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Rhetorical Analysis Essay How-To
7 min read âą november 18, 2021
Kathryn Howard
What is the Rhetorical Analysis Essay?
According to the college board:.
 âThe rhetorical analysis free-response essay question presents students with a passage of nonfiction prose of approximately 600 to 800 words. Students are asked to write an essay that analyzes the writerâs rhetorical choices . This question assesses studentsâ ability to do the following:
Respond to the prompt with a thesis that analyzes the writerâs rhetorical choices .
Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning .
Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning .
Demonstrate an understanding of the rhetorical situation .
Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument."
Essentially, you are being asked to analyze someoneâs writing and what strategies they used to help them achieve their purpose.
Rhetorical Analysis Rubric for Scoring
The rhetorical analysis frq is out of 6 points.
To get this point you need to clearly write a defensible thesis about the rhetorical choices the author makes. Do not take a stance on the argument the author is making if he/she is making one. You are only talking about rhetorical strategies.
đ„ Watch: AP Language - How to Find Rhetorical Strategies
Evidence and Commentary (4 points)
To get the four points you need to not only present evidence but explain why it supports your thesis and how it contributes to the authorâs message.
Sophistication (1 point)
To get to this point you have to demonstrate a complex understanding of both what that purpose was, and how the rhetorical analysis devices aided the authorâs purpose.
There are a few ways that you can earn the sophistication point :
Explaining the significance or relevance of the writerâs rhetorical choices (given the rhetorical situation ).
Explaining a purpose or function of the passageâs complexities or tensions.
Employing a style that is consistently vivid and persuasive.
You have 40 minutes to complete the rhetorical analysis essay for AP Lang:
12 minutes: Read the text and plan out your essay. (TOBI)
6 minutes: Write your introduction paragraph.
18 minutes: Write 2-3 body paragraphs.
2 minutes: Write a quick conclusion.
2 minutes: Proofread and revise your essay.
đ„ Watch: AP Language - Rhetorical Analysis Organization and Timing
How to Maximize Your Time
Outline your rhetorical analysis essay before writing! A great tool for this is a TOBI:
TOBI stands for thesis , outline , and big idea.
TOBI Outline
BI -Big Idea
Here is an example of how to use TOBI given a rhetorical analysis prompt:
From CollegeBoard AP Lang 2017 Exam, FRQ Question 2
T: Luce uses many rhetorical strategies including pathos , antithesis , and a humorous tone to soften up her audience before introducing her true reasons for being there.Â
- Pathos Appeal
(âThere is no audience more forgivingâ)
- Antithesis
(âI am happy, I am less happyâ)
- Humorous tone
(âconsequently, no audience is more forgiving, I hopeâ)
BI: Today, just like for Luce, it is very difficult to give criticism to your peers.
Note: It is a good idea to make the TOBI about the size of your hand to make sure you donât spend too much of your precious essay writing time on it.
What if I can't find any rhetorical devices that I recognize?
You can always go back and rely on tone as every piece of literature has one, even if it is just informative. If you know what they are doing, but not the name of the term, you can still just describe it and get the points. Additionally, make sure that you are familiar with all the rhetorical devices that are a part of AP Lang!
đ„ Watch: AP Language - Reading with an Analytical Mind
If itâs not an argumentative essay, what do you put in your thesis?
You state the most important writing choices the author made in order to impact the audience of the work.
Other Tips and Tricks
The big idea should show how this prompt applies to today. This will help you write your conclusion. In most language arts classes they teach you to simply restate your points, but not in AP Lang!
The first thing you are going to want to do is carefully read through and highlight any strategies you see.Â
Even if TOBI doesnât work for you, it is a good idea to outline the essay. Even though it takes time, it will end up saving you time in the end because it gives you direction.
One of the most useful tools for the introduction is something called Soapstones. In this intro you are introducing the S peaker, O ccasion, A udience, P urpose, S ubject, T one, and S tyle. (Keep in mind: You do not need to include EVERY ONE). But, most successful essays include a few of them.
DONâT SKIM! It will only hurt you in the long run, even if you think it might be saving you time.
If you need to, review strategy names, but if you donât remember, do your best to describe what is going on and how the author is using it.
Rhetorical Analysis Example Essay Prompt
The speech below was given at the site of the battle of Gettysburg by president Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln went on to describe his desire to save the union. Read the passage carefully and then in a well-developed essay, analyze the writing choices Lincoln makes to share his message with others. Support your analysis of his rhetoric with specific references from the text.
