Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Rhetorical Analysis
4-5 pages
Now that you’ve gotten your analytical wheels turning with the ad paper, it’s time to turn to written texts. In writing, every author makes a series of rhetorical choices depending on their purpose and the argument they hope to convey. These choices include form, voice, style, word choice/diction, types of argument, metaphor, and rhythm, to name a few. These rhetorical elements are conscious. The author put them there to create specific effects, and if they were successful, then you responded accordingly and probably without really noticing the strategies in play. Your task in this paper is to reveal those rhetorical strategies. You may choose one of the following two options:
1. As stated above, every author makes rhetorical choices and uses rhetorical strategies. Choose one of our readings from this semester and do a close analysis of its rhetoric. First, you will need to begin by briefly explaining the purpose and intended audience of the text. From there, your analysis will depend largely on the text you choose, but may include considerations of form, genre (fiction, non-fiction, something else, personal/persuasive essay, story, etc.), organization, stylistic devices and patterns, and voice. You will not be able to cover all of these elements, so you will need to choose the few that you find most compelling or important in your text. Finally and most importantly, having revealed the most compelling of these strategies, consider how they suit the larger purpose and audience of the text. Above all, you need to offer an answer to the questions: why did this author choose these specific rhetorical devices for this text? How does the rhetoric advance or hinder the intended purpose?

2. Many of the readings we have covered thus far connect to one another thematically; particularly, many of the themes raised in Baldwin are reflected in other readings we have covered. Choose one passage from Baldwin (between 1 and 3 pages in length) and one other reading that you believe speak to one another. Perform a comparative analysis of the rhetorical strategies each author uses to advance their point of view. From here, your paper will resemble the first option. Since you will have fewer pages available to you to devote to each text, you will need to focus in even more specifically on the most compelling or interesting elements.

For both options:
• You will need to begin by briefly explaining the purpose and intended audience of the text.
• From there, your analysis will depend largely on the text you choose, but may include considerations of form, genre (fiction, non-fiction, something else, personal/persuasive essay, story, etc.), organization, stylistic devices and patterns, and voice.
• Finally and most importantly, having revealed the most compelling of these strategies, consider how they suit the larger purpose and audience of the text.
• Above all, you need to offer an answer to the questions:
o why did this author or authors choose these specific rhetorical devices for their texts?
o How does the rhetoric advance or hinder the intended purpose of the text?
o And, for option 2, what do their differences reveal about their different purposes or audiences?