Kobe Bryant killed in a helicopter crash.

Analyzing a Text Rhetorically
Our recent class readings focus on reading and writing rhetorically (Chapters 2 & 11 in The Norton Field Guide to Writing). We have discussed some key concepts such as the rhetorical context, purpose, audience, genre, stance, and media/design. We have learned that when we read a “text” (e.g., an image, piece of writing, cultural event/artifact) we need to pay attention to how the text communicates to its audience and achieves its purpose. When we write, we need to consider carefully the specific situation for which we write. Analyzing a text from a rhetorical perspective will help you make observations about a text, read it critically, and recognize/identify the rhetorical moves others make to communicate to their audiences and to prompt cooperation and collaboration with their audiences.

In this writing project assignment, you will choose a text and analyze it through a rhetorical lens. This assignment provides you with an opportunity to evaluate and analyze the rhetorical context and rhetorical moves/strategies of your chosen text. For your analysis, you may choose a political speech, a newspaper article, an academic essay, or an advertisement. You may need to address these questions: What historical/social/political situation does the author respond to? What are the author’s purposes? What message does the author hope to convey? Who is the intended audience? What effects does the text have on the reader? What specific rhetorical strategies does the author use to establish their ethos/credibility and to appeal logically and/or emotionally to the reader? How do these strategies/textual features help the author deliver their message? How successfully does the author communicate their ideas to the reader?

When you analyze your chosen text, do some research to find out its social, historical, cultural contexts and the author’s background, read the text closely, and identify its rhetorical strategies. You may quote specific phrases/sentences to support your interpretation of the text. Examine in detail how and why the writer uses specific words, phrases, sentences, images, and statistics. Think about how the author arranges words, including the order in which they appear and their function in specific sentences. Providing thorough explanations of how your textual examples connect to your observations is key to an in-depth analysis.

You should use the analytical tools we have been practicing in class, your class notes about the rhetorical situation and rhetorical appeals, sample essays (see Chapter 2, Chapter 11, and Chapter 61 in The Norton Field Guide to Writing), and your weekly reading responses to help you develop your essay.

Finally, be sure to pay attention to your own rhetorical context as you write: what is your purpose for writing? who is your audience, and why should they care about your analysis of your chosen text? Make your analysis matter by giving your readers specific reasons to care about your analysis.

Feedback and Assessment
As I read your essays, I will consider the following questions:

Does the essay have a clear controlling idea thoroughly developed throughout the essay?
Does the essay provide a detailed analysis of the rhetorical context/situation of the chosen text? Does the essay situate the text in its social, historical, and cultural context?
Does the essay examine the major rhetorical strategies used by the author?
Do the paragraphs develop well-defined claims with specific textual examples and detailed explanations of their implications?
Does the essay use secondary sources appropriately to help develop the analysis?
Are the paragraphs linked together into a well-developed and coherent interpretation of the chosen text?
Do the sentences of the essay express the writer’s ideas clearly and effectively?
This is not an argument paper in the traditional sense; that is, you don’t argue with your chosen author. Your role is to make observations about how the author makes his/her argument and whether the author’s rhetorical moves are effective (so in a sense, your thesis will make claims about how effective or ineffective the author’s rhetorical moves are).

Specifications
Development
Your essay should be between 1200-1500 words in length and formatted in MLA style. This means you should use a 12 point font, double-line space, and 1″ margins all around the page.

Sources
Your essay should include 2-3 secondary sources. These sources are in addition to the primary text you choose for your analysis. These secondary sources can come from our textbook, our library, trustworthy or reputable websites, other reactions, responses, or critiques of the text you’ve chosen, or newspapers. You may use encyclopedia and dictionary entries, but they don’t count as one of the 2-3 secondary sources you need. However, please avoid at all costs doing a Google search for “rhetorical analysis of [insert the name of your text here]” – your analysis should be your original and genuine thinking.

Elements for Analyzing a Text Rhetorically
Rhetorical Situation (good for “textual” analysis)
Purpose
Audience
Genre
Stance
Media/Design
Rhetorical Appeals (good for “rhetorical” analysis)
Logos
Pathos
Ethos
Kairos
Key Features of Textual Analyses
A concise description of the text
Not everyone will be familiar with thing you’re analyzing, so you need to summarize/describe/explain it to them a little bit (more or less depending on how familiar your audience might be with the text)
Attention to the text’s context
Texts don’t exist in isolation; you need to situate the text you’re analyzing and your analysis of the text within the broader social, cultural, or historical context of the text
Try to answer this question: how is your analysis of the text relevant to your audience in 2023?
A clear interpretation or judgment of the text
You get to be the judge of how “good” you think the text is
Reasonable support for your conclusions
Use lots of examples from the text to support your interpretation/judgment/opinion
For example…
Childish Gambino’s music video “This Is America” effectively establishes a striking contrast between easy-going fun and the gun violence that is plaguing the United States (particularly in the Black community). For example, in the opening sequence of the video… [describe the scene] (00:00:30) (HH:MM:SS)

Freewriting Prompt on Analysis and Rhetoric
Analysis
What do you suppose it means to “analyze” something?
Freewrite. Don’t Google it.
Analyzing involves interpreting stuff
Analyzing involves “dissecting” stuff
“Break down,” “inspect,” “go over with a fine-toothed comb,” “go over in great detail”
Discover the text’s purpose
“Observe carefully,” “gather information,” read with purpose

Analysis involves breaking a thing down into its component parts in order to see how the individual parts work together.
Rhetoric
What do you suppose the word “Rhetoric” means?
Rhetoric (n)
Rhetorical (adj/adv)
Rhetorician (n)
Don’t Google it. Just freewrite. Access your prior knowledge.

What’s a “rhetorical question”? It’s a question where the asker isn’t asking the question in order to get an answer.

Why ask a question when you’re not looking for an answer?
Rhetorical question purpose:
Make a statement
Prompt the audience to think
The asker already knows the answer (and maybe the audience does too)

If a “rhetorical question” means asking a question with a specific purpose in mind and having a specific audience in mind, then rhetoric might have something to do with thinking about language and communication with audience and purpose in mind.
Rhetorical Analysis
What might it mean to analyze something rhetorically? What might a “rhetorical analysis” do?
Interpreting a text with purpose (i.e. to analyze the text from a rhetorical perspective)
Read a text carefully to identify elements of its rhetorical situation
Purpose, Audience, Genre, Stance, and Media/Design
Persuasion
Prompting the audience to cooperate with the creator/speaker/author/etc.
Prompting cooperation
Prompting teamwork
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This prompting can happen through good, purposeful appeals to logos, pathos, ethos, and kairos.

Please do the rhetorical essay on this article: https://www.latestbasketballnews.com/kobe-bryant-killed-in-a-helicopter-crash/

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