Definition: A rhetorical analysis requires you to apply your critical reading skills in order to “break down” a text. In essence, you break off the “parts” from the “whole” of the piece you’re analyzing.
The goal of a rhetorical analysis is to articulate HOW the author writes, rather than WHAT they actually wrote.
To do this, you will analyze the strategies the author uses to achieve his or her goal or purpose of writing their piece.
Keep in mind that writers of different disciplines often use varying writing strategies in order to achieve their goals.
So, it is okay to analyze a scientific article a different way than you would a humanities writer. These authors have very different goals in mind, and thus will use different writing strategies. . .
MORE . . .@ N.Carolina State U. Rhetorical Analysis
What is the rhetorical situation?
Who is the author/speaker?
What is his/her intention in speaking?
Who make up the audience?
What is the content of the message?
What is the form in which it is conveyed?
How do form and content correspond?
Does the message/speech/text succeed in fulfilling the author's or speaker's intentions?
What does the nature of the communication reveal about the culture that produced it?
SOURCE: http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Pedagogy/Rhetorical%20Analysis%20heuristic.htm
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