Chapter 5: Rhetorical Analysis

Understanding the Purpose of Arguments You Are Analyzing

To understand any argument you must ask yourself what its purpose is and be aware that the purpose may be hidden.

Consider the following:

Find College ScholarshipsTake a TourLogin Start Your Free Scholarship Search

Today! In just a few minutes, you could find

thousands, maybe tens of thousands of dollars in free college scholarship money! College is expensive and you don't want to be saddled with any more student loans than necessary. Spend a little time and save a lot of money!

Once the viewer enters his or her profile and contact information, the website links to an ad for ITT Technical Institute…

What was the original argument’s purpose?

Understanding Who Makes an Argument

Knowing who is claiming what is key because the interest and motive might be very different!

Consider the following examples:

How does the message change depending on who is saying it?

Identifying and Appealing to Audiences

Pay attention to specific words used to attract a particular audience.

Note length of text and how it draws or detracts.

Consider the tone and style of the argument and how it works for certain people.

Examining Arguments Based on Emotion: Pathos

Your task in a rhetorical analysis is to study an author’s words, the emotions they invoke, and the claims they support and then to judge whether or not they all worked to make the argument a “winner”.

Check the following ad for its use of pathos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyXFN4ocN_o

What emotions were evoked? What claim did they support? Was it effective?

Examining Arguments Based on Character: Ethos

Readers believe writers who seem honest, wise, and trustworthy.

Pay attention to details, right down to the choice of words or, in a visual argument, the shapes and colors.

Check out the following ad for its use of ethos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyET

522rKMA Does the speaker have the authority to

talk about the product? Are the claims reasonably qualified? Are important objections to the

speaker’s position acknowledged and addressed?

Was the speaker effective?

Examining Arguments Based on Facts and reason: Logos

You must decide if the argument makes a believable claim.

The way an argument is presented must itself be reasonable and ordered logically.

Specific facts and reasons support the claim.

Consider the closing arguments in a Palo Alto Youth mock trial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csWjSiIuq-Y

Which advocate had a more logical argument?

How were the claims supported with facts?

Examining the Arrangement and Media of Arguments Arguments have a basic structure

of statement and proof. There is no set pattern in which an

argument must be presented. Sometimes the choice of media

can make a difference in the way the argument is understood, so pay attention.