All writing seeks to persuade. Whether it’s a poem, an audit report, or a tweet, the writer seeks to persuade you to do something, even if it’s only to call your attention to it or simply give it some thought.
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. A rhetorical analysis asks you to figure out how a text works to persuade the reader to accept its ideas and argument. But it also requires you to persuade your audience that your analysis is valid.
Analysis of any kind is an essential skill for producing quality writing. Analysis stems from en- gaged critical reading and the ability to recognize the rhetorical “moves” a writer makes, skills that help you grasp the main ideas in a work, but also help you assess its argument.
Note that a rhetorical analysis is not an argument. An argument requires two sides, whereas an analysis can be your side and no one else’s.
ASSIGNMENT
In an essay of at least 800 words, write a rhetorical analysis of Mike Bunn’s essay, “How to Read
Like a Writer.” Your task is to analyze the rhetorical (persuasive) power of this essay.
No secondary source support is required for this essay. Most of your evidence will come from
Bunn’s essay.
The rhetorical analysis should address all the strategies Bunn describes in his essay, to include audience, purpose, and context, the type of language and the tone the author employs, the structure of the essay, the caliber of the evidence and how effective it is to support the argu- ment, and an evaluation of the argument itself.
HOW TO WRITE THE ESSAY
It is useful to organize your analysis into the sections detailed below. Please note, however, that this is
not a rigid formula. There are many ways to write a rhetorical analysis that do not conform to this struc- ture, but I’m providing these guidelines so that you are certain to cover the key areas of the assignment.
I ask that you do not use headings. In this essay, you will need to rely on transition words and phrases to establish connections among your paragraphs and to help guide the reader through your assessment.
Section One: Introduce & Situate.
Introduce both the article and the author. Provide background material to help your readers understand the context or “moment” of the work. This background material might include one or more of the fol- lowing: an explanation of why the subject was of interest, an account of the circumstances under which the work was written; a reference to the intended audience of the work.
State the author’s main argument (thesis). Finally, state your position on the whether the writer crafted an effective argument. This will be your thesis (as distinct from the author’s thesis), and it should contain both a claim and a reason that takes a stand on whether the author achieved his purpose.
Section Two: Summarize.
Briefly summarize what the text says. Identify the author’s main points, making sure to state the author’s purpose for writing. Don’t belabor this section, and don’t let it consume your review. One to two paragraphs is sufficient. Check our text, Using Source Effectively, for tips on how to write summary.
Section Three: Analyze the Text
Analyze what the text does and how it does it. Using the information you gathered from working through the steps for rhetorical analysis, the very steps Bunn recommends for “Reading Like a Writer,” evaluate the validity of the author’s argument, as distinct from your points of agreement or dis- agreement. Comment on the author’s success in achieving his or her purpose by critiquing three or four specific points.
To make sure your criteria is relevant, keep in mind the author’s audience and purpose. Make sure you provide examples from the text to support your claims since it’s unlikely your audience will have access to the text. Quote or paraphrase this evidence. DEFEND YOUR THESIS!
CAUTION: It is very easy in this section to drift back into writing summary, so make sure you are analyzing and evaluating the argument and whether or not it achieves what it sets out to accomplish.
REMEMBER: This section is the most important part of the rhetorical analysis. It should be the longest section of your response.
Section Four: Respond to the Argument. Now it is your turn to respond to the author’s views. Discuss your reasons for agreement and/or disagreement, but keep this
section short. Don’t stray from the primary task of analyzing the way in which the writer crafted his or her argument.
Section Five: Conclude.
State your conclusions about the overall validity of the work–your assessment of the author’s success at achieving his or her purpose in writing. Remind the reader of the weaknesses and strengths of the essay. A weak conclusion will simply restate the thesis; a strong conclusion will leave the reader an echo of the thesis and an extension of your main idea.
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