âFour score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicateâwe can not consecrateâwe can not hallowâthis ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before usâthat from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotionâthat we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vainâthat this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedomâand that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.â
Key Terms to Review ( 20 )
Complex Understanding
Defendable Thesis
FRQ (Free-Response Question)
Grammar and Punctuation
Humorous Tone
Line of Reasoning
Passage's Complexities or Tensions
Pathos Appeal
Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Rhetorical Analysis Rubric
Rhetorical Choices
Rhetorical Situation
Significance or Relevance
Sophistication Point
TOBI (Thesis, Outline, Big Idea)
Vivid and Persuasive Style
Writer's Rhetorical Choices
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- How to write a rhetorical analysis | Key concepts & examples
How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis | Key Concepts & Examples
Published on August 28, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.
A rhetorical analysis is a type of essay  that looks at a text in terms of rhetoric. This means it is less concerned with what the author is saying than with how they say it: their goals, techniques, and appeals to the audience.
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Table of contents
Key concepts in rhetoric, analyzing the text, introducing your rhetorical analysis, the body: doing the analysis, concluding a rhetorical analysis, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about rhetorical analysis.
Rhetoric, the art of effective speaking and writing, is a subject that trains you to look at texts, arguments and speeches in terms of how they are designed to persuade the audience. This section introduces a few of the key concepts of this field.
Appeals: Logos, ethos, pathos
Appeals are how the author convinces their audience. Three central appeals are discussed in rhetoric, established by the philosopher Aristotle and sometimes called the rhetorical triangle: logos, ethos, and pathos.
Logos , or the logical appeal, refers to the use of reasoned argument to persuade. This is the dominant approach in academic writing , where arguments are built up using reasoning and evidence.
Ethos , or the ethical appeal, involves the author presenting themselves as an authority on their subject. For example, someone making a moral argument might highlight their own morally admirable behavior; someone speaking about a technical subject might present themselves as an expert by mentioning their qualifications.
Pathos , or the pathetic appeal, evokes the audienceâs emotions. This might involve speaking in a passionate way, employing vivid imagery, or trying to provoke anger, sympathy, or any other emotional response in the audience.
These three appeals are all treated as integral parts of rhetoric, and a given author may combine all three of them to convince their audience.
Text and context
In rhetoric, a text is not necessarily a piece of writing (though it may be this). A text is whatever piece of communication you are analyzing. This could be, for example, a speech, an advertisement, or a satirical image.
In these cases, your analysis would focus on more than just languageâyou might look at visual or sonic elements of the text too.
The context is everything surrounding the text: Who is the author (or speaker, designer, etc.)? Who is their (intended or actual) audience? When and where was the text produced, and for what purpose?
Looking at the context can help to inform your rhetorical analysis. For example, Martin Luther King, Jr.âs âI Have a Dreamâ speech has universal power, but the context of the civil rights movement is an important part of understanding why.
Claims, supports, and warrants
A piece of rhetoric is always making some sort of argument, whether itâs a very clearly defined and logical one (e.g. in a philosophy essay) or one that the reader has to infer (e.g. in a satirical article). These arguments are built up with claims, supports, and warrants.
A claim is the fact or idea the author wants to convince the reader of. An argument might center on a single claim, or be built up out of many. Claims are usually explicitly stated, but they may also just be implied in some kinds of text.
The author uses supports to back up each claim they make. These might range from hard evidence to emotional appealsâanything that is used to convince the reader to accept a claim.
The warrant is the logic or assumption that connects a support with a claim. Outside of quite formal argumentation, the warrant is often unstatedâthe author assumes their audience will understand the connection without it. But that doesnât mean you canât still explore the implicit warrant in these cases.
For example, look at the following statement:
We can see a claim and a support here, but the warrant is implicit. Here, the warrant is the assumption that more likeable candidates would have inspired greater turnout. We might be more or less convinced by the argument depending on whether we think this is a fair assumption.
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Rhetorical analysis isnât a matter of choosing concepts in advance and applying them to a text. Instead, it starts with looking at the text in detail and asking the appropriate questions about how it works:
- What is the authorâs purpose?
- Do they focus closely on their key claims, or do they discuss various topics?
- What tone do they takeâangry or sympathetic? Personal or authoritative? Formal or informal?
- Who seems to be the intended audience? Is this audience likely to be successfully reached and convinced?
- What kinds of evidence are presented?
By asking these questions, youâll discover the various rhetorical devices the text uses. Donât feel that you have to cram in every rhetorical term you knowâfocus on those that are most important to the text.
