AP Lang: Rhetorical Analysis

The Rhetorical Triangle

  • According to Aristotle, rhetoric is defined as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”--- in any particular case, using whatever is going to work
  • Using language effectively to persuade, inform, education, or entertain
  • Rhetoric is always situational
  • The set of circumstances out of which a text (written or spoken) arises. Any time anyone is trying to make an argument, one is doing so out of a particular context, one that influences and shapes the argument that is made \n

What is Rhetoric

  • What is said (message) \n Who is saying it (speaker) \n Who is listening (audience)
  • Where I when it is being said (context, appeals)
  • How it is being said (tone, style)

The Author/Speaker

  • Gender/racial/geographical/socioeconomic/political orientation of author
  • Author Bias/hidden agenda
  • Other important biographical information may affect text

The Audience

  • Hostile or sympathetic
  • How will they receive the message?
  • How will they affect tone? Style?
  • Who is the intentional audience? (You are NOT the intentional audience) \n Who is the unintentional audience?  (you are; pieces aren’t written for you; might accidentally become the audience)
  • Over time, does the message/effect of the message changes as the audience changes

The Message

  • What is the main point being made? In other words, what is the writer’s/speaker’s thesis?
  • Look at the message as an argument/position being sold to the audience. What is the author trying to convince the audience of?

Message: Concrete information

Purpose

  • Author’s intent
  • What does the author/speaker hope to achieve through his message
  • Abstracts that come out of the message
  • Implications

*Everything’s an argument; You always have to KNOW the purpose; Don’t talk about logos, ethos, and pathos

Tone

  • What is the author’s attitude about their subject/message
  • What words in the message let you know the tone?
  • How does the selection of the tone affect the audience’s reception of the message? Is it appropriate for the occasion/subject matter?

Caustic: Poisoning; meant burning- come to mean bitingly sarcastic or hurtful

  • Tone can only be created through diction

The Style

  • What strategies does the author employ in order to get his/her message across?
  • These strategies may include: ethos, logos, pathos; organization; diction;syntax; figurative language; grammatical structure; selection of details; imagery; source material (quotes) from an expert source
  • Don’t ever say: Author uses diction

Ethos/pathos/Logos

Ethos

  • Established credibility and knowledge of subject
  • Ethics morals

Pathos

  • Emotional appeal

Logos

  • Logical appeal
  • Statistics, facts, data

The Rhetorical Situation

  • Exigence
  • Audience
  • Author
  • Purpose
  • Context

The Exigence

  • The part of a rhetorical situation that inspires, stimulates, provokes, or prompts writers to create a text; what sparks us to act

The Rhetorical Context

  • Under what circumstances is the author addressing his/her audience?
  • In other words, what is going on in the world at the time this text was composed, and how do those events affect the text?
  • *Might not always know context

How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis

  • Separates on what the passage is about (WHAT) from HOW it’s being said (rhetorical strategies)

Rhetorical Techniques

  • Effective use of words to persuade or influence---PERSUADE
  • Includes THE CONSIDERATION of ethos, logos, and pathos (Don’t WRITE it ethos, logos, and pathos- not techniques; info about message and speaker and audience)
  • Don’t say: establishes credibility or provides a logical argument
  • Includes FIDDS: Figurative Language, Imagery, Diction (Tone), details, structure (syntax), etc. ANYTHING that CREATES MEANING
  • Anything used to deliberately create effect

Rhetorical ANalysis: What, How, Why

  • What is the writer doing? What are they doing to convey the purpose?
  • How does the author achieve purpose?
  • Why? Why did the author choose to convey the purpose in the manner that they do?

Elaborating on Analysis

  • HOW: What techniques does the writer choose to present the material?
  • WHY: Are the choices effective and appropriate for the intended audience
  • SO WHAT: What is accomplished or created

Things you must know in order to analyze a text:

  • SOAPS: Speaker, Occasion (Context), Audience, Purpose, Subject (What is it about-objective): INTRODUCTION---Know them quickly!!!
  • Rhetorical Strategies- What is the author doing (Verbs) to create meaning?
  • Rhetorical Devices- What tools is the author using (noun) to create meaning?
  • Appeals (ethos, logos, pathos)
  • Style (diction, syntax, details, imagery, tone, etc.)

In AP exam we need an intro and conclusion- if you have time

Rhetorical Techniques vs. strategies vs. Devices

  • Techniques/Devices (NOUNS- tools author uses while doing something):
  • Statistics
  • anaphora (repeat)
  • antithesis (counter/refutes/contrasts)
  • alliteration  (repeat)
  • antimetabole (structures)
  • anecdote (narrates, tells, illustrates)
  • Allusions (alludes), Zeugma
  • Strategies: What the author DOES and HOW does the author do it
  • VERBS: THINK ONLY WITH VERBS DUDE
  • Ex. He narrates the concept a moment;
  • so you don’t use device
  • talk actively of what the author’s strategies
  • What is the tool doing
    • It helps come up with the verb
  • ANalysis: Why the author chooses to do those things and use those devices for a particular purpose:
  • ex. Why does MLK describe the brutality of the police? Because it was appropriate for the audience

*don’t use Shows, use/employs/utilizes, don’t say audience or reader (MENTION SPECIFIC AUDIENCE DUDE, don’t just say AUDIENCE, don’t say the reader)

Why did the author choose these strategies/devices for the particular audience, occasion, and or purpose?

