IEPA 060
Fall 2017
Response #2: Rhetorical Analysis
Purpose: A Rhetorical Analysis is a detailed examination of how persuasive a
piece of writing is (or isn’t) and why. It is an essay that focuses on the choices
an author has made in trying to persuade and/or appeal to his/her audience.
In order to do its job, a Rhetorical Analysis must:
• Give your opinion about the choices the author made in writing the text NOT about
the topic of the text.
• Give sufficient background on the primary text’s message so that readers can
follow the analysis of the text (summarize main points).
• Use direct quotations and paraphrases from the primary text to illustrate and
support your claims about the text’s rhetoric.
Instructions: Write a 2-3 page analysis about the article: “The Two
Moralities of the Minimum Wage”. Submit your (1) annotated article and
(2) the Rhetorical Situations Worksheet with your paper.
Step 1: Analyze the article for rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, pathos).
• Ethos: Appeals to the character and expertise of the writer or speaker
• Logos: Appeals based on logic, reasoning, and evidence concerning the subject
• Pathos: Appeals to the beliefs and values of the audience
Step 2: In your essay, demonstrate how the author utilizes the three elements of the
rhetorical appeals. Use the following outline to help write your paper.
Introduction (3-6 sentences)
•
•
•
Include the author, title, year, and topic in the first sentence.
Include a one to two sentence summary.
Include a thesis statement that gives an overview of the body paragraph(s).
Body (3-5 paragraphs)
•
•
•
Develop body paragraphs to follow the structure of your thesis statement.
Include examples, paraphrases, and quotations from the text.
Do not forget topic sentences and transition words.
Conclusion (2-3 sentences)
•
Restate your thesis and main points. Add an ending comment.
IEPA 060
Fall 2017
Due Date: October 16th, 2017 at 8:00 AM
•
•
Submit your paper to Canvas BEFORE class on the due date.
Bring your Rhetorical Situations Worksheet to class.
You should submit an outline of the points that you will discuss in your paper
to Canvas before class on Monday, October 9th.
Paper Formatting:
• Typed
• 12-point, Times New Roman font
• double-spaced
• one-inch margins
On the upper left-hand side of your paper, you must include the following:
Name
Class info
Assignment
Date
Example:
John Smith
IEPA 060 – Instructor
Rhetorical Analysis
October 16rd, 2017
Rhetorical Analysis Example #1
In his article that is titled “The role of the corporation in supporting local
development” and was published in 2004, Muhammad Yunus discusses the importance of
social business role in our unequal world today. He specifically focuses on the notion that
capitalism is negatively affecting our world, and he gives an alternative to capitalist systems.
Yunus gave effective and strong arguments in the sense of ethos as well as pathos, yet his
article shows some weakness in the sense of logos.
Regarding ethos, which is the indications to the credibility and expertise of the author,
this article is strong enough among the issues it considers. To illustrate that, the credentials of
the article’s author should firstly be considered. Muhammad Yunus is an economics
professor at Chittagong University who was awarded Noble Peace Prize in 2006 (Bruck,
2006). Therefore, he is an expert in the field that he talks about in this article. Secondly, what
strengthens the article’s ethos is that he proves his essential notion, which is that there can be
a successful alternative to capitalism’s unfair system, by giving a personal experience of
trying to create a realistic solution. This experience was creating the unique bank “Grameen
bank”, a bank for the poor people with a system that is completely different than capitalist
banks. Hence, Yunus’s article is a good article considering its ethos. However, there are other
elements that should definitely be considered.
Pathos, which is the emotions and values indication, is another factor that Yunus uses
to strengthen his article; it is the most effective way Yunus relies on in this article. Reading
every paragraph in the article, appeals to emotions and human virtues are obviously noticed.
