{"id":252,"date":"2015-03-19T23:23:47","date_gmt":"2015-03-19T23:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/introductiontocollegewriting\/?post_type=chapter&p=252"},"modified":"2017-06-16T14:45:23","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T14:45:23","slug":"developing-a-rhetorical-analysis","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/everettcc-introductiontocollegewriting\/chapter\/developing-a-rhetorical-analysis\/","title":{"raw":"Developing a Rhetorical Analysis","rendered":"Developing a Rhetorical Analysis"},"content":{"raw":"
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\r\n\r\nOne of the first places to start when developing a rhetorical analysis is context. Rhetorical messages always occur in a specific situation or context. The president\u2019s speech might respond to a specific global event, like an economic summit; that\u2019s part of the context. You choose your clothing depending on where you are going or what you are doing; that\u2019s context. A television commercial comes on during specific programs and at specific points of the day; that\u2019s context. A billboard is placed in a specific part of the community; that\u2019s context, too.\r\n

Identify the Rhetorical Situation: Exigence, Audience, Constraints<\/h3>\r\n
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\r\n\r\nIn an article called\u00a0\u201cThe Rhetorical Situation,\u201d Lloyd Bitzer<\/a>\u00a0argues that there are three parts to understanding the context of a rhetorical moment: exigence, audience and constraints.\r\n\r\nExigence<\/em>\u00a0is the circumstance or condition that invites a response; or, in other words, rhetorical discourse is usually responding to some kind of problem. You can begin to understand a piece\u2019s exigence by asking, \u201cWhat is\u00a0this rhetoric responding to?\u201d \u201cWhat might have happened to make the rhetor (the person who creates the rhetoric) respond in this way?\u201d\u00a0The exigence can be extremely complex, like the need for a new Supreme Court justice, or it can be much simpler, like receiving an email that asks you where you and your friends should go for your road trip this weekend. Understanding the exigence is important because it helps you begin to discover the purpose of the rhetoric. It helps you understand what the discourse is trying to accomplish.\r\n
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\r\n\r\nAnother part of the rhetorical context is\u00a0audience<\/em>, those who are the (intended or unintended) recipients of the rhetorical message. The audience should be able to respond to the exigence. In other words, the audience should be able to help address the problem. You might be very frustrated with your campus\u2019s requirement that all first-year students purchase a meal plan for on-campus dining. You might even send an email to a good friend back home voicing that frustration. However, if you want to address the exigence of the meal plans, the most appropriate audience would be the person\/office on campus that oversees meal plans. Your friend back home cannot solve the problem (though she may be able to offer sympathy or give you some good suggestions), but the person who can change the meal plan requirements is probably on campus. Rhetors make all sorts of choices based on their audience. Audience can determine the type of language used, the formality of the discourse, the medium or delivery of the rhetoric, and even the types of reasons used the make the rhetor\u2019s argument. Understanding the audience helps you begin to see and understand the rhetorical moves that the rhetor makes.\r\n\r\nThe last piece of the rhetorical situation is the\u00a0constraints<\/em>. The constraints of the rhetorical situation are those things that limit the way the discourse is delivered or communicated. Constraints may be something as simple as your instructor limiting your proposal to one thousand words, or they may be far more complex like the kinds of language you need to use to persuade a certain community.\r\n
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Identify the Argument: Logos, Pathos, Ethos<\/h3>\r\nThe rhetorical situation is just the beginning of your analysis, though. What you really want to understand is the argument\u2014what the rhetor wants you to believe or do and how he or she goes about that persuasion. Effective argumentation has been talked about for centuries. In the fourth century BCE, Aristotle was teaching the men of Athens how to persuade different kinds of audiences in different kinds of rhetorical situations. Aristotle articulated three \u201cartistic appeals\u201d that a rhetor could draw on to make a case\u2014logos, pathos, and ethos.\r\n\r\nLogos<\/em>\u00a0is commonly defined as argument from reason, and it usually appeals to an audience\u2019s intellectual side. As audiences we want to know the \u201cfacts of the matter,\u201d and logos helps present these\u2014statistics, data, and logical statements.\r\n
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Few of us are persuaded only with our mind, though. Even if we intellectually agree with something, it is difficult to get us to act unless we are also persuaded in our heart. This kind of appeal to emotion is called\u00a0pathos<\/em>. Pathetic appeals (as rhetoric that draws on pathos is called) used alone without logos and ethos can come across as emotionally manipulative or overly sentimental, but are very powerful when used in conjunction with the other two appeals.\u00a0Pathos can also be a very effective appeal if the rhetor has to persuade the audience in a very short amount of time, which is why it is used heavily in print advertisements, billboards, or television commercials.<\/div>\r\n
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\r\n\r\nThe\u00a0appeal\u00a0that makes things seem real and approachable contributes to the ethos.\u00a0Ethos<\/em>\u00a0refers to the credibility of the\u00a0rhetor<\/em>\u2014which can be a person or an organization. A rhetor can develop credibility in many ways. The tone of the writing and whether that tone is appropriate for the context helps build a writer\u2019s ethos, as does the accuracy of the information or the visual presentation of the rhetoric.\r\n

Claims and Assumptions<\/h3>\r\n
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\r\n\r\nAristotle\u2019s artistic appeals are not the only way to understand the argument of rhetoric. You might choose to look at the\u00a0claim<\/em>\u00a0or the unstated assumptions of a piece; someone else might consider the visual appeal of the rhetoric, like the font, page layout, types of paper, or images; another person might focus on the language use and the specific word choice and sentence structure of a piece. Logos, pathos, and ethos can provide a nice framework for analysis, but there are numerous ways to understand how a piece of rhetoric persuades (or fails to persuade).\r\n
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\r\n\r\nLooking at the context and components of a piece of rhetoric often isn\u2019t enough, though, because it is important to draw conclusions about the rhetoric\u2014does it successfully respond to the exigence? Is it an ethical approach? Is it persuasive? These kinds of questions let you begin to create your own claims, your own rhetoric, as you take a stand on what other people say, do, or write.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Asking Questions<\/h3>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Use these questions to guide you along as you begin to conduct a rhetorical analysis.<\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nWhat is the rhetorical situation?<\/em>\r\n