Rhetorical Analysis Essay Assignment

Rhetorical theorist Kenneth Burke asserts rhetoric is everywhere – and he’s right! Every day, people are bombarded with information from sources like newspapers, commercials, movies, speeches, campaigns, editorials, movies, television shows, music, social media, and blogs. People interpret information and make decisions by drawing conclusions from observations. Understanding how rhetorical strategies persuade audiences gives viewers an inside scoop on how speechwriters, advertisers, film directors, politicians, and other rhetors use appeals to effectively (or not) to get audiences to react.

What is Analysis?

Analysis allows a writer (in this case, you) to take a deep dive into a work in order to gain a deeper understanding of the work in its context. Analysis breaks things down through close examination of the parts that make up a whole. A rhetorical analysis is “an argument that takes a close look at the strategies of persuasion” (Ruszkiewicz & Dolmage 223). By looking more closely at how media uses strategies of persuasion, consumers of information can better understand how media is attempting to say something and how we as consumers can use that information. Laura Bolin Carroll extolls the importance of learning to analyze situations to "draw informed conclusions" about "people, situations and media" (46). The more you know, the better-informed choices you’ll be able to make in the future (and the better you will become at interpreting and explaining evidence in your fields of study).

Instructions

Writers will craft an article for Slate readers (audience) as part of their Ad Report Card series--usually released just after the Super Bowl (https://slate.com/business/ad-report-card). The goal (purpose) of this article should be to catch readers’ interest and present readers with an interesting analysis of popular media, providing awareness of the current cultural climate in which you hope to survive and thrive. Before getting started, take a look at the examples in Slate to learn more about the genre conventions and structure for this kind of writing task.

With the onset of digital media, there are many modes for expressing ideas beyond oral and textual. For the rhetorical analysis, writers will analyze an aspect of American pop or contemporary culture in multimodal media. Multimodal encompasses media that contains more than one element used to communicate a message (Lauer; Selfe; Wysocki). Multimodal media for this assignment must include more than textual or oral elements, like visuals or sound effects.

The rhetorical analysis can be conducted on written, visual, or audio elements in a “text." Writing analytically means interpreting and breaking down a work into parts and looking at how the parts convey a message. The purpose of this assignment is to closely examine and interpret how a media uses rhetorical strategies to effectively convey a message about a theme. Students will be expected to "draw informed conclusions" about the media by explaining the relationship between the theme analyzed and how the media effectively uses "strategies of persuasion."

Process:

Choose a multimodal media for analysis that fits one of these categories:

A music video or multi-modal poem (not just the lyrics)
A 30 second to 1 minute commercial
A podcast or other digital performance
A scene from a film (must be specific, no more than 10 minutes long)
A theme from a tv show (for example, same-sex marriage in Modern Family)
A comic or graphic novel section
Performative art

*Media must not be more than 5 years old. If you use a media recently posted on YouTube, make sure the media is not an old media reposted to make new.

Study the media thoughtfully:

What is the media responding to?
Why might the media producers feel this way?
To whom is the message intended? Which audiences may be unintended?
What are some of the limitations of the media? Or what kinds of limitations
How did the producer employ strategies to convey a sense of purpose?
In what ways does the media demonstrate effectiveness?
Why is the contemporary media you selected so popular in today’s society?

*Note that simply describing the characters or works is not analysis; this assignment requires critical thinking and interpretation. Writers will need to describe rhetorical strategies and explain how a work uses appeals to achieve a purpose and create meaning. Further, writers will be tasked with explaining how they drew conclusions about meaning from the work based on descriptive evidence and rhetorical strategies.

Look closely at the connections between your subject and contemporary culture. Offer your readers a way of understanding the significance of the media’s meaning and the importance of your subject through your interpretation.

You may not use sources to support your analysis beyond the original media except to support context! Your analysis should consist of your own interpretation of the work’s meaning. Sources may be used for social or cultural contextualization.

Structural Elements

Organize your essay around a central question you are trying to answer about the media’s effectiveness and its significance in relation to popular culture (see Ballenger, p. 227). For example

What ideology shapes the movie Avengers: Infinity War? (Use a scene to examine the theme.)
How does the television show Yellowstone challenge thinking about land rights?
In what ways does Budweiser appeal to people in commercials to ultimately sell drinking responsibly?

