Rhetorical Analysis Essay

We discussed some approaches to keep in mind regarding the Rhetorical Analysis Essay in our meetings this week. Here are a few reminders about what to be considering as you draft your essay:

Be sure to read the assignment carefully, but also go back to review feedback and resources. They are linked throughout the unit, but a number are linked at the page on your Genre Discussion Post. Don’t forget the course feedback on the Questionnaire–there is information there that suggested ideas about paragraph formation, topic sentences, and other writing matters.

Your draft should include the skeleton of your essay and as much of the “flesh” as possible. Bold in your essay what is bolded below (the skeleton). This helps you see whether you are noticing some connection between these (you should).

A reflective title
In your introduction–your thesis
At the beginning of each body paragraph–the topic sentence that also contains a transition from what came before.
A conclusion that helps us see how you’ve supported your thesis and why this is significant.
Of course, you should include as much of the other elements as you can as well. For the introduction, that is your attention grabber and what you will be focused on in your essay and for your body paragraphs that will be evidence to support your claims.

Remember, you want to focus but you also have to judge what you need to include to make sense of your analysis. For example, if you are comparing strategies, we’ll need to know why–strategies are in support of a particular purpose for a particular audience, so addressing this will help clarify whether these are actually useful strategies or not. Considering credibility usually will hinge on more than one criterion. In all cases, you have to identify the rhetor and source; some information may be useful beyond that as we may not know who or what these are and unless they are reliable to some degree, we might not care if their strategies are useful. Where you spend most of your time in the essay, however, will depend on the focus you choose.