Rhetorical Analysis Essay - Complete Guide & Examples

Being a student, you must have come across many assignments associated with essay writing. Essay writing is something that a student can not avoid, no matter what. Such assignments keep on coming throughout academic life.

A rhetorical analysis essay is one of the most interesting types of essays. It is mostly assigned to students to enhance their analytical and writing skills.

To write a rhetorical analysis essay, the writer must have strong writing skills. This type of essay is not just important for the writer but the readers as well.

In this blog, learn how to write a good rhetorical analysis essay with the help of topics and examples.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Definition

Rhetorical analysis is a type of college essay in which the writer conducts a deep analysis of an object. In this type of analysis, the object of analysis is mostly some kind of book, a movie, or any other type of creative work. A rhetorical analysis essay is assigned to students at different academic levels.

When it comes to rhetorical analysis, a writer picks a particular subject and analyzes its effects on the surroundings and the target audience. It is important to mention that rhetorical analysis can be done on nearly anything that comes to your mind. Be it a billboard, a logo, a motto, or anything else you can think of.

The only thing that you must have for good rhetorical analysis is relevant information about the subject of discussion. Before you start writing this analysis, ensure that you have collected all the information that can help you support your report.

A rhetorical analysis essay is one of the most challenging essay types. The writer needs to deeply evaluate the purpose of the analysis and how it will help the readers. A rhetorical analysis essay helps the writer and reader both to find out how effective the aim of the content was.

What are the Five Rhetorical Situations?

The rhetorical situation helps you think about why a text exists, its purpose, and how it’s carried out.

The main five rhetorical situations are;

1. Purpose: This text could be trying to inform, persuade, instruct, or entertain the reader.
2. Audience: Who will read and take action on this?
3. Genre: What type of writing is this?
4. Stance: What position is the author taking? What is the tone of the text?
5. Media: Which communication methods are used?

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Rhetorical Analysis Essay Structure

Below is a rhetorical analysis essay structure for your help.

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How to Start a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?

Before you directly hop on to write your rhetorical analysis essay, make sure that you follow some prewriting steps. These steps will make essay writing easy and less time-consuming.

Some simple pre-writing steps of such an essay are as follows:

1. 1. Identify your Target Audience

   Identifying the audience is the most important factor for an essay. Identifying the audience allows the writer to write the essay according to the intellectual level of the intended audience.

   If a writer writes the essay without knowing the audience, all the effort will go in vain as the audience will not understand the essay's purpose.

2. 2. The Subject of the Essay

   Another important thing about a rhetorical analysis essay is identifying and analyzing the chosen subject’s underlying meaning. A writer of this essay type should understand that message and explain it in a few words.

3. 3. Define Purpose

   Defining the purpose of the rhetorical analysis essay provides logic to the reader for the essay. The writer explains the reason behind the composition and what made them choose a particular topic for an essay.

4. 4. Mention the Occasion

   The occasion refers to the context of the work and its setting. When analyzing the occasion, two approaches are used i.e., micro view and macro view. Both these views are used to explain where the occasion took place.

5. 5. Identify the SOAPSTone

   The SOAPSTone of a text includes its Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, and Tone. Further elaboration of SOAPSTone is as follows:

Speaker: The speaker basically refers to the first and last name of the writer.

Occasion: The occasion mostly refers to the type of text and the context under which the text was written.

Audience: The audience is who the text was written for.

Purpose: The purpose refers to what the writer wants to accomplish in the text.

Subject: The subject is simply the topic the writer discusses in the text.

These were some basic pre-writing steps for a rhetorical analysis essay. Let’s move forward and see what steps we need to follow to write a good rhetorical analysis essay.

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How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?

To write a good rhetorical analysis essay, you must make a plan of execution. While planning, list down the important steps that are required to write the essay. The steps required to write a good rhetorical essay are as follows.