The following sections show how to write the different parts of a rhetorical analysis.
Like all essays, a rhetorical analysis begins with an introduction . The introduction tells readers what text youâll be discussing, provides relevant background information, and presents your thesis statement .
Hover over different parts of the example below to see how an introduction works.
Martin Luther King, Jr.âs âI Have a Dreamâ speech is widely regarded as one of the most important pieces of oratory in American history. Delivered in 1963 to thousands of civil rights activists outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech has come to symbolize the spirit of the civil rights movement and even to function as a major part of the American national myth. This rhetorical analysis argues that Kingâs assumption of the prophetic voice, amplified by the historic size of his audience, creates a powerful sense of ethos that has retained its inspirational power over the years.
The body of your rhetorical analysis is where youâll tackle the text directly. Itâs often divided into three paragraphs, although it may be more in a longer essay.
Each paragraph should focus on a different element of the text, and they should all contribute to your overall argument for your thesis statement.
Hover over the example to explore how a typical body paragraph is constructed.
Kingâs speech is infused with prophetic language throughout. Even before the famous âdreamâ part of the speech, Kingâs language consistently strikes a prophetic tone. He refers to the Lincoln Memorial as a âhallowed spotâ and speaks of rising âfrom the dark and desolate valley of segregationâ to âmake justice a reality for all of Godâs children.â The assumption of this prophetic voice constitutes the textâs strongest ethical appeal; after linking himself with political figures like Lincoln and the Founding Fathers, Kingâs ethos adopts a distinctly religious tone, recalling Biblical prophets and preachers of change from across history. This adds significant force to his words; standing before an audience of hundreds of thousands, he states not just what the future should be, but what it will be: âThe whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.â This warning is almost apocalyptic in tone, though it concludes with the positive image of the âbright day of justice.â The power of Kingâs rhetoric thus stems not only from the pathos of his vision of a brighter future, but from the ethos of the prophetic voice he adopts in expressing this vision.
The conclusion of a rhetorical analysis wraps up the essay by restating the main argument and showing how it has been developed by your analysis. It may also try to link the text, and your analysis of it, with broader concerns.
Explore the example below to get a sense of the conclusion.
It is clear from this analysis that the effectiveness of Kingâs rhetoric stems less from the pathetic appeal of his utopian âdreamâ than it does from the ethos he carefully constructs to give force to his statements. By framing contemporary upheavals as part of a prophecy whose fulfillment will result in the better future he imagines, King ensures not only the effectiveness of his words in the moment but their continuing resonance today. Even if we have not yet achieved Kingâs dream, we cannot deny the role his words played in setting us on the path toward it.
If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!
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The goal of a rhetorical analysis is to explain the effect a piece of writing or oratory has on its audience, how successful it is, and the devices and appeals it uses to achieve its goals.
Unlike a standard argumentative essay , it’s less about taking a position on the arguments presented, and more about exploring how they are constructed.
The term âtextâ in a rhetorical analysis essay refers to whatever object youâre analyzing. Itâs frequently a piece of writing or a speech, but it doesnât have to be. For example, you could also treat an advertisement or political cartoon as a text.
Logos appeals to the audienceâs reason, building up logical arguments . Ethos appeals to the speakerâs status or authority, making the audience more likely to trust them. Pathos appeals to the emotions, trying to make the audience feel angry or sympathetic, for example.
Collectively, these three appeals are sometimes called the rhetorical triangle . They are central to rhetorical analysis , though a piece of rhetoric might not necessarily use all of them.
In rhetorical analysis , a claim is something the author wants the audience to believe. A support is the evidence or appeal they use to convince the reader to believe the claim. A warrant is the (often implicit) assumption that links the support with the claim.
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Rhetorical Analysis Essay. : A rhetorical analysis essay is an essay that examines how an author uses language and persuasive techniques to convey their message and influence the audience. It analyzes the effectiveness of these strategies in achieving the author's purpose. đœ Exam Skills study guides written by former AP English Lang students ...
Step 2: MAD TO WRITE! Follow this process to prepare for any timed rhetorical analysis essay. Some of this is redundant, but this portion has more to do with the actual process of writing an essay, whereas the previous questions are part of simply gaining full comprehension of the text. Main ideas – read to determine what points the speaker makes
A rhetorical analysis is a type of essay that looks at a text in terms of rhetoric. This means it is less concerned with what the author is saying than with how they say it: their goals, techniques, and appeals to the audience. A rhetorical analysis is structured similarly to other essays: an introduction presenting the thesis, a body analyzing ...