Rhetorical Analysis
From the University of Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/725/01/):
“The goal of any rhetorical analysis is to demonstrate your understanding of how the piece communicates its messages and meanings. One way of looking at this process is that you are breaking the piece down into parts. By understanding how the different parts work, you can offer insights as to the overall persuasive strategies of the piece. Often you are not looking to place a value judgment on the piece, and if there is an implicit or implied argument you may not be ultimately taking a side.”
The following are a list of helpful resources (both online and print) to help you get started on writing a rhetorical analysis.
Handouts (from the Writing Studio webpage)
- Audience and Purpose
- Finding Academic Journals
- Logical Fallacies
- Rhetorical Analysis for Professional Documents
- Rhetorical Appeals
- What is a Genre and Why Should I Care
Websites
- Rhetorical Analysis Screencast on Youtube: An informative YouTube presentation that defines what a rhetorical analysis is and how to construct an argument in this text
- Elements of Analysis
- Rhetorical Analysis: Information from University Writing Center at Texas A & M
- Doing a Rhetorical Analysis of a Text
- Workshop Sheet for Rhetorical Analysis
- Visual Rhetoric: Analyzing Visual Documents: University of Purdue’s Online Writing Center’s guide to writing a rhetorical analysis. Focus in on how to analyze a visual or visual document.
- Writing a Visual Analysis