1. 1. Choose the Right Rhetorical Strategy

   To write a rhetorical essay, the writer needs to follow some specific strategy. Since this type of essay is analytical and persuasive, and the author convinces the readers, they have three strategies to choose from, i.e., ethos,pathos, and logos.

   • Ethos- The word ‘ethos’ refers to ethics. In ethos appeal, the writer convinces the readers that it is a reliable source. The writer uses this strategy to convince the reader and also stands for their moral values.
   • Pathos- In this strategy, the writer targets a reader's emotions. Thus, they use terminologies and information that provoke the reader's emotional response.
   • Logos- In logos appeal, the writers convince the readers by using a logical representation of facts. This means that the writer provides solid evidence and tries to convince the reader using authentic information.
2. 2. Select a Topic

   A good topic is a very important part of essay writing. It attains the reader’s attention, and for this, we have to make some efforts. The first of all is to choose the right rhetorical analysis essay topic.

   Make sure that the topic you choose is easy to understand for the readers. For this purpose, use a simple yet unique essay topic. A good topic reflects the entire research and provides logic to the reader. This is why it is necessary that you consider your audience while choosing the topic.

3. 3. Conduct Research

   Once you have your topic and decide which strategy you will use, it's time to conduct detailed research. This will allow you to gather as much information about your rhetorical essay as possible.

   This will also let you see the new trend and compose your essay to convince the reader fully.

4. 4. Rhetorical Analysis Essay Outline

   An outline is an essential part of essay writing. It serves as a guide for the reader throughout the essay. All the information you have gathered so far needs to be organized. A rhetorical analysis outline can help you in this regard.

   A rhetorical analysis essay uses the typical 5-paragraph outline. It has the following elements:

   1. Introduction
   2. Body Paragraph 1
   3. Body Paragraph 2
   4. Body Paragraph 3
   5. Conclusion

   Let us see what elements are added in these five parts of a rhetorical analysis essay.

   Rhetorical Analysis Essay Introduction

   The introduction is the first part of an essay. This part of the essay must be made as attractive as possible. The reader can perceive the whole idea of the essay by just reading the introduction. This is why this part should be interesting, as well as expressive.

   To start the essay introduction, we usually use a hook sentence. The hook sentence is an attention-grabbing sentence that can be a quotation, fact, or even a question. This ensures that the reader is fully engaged in your essay. Find some good hook sentence examples online to choose one for yourself.

   The most important part of the essay, the thesis statement, is stated in this part. It is stated somewhere before the last sentence of the introduction.

   Rhetorical Analysis Essay Body Paragraphs

   Body paragraphs are the scene element in an outline and come after the introductory paragraph. In these paragraphs, the writer elaborates on the key elements in detail. Usually, there are three body paragraphs in this type of academic essay.

   Each body paragraph is written to explain a key element. All the facts and evidence the writer has collected for that point are also mentioned in that paragraph. Also, to prove your point, use quotes from the text. Provide references from the original work to give strong evidence for your argument

   Keep in mind a topic sentence is used to start a paragraph. This sentence is just like a short introduction to the body paragraph. It gives the reader an idea about the element that will be discussed in the following paragraph.

   Make sure to end all the paragraphs with a transitional sentence. This sentence will inter-relate the entire essay and will provide a flow to the essay.

   Rhetorical Analysis Essay Conclusion

   After all the information is mentioned in the body paragraphs, the reader expects to see how you represent your final analysis. The writer is supposed to give the final verdict in the last part, which is the conclusion.

   The conclusion is the shortest but the most technical part of an essay. In this part, the entire essay is summarized in such a way that all the key elements are once again revised. Also, the thesis statement is reiterated but uses more convincing words.

   In a rhetorical analysis essay conclusion, it should be mentioned how the main argument is proved right. The writer also presents the impact of the author’s work on the audience in the past paragraph.

