Our next major writing assignment will be a rhetorical analysis. Rhetoric, as we’ve learned, is the art and study of persuasive communication. In a rhetorical analysis, you are analyzing and evaluating how an author uses rhetorical elements, such as logos, ethos, and pathos, to construct their argument. It’s crucial to note that in a rhetorical analysis you are not agreeing or disagreeing with an author’s stance on a topic. Your focus, instead, is on analyzing and evaluating the methods the author uses to develop their argument.

It’s also important to know exactly what you’re doing when you’re analyzing. To analyze means to closely study the important elements of something. If you analyzed a movie, you might focus on lighting, editing, sound, performance, special effects, and so on. When you analyze the individual parts that comprise something, you gain a deeper understanding of the thing itself.

When you analyze a piece of writing, you focus on answering questions that are more complex than What is the author’s main point? or What reasons does the author give to support their ideas? Instead, you explore how? and why? questions, such as How is the author constructing this argument? Why does the author use pathos here? Why does the author begin with opposing viewpoints? How is the author’s credibility impacted by not identifying and responding to opposing viewpoints?