Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Most of the writing you will be required to do in college, including English courses, will be persuasive in nature. That is why rhetorical knowledge is a major learning outcome of this course. As the readings covered in this module demonstrate, writing a persuasive piece requires a writer to understand their rhetorical situation (their purpose, audience, and topic or assignment; or the context of their writing). The rhetorical situation guides the writer on how to use rhetorical appeals (Logos, ethos, and pathos) to persuade their audience.

This assignment is designed to give you an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of these concepts by analyzing how Martin Luther King Jr., a renowned rhetorician,applied these concepts in one of his seminal pieces, “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

Assignment
For this assignment, you are required to analyze how Martin Luther King Jr. used rhetoric in his well-known piece “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Your essay should focus on King’s use of rhetoric. This means identifying King’s rhetorical situation: his audience, purpose, and topic. After identifying his rhetorical situation, discuss how he used rhetorical appeals. Argue whether, in your view, he used the appeals effectively in the context of his audience, topic, and purpose for writing the piece. Your goal is to argue whether or not you consider King to her succeeded in persuading his audience.
In a nutshell, the assignment requires you to: (a) Identify King’s rhetorical situation, (b) analyze, with illustrating examples from the text, how King has used rhetorical appeals, (c) develop arguments, with evidence from the reading, to support your evaluation of King’s use of rhetorical appeals; that is argue what makes the examples you cite of his use of rhetoric effective, or not effective, (d) address counterarguments. Address opposing viewpoints to your arguments about King’s use of rhetorical appeals.
Requirements
1. Read and re-readthe text. Make sure you have a thorough understanding of the text. This will help you understand King’s purpose for writing the letter, his audience, the ideas he is discussing, and how he is using rhetorical strategies in the text.

2. Remember your purpose in this assignment is not to argue the merits or demerits of King’s ideas. Rather, your focus should be on King’s rhetorical choices in the text and to argue whether or not those strategies are effective. Remember to base your analysison the context of King’s rhetorical situation (his purpose, audience, topic, and the time he was writing the letter. In rhetorical lingo, timing is referred to as Kairos). In other words, King’s rhetorical choices may be effective even though you may not agree with his argument (or vice-versa).

3. Remember this is an argumentative essay—don’t just describe the author’s use of rhetorical appeals; go a step farther and argue whether, in your view, he has used them effectively or not. Develop your body paragraphs in order to support your thesis adequately. Make sure you cite examples from the text to illustrate or support your claims about the author’s use of rhetoric. Looking at different ways other people may view his use of rhetoric (counterarguments) and responding to them (rebuttals) will demonstrate critical thinking.

4. As you analyze rhetorical appeals, consider the various strategies the King has used to achieve those appeals. Explanation of rhetorical appeals:

• Ethos:has to do with credibility. How has King established credibility? The strategies include citing his credentials, identifying with the eight religious leaders by referring to them as “brothers”, and even letting them know that he understands their concerns to endear him with his audience. He also cites various sources to back his ideas, etc.
• Logos:has to do with having reasonable arguments and providing evidence to back those arguments. He has provided several reasons to support his cause and he cites facts, sources, and his own personal experience to back his arguments.
• Pathos:to achieve emotional appeal, he uses imagery, metaphors, flashbacks, to depict the horrors of segregation and injustices meted on African Americans. He also uses emotionally loaded words, personal experiences, especially when he talks about his own children, etc.
5. As you analyze King’s use of rhetoric, remember it is not enough to just state a few examples of his use of the appeals. Develop your ideas, using an argumentative tone.
Essay Structure
Although there are different ways you could structure the essay, the essay should have the following elements:
1. An introduction—use the introduction to provide some background information about the text you are analyzing: the title of the text, the author, the gist of the article, and your thesis. Remember your thesis should state your overall impression of how Kingused rhetoric to persuade his audience.
2. A summary of the text—start with what you consider to be the central idea of King’s letter and then highlight the main ideas he is making in the text
3. Analysis of the appeals—it may help to address one appeal at a time. Rather than have very long paragraphs, an appeal could be developed in more than one paragraph depending on the amount of information you have for the appeal.
4. Counterarguments—what issues do you have, or somebody would have, on the way King has used an appeal, or a rhetorical strategy? For instance, somebody may argue that his tone is too harsh, especially when expressing his disappointment with the complacent clergy. Remember to respond to the counterarguments.
5. Conclusion—wrap-up the essay. The essay should be about four pages (if double spaced), using Times 12-point font or an equivalent font type and size.
Remember you can schedule a WebEx conference with me during my virtual office hours if you need help.
Due Date: Draft due September 16

Grading Rubric

Category Total Your score
Introduction and thesis 2
Summary 2
Analysis of appeals 5
Counterarguments and rebuttals 2
Organization 2
Conclusion 2
Total 15