DevelopmentofMTRAPoints-SuggestionsandHelp.docxEnglish 101 - Reminders and Help for Rhetorical Analysis Paragraphs
1. Remember the “Rule of Thirds” for Body Paragraphs (Besides BP1 on Essay II)
Top 1/3 of Paragraph (about 4-5 sentences) – your development of an idea stated through a clear topic sentence and a group of follow up sentences that explain and ‘analyze’ the point.
-(P) main point of paragraph in the topic sentence
-(I) follow up and explanation of the idea, how it is true and its importance
Middle 1/3 of paragraph (4-5 sentences) – this section should be focused on ‘support’ of your that will in a sense prove the idea presented
-(E) Use of a specific example/evidence from the text or perhaps a ‘universal’ example to display and ‘show’ your audience what you mean or perhaps a secondary source
Final 1/3 (4-5 sentences) – summarize and reassert your main point in a fresh way.
-(S) Returning to your main point – you may have to transition out of your example to return back to your main idea. Be sure to restate it and perhaps change the context to analyze it in a new way.
2. Help Developing Main Points – Rhetorical Analysis
The I and S sections carry a lot of ‘weight’ because they are the areas where a student writer can show the depth of their thinking and comprehension of the idea presented. This is especially true with rhetorical analysis paragraphs: Target Audience, Message, Manipulation/Persuasion, Effectiveness, and/or Effect (an indiv. essay will not have all of these).
Asking questions of your main point is a great way to ‘dig’ for development of your idea. Here are some example questions for each RA paragraph that may help you plan/develop your I and S sections:
A. Target Audience (TA) – Why has this audience been chosen by the ‘company’/advertiser/text? What does knowing this TA tell you about the ad’s purpose/message? Why/how is this audience susceptible to the purpose/message of text.
B. Message – Why is this message being used by the ‘text’? How/why is this message meaningful to the audience? What is the message trying to make the audience feel or believe?
C. Manipulation/Persuasion – Explain a specific method/way the text tries to persuade the audience. How does this method of persuasion ‘work’ within the text? More generally, why is this approach to manipulation/persuasion used?
D. Effectiveness – How/why does the ad succeed or fail in its purpose? What could be done to make the ad more effective?
