Rhetorical Analysis

Part 1

In paragraph form, explain the Rhetorical Situation, and its relevance for rhetorical analysis. Additionally, explain what the ultimate goals of performing a rhetorical analysis. Finally, explain some of the stakes involved with rhetoric and rhetorical analysis. Meaning, why does it matter whether we are able to understand rhetoric, analyze it, or come to judgements about it? Does it matter for our daily life?

Your Part 1 response should be between ¾ and 1 full page in length (double spaced).

Part 2

For this part of the assignment, find a piece of written rhetoric online—this can be a news article, an advertisement, a review, something informative, et cetera—and perform an in-depth analysis of it. Provide the URL to the source at the end of your response.

Once you find a suitable composition, do the following things (your response should be written in paragraph form, and not in a bulleted list or another non-prose form):

First, summarize the composition in a general way, such as who created it (an author or entity of some kind), when it was published, and what its goals seem to be. For example, it could be attempting to inform you; it could be attempting to persuade you to do/believe something; it could also be an attempt to propose a solution to a problem, as well as another purpose not listed here.

Second, perform a more in-depth analysis of the composition you’ve chosen by examining the piece’s rhetorical situation—audience, purpose, genres, author’s stance, context, and media. Your goal should be simply a close examination of how this piece of rhetoric is put together and why you believe it uses the conventions it uses. For example, one thing that may be present is images or hyperlinks, and you should analyze what this does to add something to the author’s overall rhetorical goals.

Third, once you have analyzed and explained the piece’s rhetorical situation and understood how its different parts function together to achieve its particular goals, judge how well you think it performs. If the goal of the piece is to persuade you to buy something, is it effective? Does it work well to achieve that goal? How/why? If the goal is to inform, how well does it do that? Why? Try to be as specific as possible in your response.

Your Part 2 response should be 1-2 pages in length (double spaced). Keep both parts of this assignment in one document, using standard MLA formatting.