ENGL 1101 Lecture 1: Rhetorical Analysis Notes
Document Summary
Purpose and form: analyzes an argument someone else has made, examines intended and reached audience, examines techniques employed, looks at ethos, pathos, and logos, closely examines structure, arrangement, and style. In the process of analyzing, a rhetorical analysis becomes its own argument. Visual arguments can be deconstructed this way, too: requires application of all the skills you"ve discussed and practiced so far. If you don"t know what an argument is trying to accomplish, you can"t assess its effectiveness or know what to compare it against: every author has an agenda. Understand that agenda is beyond simply the work itself: know what audience the author is trying to reach. Consider how other audiences may respond and whether that"s relevant. Not all can: what specific claims are made, what specific evidence is presented to back up those claims, how credible is the source of evidence, this is where nuance really matters.
