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    Rhetorical Analysis

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    Ines
    The document provides guidance on how to perform a rhetorical analysis of a text by breaking it down into its component parts to understand the writer's intent and strategies. It lists 15 questions to consider such as the subject, thesis, tone, purpose, organization, language, images and devices used. Asking these types of questions facilitates a deeper critical reading of the text and analysis of how the writer achieves their intended effect.

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    Rhetorical Analysis

    Uploaded by

    Ines
    146 views2 pages
    The document provides guidance on how to perform a rhetorical analysis of a text by breaking it down into its component parts to understand the writer's intent and strategies. It lists 15 questions to consider such as the subject, thesis, tone, purpose, organization, language, images and devices used. Asking these types of questions facilitates a deeper critical reading of the text and analysis of how the writer achieves their intended effect.

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    The document provides guidance on how to perform a rhetorical analysis of a text by breaking it down into its component parts to understand the writer's intent and strategies. It lists 15 questions to consider such as the subject, thesis, tone, purpose, organization, language, images and devices used. Asking these types of questions facilitates a deeper critical reading of the text and analysis of how the writer achieves their intended effect.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    146 views2 pages

    Rhetorical Analysis

    Uploaded by

    Ines
    The document provides guidance on how to perform a rhetorical analysis of a text by breaking it down into its component parts to understand the writer's intent and strategies. It lists 15 questions to consider such as the subject, thesis, tone, purpose, organization, language, images and devices used. Asking these types of questions facilitates a deeper critical reading of the text and analysis of how the writer achieves their intended effect.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Rhetorical Analysis: Critical Reading

    When you are asked to do a "rhetorical analysis" of a text, you are being asked to apply your
    critical reading skills to break down the "whole" of the text into the sum of its "parts." You try
    to determine what the writer is trying to achieve, and what writing strategies he/she is using to
    try to achieve it.

    Reading critically means more than just being moved, affected, informed, influenced, and
    persuaded by a piece of writing. Reading critically also means analyzing and understanding
    how the work has achieved its effect. Below is a list of questions to ask yourself when you
    begin to analyze a piece of prose. These questions can be used even if you're being asked only
    to read the text rather than write a formal analysis (a sample of detailed formal analysis
    follows later in this section). Keep in mind that you don't need to apply all of these questions
    to every text. This rather exhaustive list is simply one method for getting you started on
    reading (and then writing) more critically.

    Questions to ask for a Critical Reading:

    1. What is the general subject? Does the subject mean anything to you? Does it bring up
    any personal associations? Is the subject a controversial one?

    2. What is the thesis (the overall main point)? How does the thesis interpret/comment on
    the subject?

    3. What is the tone of the text? Do you react at an emotional level to the text? Does this
    reaction change at all throughout the text?

    4. What is the writers' purpose? To explain? To inform? To anger? Persuade? Amuse?


    Motivate? Sadden? Ridicule? Anger? Is there more than one purpose? Does the
    purpose shift at all throughout the text?

    5. How does the writer develop his/her ideas? Narration? Description? Definition?
    Comparison? Analogy? Cause and Effect? Example? Why does the writer use these
    methods of development?

    6. How does the writer arrange his/her ideas? What are the patterns of arrangement?
    Particular to general? Broad to specific? Spatial? Chronological? Alternating? Block?

    7. Is the text unified and coherent? Are there adequate transitions? How do the transitions
    work?

    8. What is the sentence structure like in the text? Does the writer use fragments or run-
    ons? Declarative? Imperative? Interrogative? Exclamatory? Are they simple?
    Compound? Complex? Compound-complex? Short? Long? Loose? Periodic?
    Balanced? Parallel? Are there any patterns in the sentence structure? Can you make
    any connections between the patterns and the writers' purpose?

    9. Does the writer use dialogue? Quotations? To what effect?

    10. How does the writer use diction? Is it formal? Informal? Technical? Jargon? Slang? Is
    the language connotative? Denotative? Is the language emotionally evocative? Does
    the language change throughout the piece? How does the language contribute to the
    writers' aim?

    11. Is there anything unusual in the writers' use of punctuation? What punctuation or other
    techniques of emphasis (italics, capitals, underlining, ellipses, parentheses) does the
    writer use? Is punctuation over- or under used? Which marks does the writer use
    when, and for what effects? Dashes to create a hasty breathlessness? Semi-colons for
    balance or contrast?

    12. Are important terms repeated throughout the text? Why?

    13. Are there any particularly vivid images that stand out? What effect do these images
    have on the writers' purpose?

    14. Are devices of comparison used to convey or enhance meaning? Which tropes--
    similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, etc. does the writer use? When does
    he/she use them? Why?

    15. Does the writer use devices of humour? Puns? Irony? Sarcasm? Understatement?
    Parody? Is the effect comic relief? Pleasure? Hysteria? Ridicule?

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