   Hence, this is how a well-written outline for a rhetorical analysis essay is made. For more details and further guidance, check a complete rhetorical analysis essay outline and format your essay's outline accordingly.

5. 5. Proofread, Revise, and Edit

   Proofreading is a very important step in essay writing. A rhetorical analysis essay must be proofread and rechecked for minor errors and mistakes like any type of essay. Once you are done writing the essay, it's time that you read through it and look for grammatical and spelling mistakes.

   You may do it manually by yourself or use some kind of online checker to detect and eliminate errors and formatting mistakes. Submitting an unchecked document will be your biggest mistake, and all your effort will go to waste.

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Rhetorical Analysis Essay Examples

To make sure that we are properly writing the essay, we look into some examples. Similarly, look into the rhetorical essay example given below to ensure that you are writing a perfect rhetoric essay.

A visual rhetorical analysis essay document communicates primarily through images or the interaction of image and text. Here is an example of such an essay.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example: AP Language

Rhetorical analysis done in AP Language and Composition is one of the biggest tasks a student can ever get. There are some specific tips that you need to follow for this purpose. Those major tips are mentioned below:

• Understand the Prompt

  It is a must for this type of essay to understand the prompt to know what the task demands from you.

• Stick to the Format

  The content for the rhetorical analysis should be properly organized and structured. The rhetorical analysis essay outline divides all the information into different sections such as introduction, body, and conclusion.

  Look at the example given below and see how a well-written rhetorical analysis essay is written for AP language.

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Rhetorical Analysis Essay Topics

Writing an essay is easy, but finding a good topic to compose an essay on is the real deal. Similarly, writing a rhetorical analysis essay becomes very easy when a writer has a good topic in hand.

Here we have summed up some very good rhetorical analysis essay topics. One of them might help you to compose an impressive rhetorical analysis essay.

• “I Am Prepared to Die” by Nelson Mandela
• Nobel Peace Prize Speech by Malala Yousafzai
• The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
• “Full Power of Women” by Priyanka Chopra
• Emma Watson’s speech on the Power of Women
• “Integrity” speech by Warren Buffet
• Freedom Speech from Braveheart
• Ending Scene from The Breakfast Club
• Maximus’ Speech to Commodus from Gladiator
• Oprah’s 2018 Golden Globes speech
• Rhetorical Analysis of “The Olympic Games”
• “NFL And the Concussion Rules”
• BCS or Playoffs
• AAU or NBA; which team has more fan following?
• Rhetorical Analysis of “Football World Cup”
• Kobe Bryant or LeBron
• Rhetorical Analysis of Presidential Sports Encomia
• Rhetorical Analysis of Symbolic Power of Sports
• The communication between the players and a coach.
• Rhetorical Analysis of the use of steroids

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Rhetorical Analysis Essay Tips

The following are some essential tips for writing a successful rhetorical analysis essay.

• Identify the four elements of rhetoric.
• Organize your ideas and evidence.
• Use the correct transition words for the essay.
• State your thesis statement.
• Don't mention new information in your conclusion.
• Proofreading is essential and helps to identify any mistakes you may have made.

Write a rhetorical analysis essay is a time-consuming task to do. Despite having the guidelines, many of us still fail to write a good essay and get good grades. Rather than making an effort that is of no use, one should seek help from professional writers.

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FAQs

1. 1. What are the elements of a rhetorical analysis?

   The main elements of a rhetorical analysis essay are:

   • Situation
   • Audience
   • Purpose
   • Medium
   • Context
2. 2. How do you end a rhetorical analysis essay?

   Here are some ways that help you to end the rhetorical analysis essay.

   • Summarize the entire essay.
   • Restate the thesis statement.
   • Focus on the main ideas.

Cathy A.

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For more than five years now, Cathy has been one of our most hardworking authors on the platform. With a Masters degree in mass communication, she knows the ins and outs of professional writing. Clients often leave her glowing reviews for being an amazing writer who takes her work very seriously.