Week Six: Thesis Statements
and Analysis
Getting Prepared for the Rhetorical
Analysis
Class Overview
• Review of Last Week’s Materials: theses, persuasive purpose, and
audience.
• Audience and Accuracy with our Four Articles
• Top Twenty Common Errors Mini-Lesson
• Reminders: MLA Format Citations, Absences, Readings, and Turn-in
Dates
• Brief Assignment #4 Directions
• An In-Depth Look at Theses: What should a thesis for a rhetorical
analysis contain or do? How does it structure an analysis?
• Topic Sentences
• Learning the Difference Between Summary/Description and Analysis
• Mechanical Issues with Quotations
Review
• A thesis statement makes a concise but accurate claim about the
main idea of a text that can be supported through analysis.
• In a rhetorical analysis, a thesis statement should make a claim
about the author’s persuasive purpose.
• Informing/telling/describing/conveying is not the same as
persuasion.
• An audience can be determined by the language an author uses but
also through the assumptions, claims, and references they make in
their works.
• Research is necessary to determine an accurate audience for a text.
Look at the original source for the text if it has been reprinted: was
the article first printed in a magazine or journal? What sort of
readership does that imply? Nationality? Background? Economic
standing? Education level?
Where Have We Seen These Before?
• The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an
Electronic Age (1994)
• The Atlantic Monthly (Dec 1998)
• The Lancet 351.9112 (2 May 1998)
• The New York Times 11 Dec 2011
Audience and Accuracy
• In order to determine audience, research the original publication by
doing the following: read the background information your textbook
provides, read any relevant footnotes, and then try to locate
information on the original publication.
• You might look at the original work, if it’s available, or at a review of
the book or article. If the article was printed in a popular newspaper,
journal, or magazine, look into the background and readership of
that magazine.
• Consider nationality, profession, education, and economic standing
with the audience(s): how does the author respond to these
qualities? How is the author’s rhetoric connected to the audience’s
background? Would you use high-level technical language about
economics to persuade a group of uneducated people who have no
experience with economics? What might you try instead? What
would you need to know about them to make that call?
Absences and Turn-In Dates
• Pay attention to the Raider Writer turn-in dates for
assignments: it occasionally changes. Most Brief Assignments
are due on Mondays by 11:59 PM, but some are due on
different days.
• Your paper loses a letter-grade for every day it is late
(automatic 10 point deduction)
• You are allowed two unexcused absences, but these absences
do not excuse you from failing to participate in class or turn in
work. On your third unexcused absence, I must contact your
academic dean and report your absences: you will lose 5% of
your course grade for each unexcused absence from then on.
Brief Assignment #4
• Objective: To develop new strategies for writing a thesis statement.
• Purpose: One key to writing a successful essay is to develop a focused thesis
statement. This assignment will enable you to do so.
• Description: For your draft 1.1, you will write a rhetorical analysis. See the
description of Draft 1.1 for a discussion of what a rhetorical analysis is and what
you will be expected to do.
• In this assignment, you will continue your preparation for writing your rhetorical
analysis by writing thesis statements suitable for it. Using three texts specified by
your classroom instructor, or three of the four texts listed below, you will 1)
identify the audience and purpose of each text and explain what those are, in
about 75- 100 words, and 2) create a thesis statement for a rhetorical analysis of
each text.
• Remember that to successfully create your thesis statements, you will need to
read these texts carefully (and, usually, several times) so that you thoroughly
understand the audience, purpose, and content of the texts.
• Texts for your thesis statements (use only if none are specified by your
instructor):
• - Sven Birkerts: "Into the Electronic Millennium" pp. 226-233
• - Johannes Borgstein: “The Poetry of Genetics” pp. 234-237 (this is in place of
Scott Jaschick’s piece)
• - Stephen Budiansky: "Lost in Translation" pp. 238-244
• - Tina Rosenberg: "Everyone Speaks Text Message" pp. 267-271
More Directions for BA #4
• Write the purpose & audience and thesis sections in two
separate paragraphs for each text. Number your identification
of purpose and audience 1. and your thesis for that text 2.,
and label the article title and author above the sections.
• You must include these sections for three of the four articles.
This means you must identify purpose & audience and create
a thesis statement for each of the three you select.
• Example format:
Borgstein, Johannes. “The Poetry of Genetics.”
1. Purpose and Audience
2. Thesis
Works Cited for BA #4
• Please include a Works Cited list at the end of your paper.
Order the article entries alphabetically by last, name first.
Please use the format we’ve discussed in class.
Example:
Works Cited
Fowles, Jib. “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals.” Advertising and Popular Culture (1996).
Rpt. In First-Year Writing: Writing in the Disciplines. 7th Custom Ed. Boston:
Pearson, 2013-2014. Print. 245-60.
Jaschick, Scott. “Winning Hearts and Minds at War on Plagiarism.” Inside Higher Ed (7
Apr 2008). Rpt. In First-Year Writing: Writing in the Disciplines. 7th Custom Ed.
Boston: Pearson, 2013-2014. Print. 261-266.
BA #4 Continued
• Please develop your paragraph on audience and purpose and
make sure that you have identified a persuasive purpose for
the text. Remember: nearly all writing informs, describes, or
conveys information. This is not unique or necessarily
rhetorical. What is rhetorical is how, what, and why an author
persuades or influences a particular audience.
• Be careful with your thesis statement’s grammar: persuasion
needs to always be connected to an audience or people. You
cannot persuade a point. This does not make sense.
Examples:
Correct: Birkerts uses (X) to persuade/convince his audience
that (X) is… OR: … uses (X) to persuade his audience to (do X)…
Incorrect: Borgstein uses X to persuade that poetry…
Rhetorical Analysis Theses
• A rhetorical analysis thesis should contain the following:
• The author and article title
• Two to three rhetorical choices significant to the persuasive purpose and
audience of the text.
• A persuasive purpose connected to a specific audience
• Example: In his report “Winning Hearts and Minds at War on Plagiarism,”
journalist Scott Jaschick emphasizes student-teacher dialogue and utilizes quotes
from current educators to effectively persuade college-level teachers and
administrators that plagiarism cannot be effectively addressed without
conversation and a change to the current methods of control.
• As in the example above, try to phrase the thesis in one sentence if
possible. If you want to connect the rhetorical choices to appeals.
• In a rhetorical analysis, a thesis should come at the end of your
introductory paragraph, so some information regarding audience
and the text’s background may already be established in that
paragraph.
Theses: Effective or Ineffective?
INEFFECTIVE:
1.
The author uses pathos and ethos to build credibility in order to
better inform his audience that teachers need to change the way they
deal with plagiarism.
2. Scott uses structure and diction to reach an audience mostly of
teachers and administrators to report on plagiarism.
3. James P. Gee uses an analogy and illustration to describe video games
and their relation to education.
EFFECTIVE:
1. By using humor, a restrained tone, and a focus on student dialogue in
“Winning Hearts and Minds at War on Plagiarism,” Jaschick effectively
influences college instructors and administrators to see the how older
methods of discipline for avoiding plagiarism are failing.
2. In his “Post-Katrina Speech,” President G. W. Bush employs religious
diction, metaphors relating to jazz and culture, and statistics from the
relief effort to convince his audience that his office has responded to
Hurricane Katrina in an appropriate manner.
Topic Sentences and Structure
• In a rhetorical analysis, you will have to develop at least three
large body paragraphs of analysis.
• A topic sentence is the first sentence of a paragraph and
establishes what the paragraph will cover.
• The order of your rhetorical choices in your thesis statements
matters: some may not make sense if they are evaluated in a
different order.
• For example, if one rhetorical choice is somewhat linked to
the other, you will want to start with the one that is more
significant to the text and audience.
Examples of Thesis Order and Topic
Sentences in an Analysis
• Ex. 1. In his “Post-Katrina Speech,” President G. W. Bush employs religious
diction, metaphors relating to jazz and culture, and statistics from the
relief effort to convince his audience that his office has responded to
Hurricane Katrina in an appropriate manner.
• Note the order: “religious diction,” “metaphor,” and
“statistics”: how does this set up a layered audience or point
to which audience is more significant to the purpose?
• Example topic sentence:
Bush uses religious diction throughout his speech
because it connects to his audience’s historically Catholic
and Christian culture while also echoing American
political rhetoric.
Analysis or Description/Summary?
• “After describing all of the medicine and relief the government has
provided, Bush also uses a metaphor that relates to Jazz. He then
connects that to the recovery effort. This shows that metaphors
reach his audience and that they find them effective.”
• “By using a metaphor comparing the recovery effort to the joy at the
end of a New Orleans funeral, Bush demonstrates that he
understands and sympathizes with New Orleans culture. The
“second line” he refers to also connects to the religious concept of
resurrection, which provides hope for those living in shelters and
who have lost their personal livelihood (293). This helps build pathos
that counters the audience’s assumption that Bush and the U.S.
government abandoned the people of New Orleans because of their
demographic and cultural background.”
Help With Quotation Integration
• Always “embed” any direct quotes in your own sentence. Standalone quotes are not allowed in a rhetorical analysis. Stand-alone
quotes are akin to plagiarism because you are simply copying the
authors words without commenting on them. A quote must be a
grammatical part of your sentence.
• Stand-alone quote:
“Once the casket has been laid in place, the band breaks
into a joyful “second line”—symbolizing the triumph of
the spirit over death (293)” This shows that Bush
understands Jazz.
• Properly embedded quote:
When Bush refers to the “joyful ‘second line’” in a jazz
funeral procession, he demonstrates to his audience that
[…] (293).
Bush states that the hurricane has “reminded us that we are
often stronger than we know--with the help of grace and one
another,” which extends his sympathy in a religious manner
(293).
Participation Assignment #6
READ:
• St. Martin's Handbook: Chapter 3f-g, "Planning," "Drafting,"
• First-Year Writing: Ch. 10 pp. 197-207
• Reread the article you’ve selected for the rhetorical analysis.
•
•
•
WRITE: Participation Assignment #6
]
Write your working rhetorical analysis thesis at the top of the page.
Label this 1. Make sure that the article title and author are clearly
labeled as well.
For section 2., please select three quotes from the article you have
chosen for your 1.1 Draft (analysis) and include these in full. Use
appropriate MLA in-text citations (you will not receive credit if you
forget these!). Please do not include quotes longer than two or three
sentences.
Under each quote, please include a 100 to 150 word evaluation of how
you would integrate the quote in your rhetorical analysis. Answer: how
does the quote demonstrate what you are trying to analyze in the
author’s rhetorical language? Would you paraphrase or directly quote
the passage, and why? How does the rhetorical choice connect to the
persuasive purpose and audience?