1: Rhetorical Analysis Project
Introduction/Rationale
The analysis essay is a common college assignment across many different majors. Simply
put, analysis focuses on describing how something works by breaking it down and
examining its various components. In this version of the analysis essay, the something
you’ll study are examples of non-fiction writing designed to persuade readers to take
action. To do your analysis, you will use rhetorical analysis, which is an advanced reading
strategy used to explore how rhetorical messages work in specific situations.
As your instructor, I will use this assignment to assess your achievement across the
following three goals:
1. to develop your understanding of key rhetorical concepts (situation and purpose;
types of claims or types of arguments); and persuasive appeals),
2. to provide you with practice using rhetorical concepts as a reading strategy to read
and analyze types of writing,
3. to give you practice writing in the genre of the academic essay.
The texts you will read and analyze for this project come from mainstream scenes of
writing such as Time magazine, Rolling Stone, Vibe, The Crisis Magazine, The Daily Beast, or
position-oriented blogs such as ThinkProgress.org.
Assignment Prompt
Write a 1500-2000–word paper that identifies, describes, and analyzes the
argumentative and rhetorical strategies used by the author of the article you are assigned
to study. Here are the basic sections of the essay:
I. Introduction: introduce the topic and purpose of your paper (e.g., the ways writers
attempt to communicate with readers about police brutality, etc.) and foreshadow
your evaluative claim about the article being studied (see conclusion).
II. Summary and Description of Rhetorical Situation and Purpose: in a short
paragraph, summarize the article being studied and describe the rhetorical situation
and purpose of the article using the definition of rhetorical situation provided in
Chapter 7 of From Inquiry to Academic Writing: Custom 4th edition for Wayne State
(referred to as FIAW below).
III. Analysis of Article: your analysis should focus on identifying and describing four
different components of the writers argument:
A) Types of claims or types of arguments – identify and describe either the
different types of claims (i.e. claims of fact, claims of value, claims of
policy) or different types of arguments (i.e., definition, evaluation, causal,
8
ENG 1020 Common Syllabus
proposal, rebuttal) used in the article being studied by including specific
examples from the text to prove your point
B) Ethos – describe how the author of the article makes themselves appear
credible and trustworthy for the articles target audience using examples
from the text to demonstrate your point.
C) Pathos – describe how the author of the article appeals to the emotions
and/or beliefs of the articles target audience using examples from the
text to demonstrate your point.
D) Logos – describe how the author of the article appeals to logic to target the
audiences expectations for appropriate supporting evidence using
examples from the text to demonstrate your point. Identify and describe
at least one enthymeme used in the article.
IV. Claim/Conclusion: develop your own evaluative claim about the persuasive
strategies used in the article being studied. Strong essays will develop the evaluative
claim in terms of particular elements of the articles rhetorical situation (e.g.,
audience, purpose, etc.). As an example, you might argue that the article is generally
ineffective because it fails to adequately anticipate the needs and expectations of its
target audience.
Essay Organization and Formatting
Included below is a detailed outline for the essay which includes all of the different sections
described above. Supporting materials for each section are included in parentheses.
I. Introduction
i. introduce the topic and context (e.g., the ways writers attempt to
communicate with readers about gun violence, etc.)
ii. state purpose of your essay (In this essay, I will explore…)
iii. introduce or foreshadow your evaluative claim (I argue that…)
II. Summary/Rhetorical Situation and Purpose Description
i. summarize the article
ii. describe the authors rhetorical situation and purpose
II. Analysis
i. identify and describe either the main types of claims used in the
article or the main types of arguments used the article
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