Ferris 1

Tucker Ferris

Miss Chinelo

ENC 2135

20 March 2024

Rhetorical Analysis Tips

Tips for Conducting A Rhetorical Analysis:

● What is a Rhetorical Analysis?
○ It’s how writers or speakers use language and persuasion techniques to convey
their message and influence an audience
■ Involves dissecting a piece of text or speech to understand how the author
or speaker employs rhetorical strategies such as ethos (credibility), pathos
(emotional appeal), and logos (logical appeal) to persuade or convince
their audience
○ What to look for in a piece of text:
■ Rhetorical Appeals and Devices
● Logos, Ethos, Pathos, Kairos (most important for me)
■ Tone and Style
● Word choice, Sentence structure, Diction
■ Audience and Contextual Analysis
● Historical and Cultural context
■ Argument Structure
● Thesis statement, types of appeals, etc.
○ Logos
■ The appeal to logic
● Used to convince an audience with reason
■ Examples:
● Using reason, evidence, logic, statistics, case studies, proof, etc.
○ Ethos
■ The appeal to ethics
● Used to convince an audience of author’s credibility or character
■ Examples:
● Confidence in delivery, honesty, trust, reliability, fairness, citing
properly, etc.
○ Pathos
■ The appeal to emotion
● Used to invoke sympathy with meaningful language or a moving
tone
 Ferris 2

■ Examples:
● Anger, empathy, pity, love, sadness, jealousy, etc.
○ Kairos
■ The most suitable time for an argument (the element of timing)