In the introduction,

contextualize and summarize the media
identify the piece’s intended audience
explain the designer’s goal or purpose

Compose a thesis in which you outline the media’s strengths or weaknesses and take a stand as to whether the media either effectively or ineffectively communicate the intended message:

State the theme of the media being analyzed,
Identify the effectiveness of the media's thematic achievement,
Paraphrase the points of analysis that comprise your analysis.

In the body paragraphs, support your thesis by describing particular strategies the media designer used and explaining why the strategies were effective (or not). Use concrete, specific examples from the topic of your essay to support your thesis and discussion:

discuss rhetorical strategies used by the author, one at a time;
provide specific examples of how each strategy was used in the commercial;
analyze whether each strategy was effective or not, using strong reasoning.

For instance,

If you analyze a movie scene, television show, or advertisement to show an ethical message or ideology, summarize the scene, reference the scene extensively, and quote from the scene.
If you analyze a celebrity, quote interviews, reference their work, social media, or Twitter feeds.
If you analyze a song, break the lyrical stanzas into parts and explain them, referencing common themes and relating them to specific aspects of popular culture.

Rhetorical strategies should include the identification of the rhetorical modes used to appeal to audiences. While other literary devices may be used, for example effectiveness of a kairotic metaphor, the 3 rhetorical appeals should be explicitly or implicitly identified to show your knowledge of appeals strategies.

In the conclusion, grade the effectiveness of the rhetorical appeals used in the ad.

restate your main claim in an interesting or memorable way.
give your media a grade (A-F scale).
explain how the media effectively used appeals to achieve the given grade.
- How well do the appeals draw from the theme?
- In what ways do the rhetorical strategies achieve their purpose (or fall short)?

The conclusion should circle back to the introduction and

Other Guidelines

Length: 3-4 pages (1000-1400 words) + Works Cited page; MLA Format because the rhetorical analysis is a common type of writing occurring in arts and humanities projects. (See formatting guidelines for most current MLA style.)

Quantity is not quality.

A summary without analysis does not meet the competencies of this assignment. The works do not speak for themselves. People can generally agree on what language says, but interpretation relies on experiences, cultural ideologies, and kairos.

Timelines:

Week 1:

Unit Introduction, Discuss Assignment

Assigned reading by Gita DasBender

Example Analysis, Practice Analysis

Due: Media Selection

Week 2:

Writing Workshop: Establishing a theme

Assigned readings by

Laura Bolin Carroll

Jenae Cohn

Melanie Gagich

Thesis Statement, Logical Appeals

Due: Writing Plan

Week 3:

ICE Method, Pair & Share

Assigned Readings by

Anne Amucci

Janet Boyd

Intros & Conclusions - Giving the media a grade

Due: Complete Draft

Week 4:

Peer Review & Revision Workshop

Revision Time, Conferences

Due: Final Draft due, Reflection

Works Cited:

Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley: U of California P. 1969. Print.

Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1, Edited by Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, Parlor Press, 2010, 45-58. https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/writingspaces1/carroll--backpacks-vs-briefcases.pdf.

Lauer, Claire. "Contending with Terms: “Multimodal” and “Multimedia” in the Academic and Public Spheres." Computers and Composition, Volume 26, Issue 4, 2009, 225-239, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2009.09.001.

Ruszkiewicz, John J. and Jay T. Dolmage How to Write Anything. 3rd Ed. Bedford St Martin's, 2016.

Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers, Editor Cynthia L. Selfe, Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ, 2007.

Wysocki, Anne Frances. "Opening new media to writing: Openings and Justifications." Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition, Editors Anne Frances Wysocki, Johndan Johnson-Eilola, Cynthia L. Selfe, Geoffery Sirc, Utah State UP, Logan, 2004, 1-41.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Assignment

What is Analysis?

Instructions

Process:

Structural Elements

Other Guidelines

Timelines:

Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

Week 4:

Works Cited:

Suggested Readings

Competencies:

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Rhetorical Analysis Essay Assignment

What is Analysis?

​Instructions

​

Process:

​

Structural Elements

Other Guidelines

​Timelines:

​

Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

Week 4:

Works Cited:

​

​

Suggested Readings

Competencies:

Instructions

Timelines: