Rhetorical Analysis

Essay 1 Planning Sheet

Below are a series of questions and prompts that are meant to help you focus and articulate your ideas for Essay 1; they are meant to help you plan out your first draft of Essay 1.

Part 1: Create a Thesis for Essay 1

Essay 1: Summary/Strong Response prompts you to analyze an author’s use of rhetorical appeals (logos, ethos, and pathos) in a selected article. You can also analyze the author’s angle of vision.

For Part 1 of this planning sheet, create a thesis statement that could work for your Essay 1, which is a rhetorical analysis essay 3-4 pages in length. You will want to study Chapter 5 carefully and revisit Chapter 3, especially concepts 3.1 and 3.2.

Before you type your own thesis statement, study these samples. Learn what they are made of and why they work well for a rhetorical critique:

· In his article “The Current Crisis in Education,” Jones effectively convinces his audience that (insert main idea of the article) through the use of statistics and surveys paired with emotional stories.

· In “Vampire Weekend,” Samaira Patel persuades her intended readers through her effective appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos.

· Though Molly Guerrero effectively appeals to ethos and logos in her article “Wicked Lions,” readers won’t be able to escape how much her angle of vision limits her coverage of the presidential race.

What to Notice:

1. Each thesis names the author and article

2. Each thesis makes a clear judgment of the author’s appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos and, perhaps, the author’s angle of vision (Notice that the third sample thesis just names two rhetorical appeals. This is fine if you choose to also analyze the angle of vision.)

Now, for Part 1, type out a thesis statement that presents (for the article you have selected) your judgments of the author’s appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos and, if relevant, on how the author’s angle of vision affects the rhetorical situation. Make sure your thesis statement applies the “What to Notice” criteria listed just above. Try writing several thesis statements to see which one works best for you; then pick the best one. Type your thesis statement(s) in the box below.

Type your thesis statement(s) in this box: Now explain how your thesis statement meets the criteria in “What to Notice”:

Part 2: Create Topic Sentences for Essay 1

Now that you have a thesis statement that could work as the main idea of an essay that analyzes your selected article’s rhetorical appeals and, perhaps, angle of vision, you need to create some topic sentences that will serve to present the two, three, or four ideas in your thesis statement. These topic sentences should present specific analytical claims that are generalized in the thesis statement.

Here are a few sample topic sentences:

· Nguyen appeals to logos with relevant and sufficient evidence for each of his major claims.

· In “My Morning Jacket,” Jabari Owusu appeals to pathos with tasteful and precisely placed anecdotes.

· Maxine Ruska’s angle of vision reveals her conservative values.

What to Notice:

1. Notice how each topic sentence presents one main idea about the rhetorical appeals or the angle of vision.

2. Each topic sentence needs evidence to support it; statements of fact won’t work.

Now, for Part 2, type out the two or more topic sentences that present all the claims about rhetorical appeals and/or angle of vision that make up your thesis statement. Present one idea at a time—one idea per topic sentence. The idea is that these topic sentences will serve as the main ideas for your essay’s body paragraphs, and each body paragraph will have one main idea. Make sure your topic sentences apply the “What to Notice” criteria listed just above. Type your topic sentences in the box below.

Type your topic sentences in this box: Now explain how, overall, your topic sentences meet the criteria in “What to Notice”:

Part 3: Compose One Body Paragraph for Essay 1

In the box below, draft a body paragraph for Essay 1 using one of your topic sentences as your main idea. Your body paragraph should have the following elements and should identify each element as instructed below.

· A Topic Sentence that is the one main idea of the paragraph (Bold your topic sentence).

· At least two examples from the article you are analyzing that support your topic sentence (Italicize these examples).

· Following each example, analyze the example to explain to your readers how the example actually supports your topic sentence (underline the analysis of each example).

· Use Skill 17.7 (see pages 458-462)—the old/new contract—in each of your sentences (highlight old information in red and new information in blue in each of your sentences).

· Use Skill 17.6 (see pages 455-458)—transitions and other signposts (highlight transitions in yellow).

· Lastly, end your paragraph with a sentence that wraps up your paragraph’s main idea by linking it to your essay’s thesis statement (highlight this link to the thesis in green).

Type your body paragraph into this box: