What is a rhetorical analysis

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What is a rhetorical analysis???
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• As a reader, you will break a text down to its
  basic fundamental argument, determine the
  audience and purpose for the piece, and then
  discuss the art of the formation of the argument
  in terms of the rhetorical appeals (credibility
  of the author, use of loaded images and words to
  play on a readers emotions, use of logic to
  support an argument). That is to say, you will
  rhetorically analyze a text.

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Points to remember

• As a critical reader, it is your job to
  deconstruct the messages that you receive every
  day, whether they are verbal or visual. A
  rhetorical analysis is just that a
  deconstructionusing tools that Aristotle decided
  formed the foundation of communication
  (rhetorical triangle, rhetorical appeals).

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Points to remember

• When you deconstruct a text, first look at the
  author. How does this authors background
  influence the content of the text? Look, too, at
  the same time period from which the text
  originates. What was going on in the world when
  this text emerged?

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Points to remember

• Determine the purpose of the text. What is the
  basic argument that the text makes?
• Why was the text created?

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Points to remember

• In order to determine the success of an argument,
  it is important to look at rhetorical appeals
  (ethos, pathos, logos). If any text fails to
  convince you that one element is sound, the
  argument will fail. Even if an argument is based
  soundly in logic, for example, if the credibility
  of the author is in question, you will not buy
  what you are being sold. The same goes for any
  other sort of imbalance. As a critical reader, it
  is your job to determine the success or failure
  of the author to appeal to you, the reader, in
  order to convince you to listen to the message.

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Points to remember

• Many times arguments fail because they are based
  too heavily in one appeal. An argument based
  solely on emotion may succeed in moving the
  reader to act based on a desired emotional
  response. However, if an author uses an emotional
  appeal that conflicts with a readers experience,
  the reader will likely reject the argument. You
  are the one who will determine the success of the
  rhetorical appeal. You are the reader, which
  means that this determination is subject to your
  experience. There is nothing wrong with that.

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Points to remember

• Once you have looked at different aspects of any
  text, you have completed a rhetorical analysis.
  All you have to do is to construct the essay
  explaining the pieces of the triangle, and you
  are done.