Overview

Rhetorical analysis is a tool for deeper critical reading. When you analyze a text rhetorically, you consider the overall situation and context of the writing and how the needs and constraints of the writing situation may have guided the author’s choices.  Rhetorical analysis helps us look at the text itself but also outside the text at other aspects of the writing situation—context, author, audience, genre—that influenced the way this particular text was written.

Learning Objectives

After successfully completing this module, you should be able to:

  1. Analyze an author’s effectiveness in achieving intended purpose.
  2. Develop a rhetorical analysis of a visual text.
  3. Apply strategies for improving writing responses.