To get at the idea of a rhetorical analysis, first I want to talk about some ideas about what rhetoric is, and then I want to talk about how to actually make a rhetorical analysis. So let's start by talking about what rhetoric is, that big word in "rhetorical analysis. " The way I want to talk about it is as "the art of effective communication.

" And you might say, "Well, what does that even mean, effective communication? " Well, I think understanding that stands on the shoulders of understanding the choices communicators make and the effects those choices have on different audiences. So let's look at a few examples of choices and effects.

So for example, I go to a fancy restaurant, and the waiter for some reason decides to wear a t-shirt with an offensive slogan on it. And I say, "Whoa whoa whoa! Why did you make that choice?

Didn't you know the effect that that would have on the restaurant? On my enjoyment of my meal? Etc.

? " So I get up to go to the bathroom, and the bathroom is painted in this bubblegum pink paint. And maybe you really love bubblegum pink paint, but you know for me, I think, "This is kind of a classy restaurant!

I want it to seem fancier than that! " The choice they made of paint color had the effect that they didn't want. While we're talking about undesired effects, well say I go to the hardware store, and they play this music that every five minutes repeats itself in this horrible jingle.

And they might think, "Hey, that's gonna let people know about our store! It's gonna be really cool advertising! " And I think, "You know what, you might have thought the effect would be positive, but for me, the effect was negative.

" So let's turn to other kinds of genres. Say someone is giving a speech, and you think about all the choices that go into that speech: about how she can choose how to say something, and also what to say. How she's going to present herself standing there, and also how she's going to present her ideas.

All of those choices, every single one, is going to have a different effect on different members of the audience. Of course, we can turn to writing--any sort of writing! Writing in the newspaper, online, in college essays, etc.

And writing is so full of choices-- how what I say, how I organize it, what kind of voice I use, every one of those single choices will have a different sort of effect, helping me be effective in the way I want to be. Right? So all of these different kinds of situations--remember this?

--it all goes back to different kinds of effective communication. The effectiveness of a piece of writing, a piece of communication, no matter whether it's a sound, paint color, shirt, clothing, speech, writing--all of that can be judged and really, this study is the study of rhetoric: the study of how effective someone's choices were in a different situation. Okay.

So if that's the ideas behind what we mean by rhetoric, behind rhetorical analysis, let's talk about how to actually write a rhetorical analysis--say, if your professor assigns one to you. Now I'm going to assume that you're writing your rhetorical analysis, as an essay, but of course that's not necessary. You could analyze one of these texts through making a video, through making audio.

All sorts of ways you could analyze something, right? But let's assume right now it's an essay. What I would do, is I would start by explaining the text's rhetorical situation.

Now there's some big words there. You might say, "Well, wait a minute, what do you mean by text? " Well, you remember all those situations we're talking about: the music, the paint, the writing, the speech.

I'm going to call all of those "texts" that could be analyzed for rhetorical situation. Obviously if you're writing this for a class, your professor might say that you have to analyze a certain kind of text. Obviously, that makes sense.

So if I were talking about the rhetorical situation of any of those texts, we're talking about, "What is the overall context of when that communication was delivered? " So for instance, if we're talking about the speech, and we think about how that speech was delivered in a context, with a certain kind of audience, with a certain purpose in mind that the person giving the speech had. And even, the speech was given in a certain of genre, right?

Maybe it's a "Hey, get everyone riled up! " speech, or maybe it's a political speech, "I'm running for this office. " All of those questions, all of those parts of the context change the nature of how we're going to judge the effectiveness of this speech, right?

Think about the offensive slogan on the shirt in the restaurant. In that fancy restaurant, it was SO inappropriate to wear that t-shirt. But if that t-shirt were in a rock concert, it might seem, in that context, a little less out of place.

(Still not really great, but a little more in place. ) So what we're seeing is that the effectiveness of communication depends in part on the situation in which it's delivered. So if I were writing an analysis, I would want to say something about that!

"Hey, this is where this was, this is where I found it, this is where it was designed to be read or experienced or whatever. " After that I can get into--no surprise--some of the choices made by the text's composers. So again, if we're talking about the speech, think of all the choices she had.

She could think to herself, "You know, how do I want my voice to sound? Loud? Quiet?

Angry? Forceful? Kind?

" Whatever. She also can organize her speech however she wants to. She can also decide, "Am I going to persuade people using logic?

Persuade them using emotion? " All of these choices--there are so many of them, right? My rhetorical analysis is going to get into every single one of those that I think is worthwhile, especially the ones that I think are interesting to my audience, as someone who is writing a rhetorical analysis.

Maybe I want to especially talk about choices that someone might not have noticed! Then, of course, very logically, I want to discuss "What are the effects of those choices? " Especially the effects they might have on an audience.

So when she makes the choice to make her voice sound a certain way, I might think, "You know what? That decision on an audience might have a really positive effect! " And I think, "Well you know, she also made that decision about how to organize things, and that might have had more of a negative effect on the sort of people in the audience.

" And when she made another choice about how much to use logic, how much to use emotions, that might have worked really well for some people--but remember that people aren't completely predictable. So some people might have had more of a negative emotion or might have been so bored that they didn't pay attention at all. This is the nature of rhetoric!

This is the nature of rhetorical communication! People make choices all the time that sometimes work for some audiences more than others. So obviously, number 2 and 3 won't necessarily happen in the same order.

You might talk about choices and then talk about some of the effects of those choices and you might go back and talk about some more choices-- it really depends on how you want to organize your essay. The main thing here is that you are the one (with the creepy hands) who is in control of the essay. You're the one saying, "This is how I judge the effectiveness of this rhetorical communication.

" Whether it's paint, or clothing, or writing, or a speech, or whatever. You're stepping in and saying, "I've found the most interesting things that I want you to know about, and I want to share them. " And that is how you write a rhetorical analysis Subtitles by the Amara.

What is a Rhetorical Analysis?