  • This is the analysis part!
  • HOW did the rhetorical strategies/devices help the author achieve his/her purpose
  • Why does the author choose those strategies/devices

Introduction

Put SOAPS in your introduction and follow this format:

  1. First sentence:

    1. DRAMATIC and Hooks people (ex. MLK, champion of segregation, spent his life fighting for civil rights, but was assassinated. Once such an experience….) Speaker, Occasion and Subject
  • (Writer’s credentials) (writer’s first and last name) (In his/her type of text) (title of text) (strong verb) (writer’s subject)

Introductions is tiny

  1. Purpose (Writer’s last name)’s purpose is to (what the author does in the text)
  2. Audience
  3. Thesis

Thesis: How to Write it

  • In the (Genre) (Title of the Piece), (Contextual Information about Author and/or TExt), (Author’s Name) (Rhetorical Choice 1), (Rhetorical Choice 2), (Rhetorical Choice 3) in order to(Answer: What is the audience supposed to understand after experiencing the text?)ultimately moving (insert audience) to ___(what is the audience supposed to do after experiencing the text)
  • *Rhetorical choices are verbs
  • Thesis statement is long, not a run on sentence
  • DO NOT use adverbs: consistently repeats
  • Choices are verbs and Devices

Conclusion

  • How rhetorical strategies achieve the purpose: 2-3 sentences

Body Paragraph

Commentary (analysis) :

  • Commentary explains the significance and relevance of evidence in relation to the line of reasoning
  • Examines the importance
  • Explains how rhetorical choices in the passage contribute to the writer’s argument, purpose or message
  • Relates to the rhetorical situation in Greater context
  • Explain how evidence supports a line of reasoning
  • Connects to your claim

Introduction to the Synthesis Essay

  • Essay that argues your point of view on a given issue
  • Along with the prompt, you are give six-eight sources
  • One of the sources is an image: Photo, chart, graph, cartoon
  • From three of the sources you are to draw facts, ideas, information - any relevant evidence you can use to bolster your argument
  • Time frame - 55 minutes
  • 14 minutes to read, take notes, write outlines, and think about the issue. Jot down a tentative thesis
  • 40 minutes to write the essay

What do readers want to see in the Synthesis essay

  • Ap readers want to see papers where students have:
  • Completed all sections of the prompt
  • Have used the available texts to support their assertions
  • Have examined the topic in depth
  • Have written an interesting, organized, and insightful essay
  • Have documented sources properly

What's it about?

  • A synthesis essay is an argumentative essay
  • Must state a claim or statement of opinion
  • Thesis statement
  • Support the claim by presenting a variety  of supporting evidence
  • Solid evidence - facts, observations, statistics, the opinions of experts, relevant anecdotes, etc.
  • Logically presented ideas
  • Convince readers that you understand the essay assignment and that you can apply both your own ideas and other ideas that you’ve found in the sources to build a persuasive argument

What is the prompt asking you to do?

  • First section- introduces the assignment
  • Stirs up your thinking
  • Doesn't tell you how to proceed
  • Second section- spells out the instructions
  • Read the sources and write an essay
  • One that takes a position that either agrees or disagrees with the proposition that portable electronic communication has improved our lives
  • It also offer you the option of modifying or qualifying the statement
  • Third section- directions explaining what a synthesis essay is.

Reading the sources

  • Read to understand what the source has to say
  • Quickly underline or circle supporting ideas, topic sentences, and other key words and phrases
  • Read to analyze the author’s position on the issue
  • Where the author presents evidence in favor in the slaim, put a check in the margin
  • Where the evidence opposes, write an X
  • Read for evidence and data that help define your position on the usse
  • The position you choose should be the one about which you have the most compelling things to say
  • Interpret the visual source
  • Ask yourself what relevant information it contributes to the discussion of the issue.

Addressing the validity of Sources

  • When it was published
  • Where it came from
  • He leery of a blogger’s website, a supermarket tabloid
  • Best from scholarly journals, government documents, books by reputable authors, popular mass magazines
  • Who it reads were likely to be
  • What its purpose was
  • Knowing why an author decided to write a particular passage helps you figure out how trustworthy it is
  • How objectively it was written
  • It is reliable, rational. And does it support the idea with sound evidence

The visual

  • It may take the form of a chart, table, photograph, political cartoon, or painting
  • You should follow the same steps for analyzing the visual as you do when annotating the passages
  • Look for bias
  • Datedness
  • Position
  • Audience
  • Point of view and usefulness to your argument

What not to do:

  • Reduce wordiness!
  • Get rid of passive voice or with force of the verb to be
  • Don't use "will" either
  • Don't use there are or this is
  • "He is loving his dog"
    • Make it more active by saying "He loves his dog"
  • Sentences with constructions can be shortened
  • Can tighten essay and be more specific
  • Avoid slang
  • Avoid language that is overly casual
  • Avoid contractions
  • Avoid cliches such as: Better late than never, green with envy, etc.
  • BE careful when you use words that sound alike but have different meaning: ex. Complement vs. compliment/ allusion vs. illusion/ council vs. counsel/ concurrent vs. consecutive
  • Choose words with the connotations you want
  • Use specific words rather than overly general words