English HW

Rhetorical Analysis Paper

A rhetorical analysis examines how a text attempts to persuade its audience. It examines the

elements of the text to see how these elements are using ethos, pathos, and logos. You

assignment here is to select one of the advertisements posted on eLearn, conduct a rhetorical

analysis, then write an essay presenting your findings.

Your purpose: to evaluate the effectiveness of the advertisement based on the way it uses ethos,

pathos, and logos.

Expectations: This successful rhetorical analysis will address or include the following features:

 Your thesis. What do you say about how well the ad employs appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos. You may want to stress that the ad relies more heavily on one or two appeals,

but be sure to address all three.

o Be sure to state clearly in your thesis if the paper is effective or not then give your specific reasons for your claim of effectiveness. The thesis should be Claim +

reasons for the claim.

 Brief summary. The primary goal of this essay is analysis. Therefore, you will need to provide enough summary that we will all be familiar with what is displayed in the

advertisement, but your audience does not need more than a paragraph or so summarizing

the ad because they will have seen your ad. This should come first in your essay.

 Detailed analysis of the ad. This is the bulk of your analysis. Convey your thinking about how well the three rhetorical appeals are used. Each of these three elements might

not be a primary means of communication, but you still need to address all the appeals—

even if you are claiming that the ad does a bad job of appealing to one of them.

o In terms of organization, I suggest you have an effective introduction with a strong thesis statement, then a paragraph summarizing the commercial, Finally,

the bulk of your essay should discuss the three appeals, ethos, pathos, and logos.

You should finish with a conclusion paragraph.

o Be sure to discuss the rhetorical situation of the ad somewhere in your paper.

 Specific supporting details. You must back up your claims with specific examples from your ad. For example, if you argue that the ad is using pathos, you must SHOW how the

ad uses pathos AND how the ad affects the audience (what is the ad trying to make the

audience feel?)

Requirements:

 Papers must be word processed and formatted correctly according to the formatting guidelines we went over in class, which are posted in the file “How to Format a Paper”

available on eLearn.

 Papers must be between 800 and 1000 words in length.

See me with questions or problems. The sooner the better!