As you've seen in several of these lectures, it's very important to be able to understand the structure of essays, how they are written, to see how people are trying to manipulate you into doing something, buying something, believing something. Your task is basically to learn to read very carefully, and there are many clues to show you how this can be accomplished.

Assignment: choose an essay from the text and write a Rhetorical Analysis of the language. Do not explain the essay, or summarize it. ANALYZE it.

The discussion questions are designed to help you start thinking analytically. Since you CANNOT USE FIRST PERSON, you see that "In my opinion" and "Me, too," and "To me, I liked, I felt, personally, I, I, I..." are not analytical,but self-reflective. This paper will help you begin to look at college level ideas objectively, and not just for how they impact you personally.

Remember, when you analyze an argument, you'll be looking at the other person's argument, not presenting one of your own. At the analytical level, it is a BIG mistake to insert your own argument. You'll get your chance when we come to the rhetorical mode of argument.

Analyses address the question "Why?" A rhetorical analysis addresses the question, "Why is this argument effective (or not) for this particular audience? In order to answer that question, you will first need to determine who the audience for the item you have chosen is most likely to be. Remember, you may or may not be a member of the audience for the item you choose to analyze.

Look at the choices an author has made in constructing his or her argument. How is it organized? How does the author support her claims? Are there pictures? If so, what kind of work do they perform? How does the author present herself to her audience? What tone does the author assume? What does the author want her readers to do based on this argument? Will this argument appear reasonable to its intended audience? Why?

Why are we doing this? The purpose of assigning analytical papers is to help you improve your writing by examining and reflecting on some of the choices others have made to produce an effective argument. Ultimately the goal is for you to become more conscious speakers and listeners, more aware of what you are doing with language and what language is doing to you.

What is the rhetorical situation? What occasion gives rise to the need or opportunity for persuasion?

What is the historical occasion that would give rise to the composition of this text?

Who is the author/speaker?

How does he or she establish ethos (personal credibility)?

Does he/she come across as knowledgeable? fair?

Does the speaker's reputation convey a certain authority?

What is his/her intention in speaking?

To attack or defend?

To exhort or dissuade from certain action?

To praise or blame?

To teach, to delight, or to persuade?

Who make up the audience?

Who is the intended audience?

What values does the audience hold that the author or speaker appeals to?

Who have been or might be secondary audiences?

What is the content of the message?

Can you summarize the main idea?

What are the principle lines of reasoning or kinds of arguments used?

What topics of invention are employed?

How does the author or speaker appeal to reason? to emotion?

What is the form in which it is conveyed?

What is the structure of the communication; how is it arranged?

What oral or literary genre is it following?

What figures of speech (schemes and tropes) are used?

What kind of style and tone is used and for what purpose?

How do form and content correspond?

Does the form complement the content?

What effect could the form have, and does this aid or hinder the author's intention?

Does the message/speech/text succeed in fulfilling the author's or speaker's intentions?

For whom?

Does the author/speaker effectively fit his/her message to the circumstances, times, and audience?

Can you identify the responses of historical or contemporary audiences?

What does the nature of the communication reveal about the culture that produced it?

What kinds of values or customs would the people have that would produce this?

How do the allusions, historical references, or kinds of words used place this in a certain time and location?

Good luck!

(The questions in the above section are from : © 1996-98, Gideon O. Burton, Brigham Young University Please cite "Silva Rhetoricae"(http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.ht m)