Rhetorical Analysis Flashcards
Rhetorical Analysis
“an essay that breaks a work of non-fiction into parts and then explains how the parts work together to create a certain effect—whether to persuade, entertain or inform.”
What is the process of rhetorical analysis?
“1. Description
- Analysis
- Evaluation”
Give an example of the description process.
What does this text look like? Where did you find the text? Who sponsored it? What are the rhetorical appeals? (i.e. calm music in the background of a commercial establishes pathos) When was it written?
Give an example of the Analysis process.
Why does the author incorporate these rhetorical appeals? (For example, why does the author incorporate calm music? What is the point of the pathos?) How would the reception of this text change if it were written today, as opposed to twenty years ago? What is left out of this text and why? Should there be more logos in the ad? Why?
Give an example of the Evaluation process.
Is the text effective? Is the text ethical? What might you change about this text to make it more persuasive?
Rhetorical situation
“it Considers all elements of the rhetorical situation: The audience, purpose, medium, and context. which a communication was generated and delivered in order to make an argument about that communication.”
Define audience.
Spectators, listeners, or readers of presented material.
What are the three different factors when it comes to the audience?
- audience may be existing, actually viewing.
- audience may be invoked, in which the writer specifically writes the audience.
- the audience may be imagined, or who the writer believes may be viewing.
What is an Author and what are other titles for one?
An author is the person of a group of people who composed the text/ material. Other titles include Rhetor, speaker, writer.
What is the purpose of an author?
They are the reason for communicating, the expected or intended outcome.
What is the delivery method of “medium?”
- Alphabetic text (example. essay, poetry, written speech.)
- Images (example. tv commercials, magazines.)
- Sound (example. radio, advertisements.)
- Multimodal texts (youtube, digital stories, performances.)
What is Context?
“The time, place, public conversations surrounding the text during its original generation and delivery; the text may also be analyzed within a different context such as how an historical text would be received by its audience today.”
What is a Claim?
The main idea, thesis, opinion or belief of an argument that the author must prove.
It should be debatable.
It should answer the question “What is the point?”
What is Support?
The statements given to back up the claim. These can take the form of facts, data, personal experience, expert opinion, evidence from other texts or sources, emotional appeals, or other means. The more reliable and comprehensive the support, the more likely the audience is to accept the claim.
What is Warrant?
The connection, often unstated and assumed, between the claim and the supporting reason(s), or support. The warrant is the assumption that makes the claim seem plausible. More specifically, warrants are the beliefs, values, inferences and/or experiences that the writers/speakers assume they share with the audience. If the audience doesn’t share the writers’/speakers’ assumptions within the text, the argument will not be effective.
What are the elements of a rhetorical triangle?
Ethos, Pathos, Logos.
Why are all elements of the rhetorical triangle important?
The elements of the rhetorical situation interact with and influence one another.
Explore Ethos
MAIN CONCEPT IS CREDITBILITY:
The authority or credibility of the author. (Examples: the actual character of the speaker/writer, the character of the writer as it is presented in a text.)
Experiences and claim need to be expressed to show the author is qualified. Consider the moral of the author. Consider how professional the author work is. What credibility does the authors text give them?
Explore pathos
MAIN CONCEPT IS EMOTIONS:
Emotional appeals to the audience to evoke feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow. The speaker may also want the audience to feel anger, fear, courage, love, happiness, sadness, etc.
You need to establish an emotional bond with the audience. How might the advertisement change to target another audience. What emotions do the music, colors, images, and text provoke?
Explore Logos
MAIN CONCEPT IS LOGIC:
logos is the means of persuasion by demonstration of the truth, real or apparent. the use of logic or reason to make an argument. Facts and statistics can be used.
Consider how the argument is backed up. How logical is the argument. Are the claims realistic, are alternative arguments considered?
Define Kairos?
The right time to speak or write; advantageous, exact, or critical time; a window of time during which action is most effective. (Ex. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a dream speech was delivered at the right moment in history—in the heat of civil rights debates.)
Define Stasis?
A stand, or resting place in an argument where opponents agree on the issue but disagree about what to do. A skilled rhetor is able to move past this. (Ex. Rhetor A asserts that abortion is murder. Rhetor B asserts that abortion is not murder. This is the point of stasis. The argument cannot rest here indefinitely. One of these rhetors must get the argument beyond the issue of murder.)
