Contents
- Rhetorical analysis essay example
Do you want to learn more about this type of essay?
The studying process requires a lot of time and effort especially when we have to write different types of paper. Surfing the Internet, you can come across various essays that have its structure and writing specificity. Nevertheless, you should be aware of all types of paper in order to be a brilliant student. That is why we offer you to learn about rhetorical analysis essay. Hope it will be informative for you. Arm yourself with patience and let’s get started.
What is a rhetorical analysis?
The rhetorical analysis is the process of identifying the SOAPS principle. As a type of academic research, the rhetorical analysis is the essay where the writer provides his or her target audience with the rhetorical analysis of any piece of text. Whether it is taken from television shows, films, speeches or any other types of communicative mediums. For this, one has to determine the way how the original author of this text attempts to make his or her arguments. In addition to this, when analyzing the given text from the rhetorical perspective, the writer should come up with the suggestion whether the author is successful in proving sufficient examples to confirm the argument. There exists the well-known SOAPS technique. What is the definition of this abbreviation? So, it includes such factors as Speaker, Occasion, Audience, and Style. In order to analyze the text, speech or presentation, one should first of all manage to identify all these factors in a clear and coherent way.
Thus, first and foremost, to start your essay, you should indicate the first and the last name of the writer or speaker whose text you are supposed to analyze from the rhetorical point of view. Hence, in case it is a book, and the narrator of the sample is different from the original author (writer) than you should most probably go for indicating both names, additionally clarifying “ who is who.”
As for the Occasion, it refers to the type of the analyzed text and context it implies. Therefore, here you should most commonly identify each specific type of academic writing you dwell about, being able to differentiate between, let us say, an essay dedicated to scholarly reference and a letter for an associate friend. It is essential to make this issue clarified from the very beginning of your writing process because otherwise, you will most probably fail to provide a thorough and correct rhetorical analysis basing on the false pieces of evidence.
What are rhetorical strategies?
Rhetorical analysis strategies are the strategies that are used to enable the effective flaw of the analytical process in the academic writing.
You have to include the issue of rhetoric appeal into your working process by separating the body paragraphs into three large sections accordingly: logos (logical appeal), ethos (ethical appeal), and pathos (pathetic appeal).
Thus, for example, the issue of logos refers to the reasons that rely on logic. It usually depends on which type of reasoning the author of the text goes for. These are the inductive and deductive types. The former occurs when the author focuses on some specific cases and then consequently draws several conclusions out of them. Just the opposite, the latter takes place when the argument begins with the generalization and then slowly develops into more specified details that are always based on the sufficient amount of credible scholarly evidence.
As for the ethos, it is connected with the character and reliability of the original author. In fact, there are several ways how one may establish a good credible character as an author. For example, one of the possible options concerns the usage of those sources that should be considered credible and authentic in order to make the study (speech or presentation) look more truthful and realistic. In addition to this, it is possible to organize the arrangement of the text in a logical way to make it easy for the target readership to follow the author’s manner.
Last but not least, the pathos refers to the emotional appeal the text produces on the readers along with the values and emotional sensibilities it indicates.
Thus, when analyzing the text from the rhetoric point of view, you should dwell upon these three factors and clarify whether the author managed to use all of them successfully.
Rhetorical analysis outline
Next comes the problem dedicated to the outline of the rhetorical analysis. It is the most essential to discuss the parts the rhetorical analysis essay consists of. As a matter of fact, like any other type of academic essay, the rhetorical analysis paper consists of three major parts namely the introduction, the body paragraph (two or more), and conclusion. It is always better to consider several crucial things before writing the rhetorical analysis. For example, you should think about narrowing the subject of your analysis. It is possible to pick some two or more theoretical aspects of rhetoric and dedicate the whole essay to them.
Rhetorical analysis introduction
How to start a rhetorical analysis introduction? The introduction paragraph is the place in your essay where you have a right to provide your target readership with the brief piece of information concerning the document or the speech you have chosen for the analysis. You also need to define the main aim of your research. Hence, the introduction is where you are supposed to mention the speaker, the event (an occasion where everything takes place), the audience and the purpose of the speaker. This introducing technique is sometimes also referred as the SOAP technique where the abbreviation stands for the Speaker, Occasion, Audience, and Purpose of the text you work on. The subject of the text you are to analyze is also of high importance, and it should also be stated in the very first paragraph of your essay. Though, it is not necessary to mention everything in details in the introductory paragraph as you would better leave the main frame of your research for the body paragraphs well as it is with the rest of academic essays. There still should be a certain intrigue.
Rhetorical analysis conclusion
Concluding paragraph is usually supposed to give a brief summarizing sentence concerning the discussed problematics and explicitly show those results one has come up with at the end of the research. To put it differently, you should just restate your thesis statement provided in the introductory paragraph of the essay. Therefore, the conclusion should never be done in the form of simple word-for-word repetition of your samples. When rephrasing your thesis statement, it would be a good option to analyze the way original author’s purpose fits your narration and whether it comes together. You should evidently represent the sophisticated results of the analysis based on the credible pieces of evidence. The last thing is that you should specify whether there is some additional research that might be done. In case it is so, you would better entail what particularly should be additionally analyzed and why it has not been done yet. Moreover, it is also a good suggestion to state why the subject matter of your research is so important and why it is crucial to continue the further researches on the same topic. Writing a rhetorical conclusion, you have to be confident in your plot in order to restate the thesis and prove the credibility of the paper.
Rhetorical analysis essay example
For this brief research, let us take one of the best speeches in the world history made by Martin Luther King entitled I have a Dream :
On August 28, 1963, in Washington, a historical figure with the globally recognized name Martin Luther King Jr. shared his personal views concerning the issue of human equality for African Americans at one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in the history. This outstanding leader of the civil rights delivered his prominent speech in front of over 250, 000 people who were present there near the steps of Lincoln Memorial. It is necessary to mention the perfect usage of a rhetorical language Luther King implied his speech to support his main arguments and make the narration sound interesting, informative and appealing to the target listener.
For example, his decision to refer to Abraham Lincoln’s authority during his speech makes people trust him and the message he wants to convey. The importance of establishing strong positive impression in the listener should not be underestimated as it empowers the speaker to get control over their emotions and improve the response form behalf of the audience. In the case with Luther King’s speech, one may definitely state that he managed to tackle such essential problems his nation was deeply concerned about, that it helped him to gain the people’s trust and compassion. As for the successful implementation of some effective rhetorical devices, one of the most frequently used by Ling was the repetition, and the flawless usage of highly pathetic rhetorical questions addressed to his listeners.
Now you are aware of the rhetorical essay analysis specificity. Do not hesitate and try your skills. We invoke you to follow these instructions as they can help you pleasantly surprise the committee with the perfectly written paper. Remember that everything is in your hands that is why do not postpone and show a good result. Are you ready to submit the winning rhetorical analysis essay?
