Rhetorical Analysis

select a video or text from within the last two years. Then, write a rhetorical analysis (1200-1500 words) in which you answer the following: How does the rhetorician (speaker, author, lyricist, performer, creator, etc.) attempt to influence the audience's thoughts and feelings? Are they successful? Why or why not? Your analysis must showcase your ability to apply the concepts we've learned these past few weeks: the Aristotelian appeals, logical fallacies, connotation, ambiguity, etc.. Don't try to write about all the elements and rhetorical choices, or your paper may be too broad, resulting in a shallow analysis. The idea here is for sustained and detailed analysis. Write a Tentative Thesis Do not try to cover everything you've discovered in your prewriting stage. Select key features of the material that make the material influential (or not). Then, form a tentative thesis explicitly discussing why the work is influential. Examples of weak thesis statements: Johnson’s speech is persuasive because he effectively uses ethos, pathos, and logos. Johnson’s speech is persuasive because of his ambiguous language and pathos. Johnson’s speech is persuasive because of his bad use of logos and biases. Examples of more effective thesis statements: Smith produces a persuasive speech because she uses statistics and credible sources to support her story and examples that make her audience sympathize with her point of view. In his article “Body Rituals Among the Nacirema,” Miner effectively convinces his reader of the ridiculous nature of America’s obsession with the body’s health and visual appeal by allowing his readers to form a third party opinion of themselves before realizing they are their own subject. Miner achieves this by employing an academic tone, detached diction, and superior common ground to place his reader on the level of a scholar observing a native “tribe.” The author’s emphasis on her first-hand experience as a mother who lost her son to E. coli and use of evidence that is descriptive and data-driven make her argument about FDA policy reform persuasive. Write your Draft Introduction An introduction should lead cleanly into your argument. If your argument involves an author’s stance on the death penalty, you might begin by giving factual data and/or the history of the death penalty. Remember that your argument begins with the first words of your paper. Your introduction should provide background that will make the reader see your argument’s relevance