Rhetorical Analysis Outline

(See Bb for a sample student RA essay of "My Culture at the Crossroads" that follows this outline?)

I. Identify publication/author and summarize piece

II. Explain the context of the issue(s)-what's the bigger social issue addressed?

III. Identify author's call to write, address author's credibility & relationship to rhetorical situation

IV. Analyze relationship to ONE audience (main audience)

V. Analyze relationship to another audience (secondary audience)

VI. Address author's language use, tone, denotation/connotation, figures of speech, etc... and how this affects message/audience

VII. Evaluate the rhetorical effectiveness of the piece. Based on your analysis, was it effective or not? Anything left out of the argument that should have been considered? Any weaknesses in the article?