Perhaps every sentence has some kind of indication that touches reader’s empathy. For
instance, “I was teaching elegant theories of economics while seeing people dying of hunger
outside the classroom” (Yunus, 2004, pg. 167). This quote from the article’s introduction is a
perfect example that demonstrates how Yunus relied on the power of emotion to support his
notions. Mentioning humanitarian aspects and people’s sufferings such as starvations and
poverty is obviously considered as pathos convincing way. Grapping reader’s sympathy is an
essential point in this article, so it is regular to see it in almost all parts of the article. After the
quote mentioned above, Yunus (2004) also continues to use pathos in the the sentences that
follows it; He states, “I saw that what I was teaching meant nothing to those who were dying,
and I thought that as a human being, I should see if I could be of some use”; it is a
sympathetic and strong statement that one can only agree with it because of its
humanitarianism. He also included a whole paragraph before the conclusion that is simply a
story that draws people’s humanitarianism to agree with his notion. Thus, Yunus succeeded
in the usage of pathos in this article. Despite these two efficient elements of his ways of
convincing, there is a small gap in another fundamental element.
Yunus’s article showed some weakness in its logical and rational arguments, which
are so called logos, compared to both its ethos and pathos arguments. There is no doubt that
there is rationality and logic in this article, yet they are not apparent and perhaps not enough.
The only part that might be categorized under logos is the part in which he distinguishes
between what charity is and what social business is. In that part, Yunus gives a logical reason
of preferring the choice of social business more than giving charity. He explains, the
fundamental difference between social business and charity programs is that social business
is a cascading process that never stops in contrast to charitable programs. However, although
he used logic in this particular point, logic seems to be very soft and unnoticeable, except in
the previously mentioned point. Too much relying on humanitarian arguments, which are
undoubtable effective and important, has affected the reasoning and logical arguments in this
article. Consequently, Yunus’s logos was kind of weak in this article.
To conclude, Muhammad Yunus’s arguments in his article “The role of the
corporation in supporting local development” are strong considering ethos and pathos, but
they are kind of weak considering logos. Logos appears very softly in the article, while
pathos appears strongly and obviously. Yunus wrote this article relying on people’s
humanitarianism, which is an extremely important demand in our unequal world nowadays.
Rhetorical Analysis Outline Worksheet
Please use the following worksheet as a rough guide for helping plan your essay. This template is not meant to
stifle your creativity, so feel free to play around with things and add your own unique voice to the layout.
1. Introduction:
Pick
something
shocking: a
startling fact,
observation,
or statistic
a. Attention Grabber Sentence:
b. Brief summary of essay with author intro:
Choose one to
start with: you
can argue that
it’s both
ineffective and
effective, but
you will need
to pass overall
judgment too.
c. Thesis Statement: The excerpt from Steven Johnson’s book is effective or ineffective at
convincing the audience
to/of____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________ because:
What does
Johnson try
to convince
readers of?
i. Reason 1:
ii. Reason 2:
iii. Reason 3:
iv. ADD MORE IF YOU HAVE THEM. BE CAREFUL NOT TO GO TOO CRAZY, OR
YOUR ANALYSIS COULD LOSE FOCUS.
2. Body:
a. Support Point 1 (reason 1):
i. Evidence for Support point (quote/paraphrase/summary):
Be sure the
first thing you
write for each
point is a
potential topic
sentence.
ii. Explanation of how evidence proves thesis:
b. Support Point 2 (reason 2):
i. Evidence for Support point (quote/paraphrase/summary):
ii. Explanation of how evidence proves thesis:
c. Support Point 3 (reason 3):
i. Evidence for Support point (quote/paraphrase/summary):
ii. Explanation of how evidence proves thesis:
d. Support Point 4 (reason 4):
i. Evidence for Support point (quote/paraphrase/summary):
Once you’ve got a
good idea what
these support
points are going to
be, spend a few
moments locating
the relationship
between them and
take some notes
about potential
transitions.
ii. Explanation of how evidence proves thesis:
3. Conclusion
a. How do all of these support points work together to support your thesis?
b. What might the author have done to make their text more effective (even if you argued that it
was effective, how could it have been better?)
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