RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT #3

English 103 / Jones / Spring 2010

In order to prepare you for making a rhetorically effective Persuasive Essay in the format of a website,

you will first write a rhetorical analysis of a website. The goal here is that after analyzing a work (rather

than simply reading it) you will know both what kinds of websites are persuasive and what makes them

persuasive. Your rhetorical analysis is due on , 1 Thursday April (this is not an April Fools’ Day joke), via

email, by 5:00 that evening. This assignment will be worth 5% of your final grade.

1) Find a few potential websites that are related to your WP #3 topic to evaluate, and then select one of

them to analyze. Read over the website a few times and take notes.

2) Write a 500 word (minimum) analysis of the source based on the rhetorical principles.

Follow this format:

A) Introduction (to set up the direction of your paper – “tell me what you’re going to say”)

B) The Body (the primary section for your rhetorical analysis – “say it.” Don’t assume that

your audience has seen the website; be as specific as possible as you provide

brief

descriptions of the source to set up your analysis.)

C) Conclusion (comment on the source’s rhetoric. Is it effective/persuasive? How/why?)

Address the following items as you write the body of your analysis:

A) Identify the text, writer and (as best as you can) the assumed audience for the text.

The

first two should be easy. For audience issues, think about the style (is it childish,

youthful, or mature?) and the content (childish/youthful/mature?). Think about

demographics – would this appeal to more or less educated people? People of

particular genders or ethnicities? Detail how the style and content might appeal

to

the assumed audience you have identified.

B) How does the author use the 3 rhetorical appeals (logos, ethos, pathos)? Are they used

well or poorly? Find specific moments from the site and connect those instances

to the 3 rhetorical appeals. While you write, make sure to provide specific details

from the text. Every time you make a claim, you should have reasons and

evidence

(in this case, you will most likely be looking for textual evidence). Specifically cite

where you find textual evidence (pg. #, paragraph #, etc.), and directly quote

from

the text as you mention your evidence.

C) Identify each kind of context ( /physical geographical, historical, social). How does the

site respond to particular historical, social and physical/geographical issues?

For this analysis, I want you to address 3 all kinds of context (hint: don’t

write, for example, that “there is no geographical context” – every text

contains all 3, even if one kind of context may be more obvious or central to

the text than the others.) Link this back to the audience – who might be

interested in reading about the contextual issues addressed in the text? Do you

think the author responds well to the given contexts, or not?

D) Address visual/multimodal rhetoric ( , , images audio video, etc.). Find a specific moment

in the text where the author uses multimodal rhetoric, and explain if this moment

is persuasive and how it is or isn’t. Again, make sure to present specific

textual evidence – either quote from the text (if possible) or describe the

multimodal moment as you discuss how it may or may not be persuasive.

3) Remember the MSS (manuscript) guidelines (see the syllabus).

4) Put the word count after your final paragraph.

5) Make an MLA-style “Works Cited” for your one source at the end of the analysis (after the word count).