final Written Analysis (submitted to Turnitin by 8:30 a.m. Thurs. Oct. 8
Highly Effective (50-60)
Shows evidence of reading holistically. Generally begin by establishing a strong basis
and context for the text. Thesis does justice to the intent and complexity of the
author’s writing, often providing unique insight. Abundant and appropriate
references are made to the primary text, with students going beyond merely citing
excerpts and to explaining the significance of the thesis being developed. Focus on a
wide range of strategies. Describe how the interactions of writer, reader, text, and
context lead to the construction of meaning, purpose, and effect. Syntactic fluency,
verbal acuity, and smooth incorporation of source material demonstrate a strong,
mature prose style. Provide conclusions that do merely summarize but address the
“so what?” issue.
Partially Effective (40-49) Generally demonstrate that students are knowledgeable about the text being a
piece of prose specifically crafted to convey meaning, purpose, and effect to a
particular reader---but they often do not perceive the overall meaning, purpose or
intent the text presents. Instead, they choose to view the text piece by piece, claiming
that the first part of the text does X and the second part of the text does Y. Students
seem to lack the vocabulary needed to write specifically about the rhetorical strategies.
Often present a strong thesis, but it is generally bland and straightforward, sometimes
vague in its understanding of the text as a whole. The writers quote source material
and comment on it briefly in order to connect it to the thesis, but the links are often
either very literal or strained. Conclusions tend to be a bit repetitive and summarylike, often returning to language very similar to the thesis.
Ineffective (-39)
Part 1 Points: _____
Often show little evidence that the writers understand the purpose of the text or the
rhetorical strategies used to convey meaning. When they do mention rhetorical
strategies, they merely describe or define isolated features, failing to explain how these
features relate to the overall meaning, purpose, or effect of the text. Students either
have no recognizable thesis or a weak one that tends to become lost in the rush to
analyze. Essays generally either make rather slight reference to the text and comment
on it only obliquely or paraphrase with little analysis. Essays may suggest the
students misunderstand the text; sometimes these essays incorporate large, directlyquoted excerpts from text with little or no commentary or explanation. Generally,
these essays lack a working vocabulary of concepts from rhetorical theory and practice
that they needed to employ in such an analysis.
Part 2 Points: _____
Overall Grade:
_____