Question

Choose 3 professional documents and compose a rhetorical critique of each's effectiveness. For each of the 3 documents you analyze, include snapshots of the document, as well as notes for how the document addresses concerns that have to do with the four basic principles of rhetoric: genre/kairos, audience/ethos, information/logos, and writer/pathos, After you've written the notes, synthesize your thinking into a short paragraph that describes how effectively you think the document accomplishes its writers' goals. Does it shape its message for its audience effectively? What elements of the document are there specifically for the needs of the audience?

Answer 1

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

Simply defined, rhetoric is the art or method of communicating effectively to an audience, usually with the intention to persuade; thus, rhetorical analysis means analyzing how effectively a writer or speaker communicates her message or argument to the audience.

The ancient Greeks, namely Aristotle, developed rhetoric into an art form, which explains why much of the terminology that we use for rhetoric comes from Greek. The three major parts of effective communication, also called the Rhetorical Triangle, are ethos, pathos, and logos, and they provide the foundation for a solid argument. As a reader and a listener, you must be able to recognize how writers and speakers depend upon these three rhetorical elements in their efforts to communicate. As a communicator yourself, you will benefit from the ability to see how others rely upon ethos, pathos, and logos so that you can apply what you learn from your observations to your own speaking and writing.

Rhetorical analysis can evaluate and analyze any type of communicator, whether that be a speaker, an artist, an advertiser, or a writer, but to simplify the language in this chapter, the term “writer” will represent the role of the communicator.

The basic elements of rhetorical analysis

1 The appeal to ethos.

2 The appeal the pathos.

3 The appeal to logos.

4 The appeal to kairos.

RHETORICAL SITUATION

Essentially, understanding a rhetorical situation means understanding the context of that situation. A rhetorical situation comprises a handful of key elements, which should be identified before attempting to analyze and evaluate the use of rhetorical appeals. These elements consist of the communicator in the situation (such as the writer), the issue at hand (the topic or problem being addressed), the purpose for addressing the issue, the medium of delivery (e.g.–speech, written text, a commercial), and the audience being addressed.

Answering the following questions will help you identify a rhetorical situation:

• Who is the communicator or writer?
• What is the issue that the writer is addressing?
  • What is the main argument that the writer is making?
• What is the writer’s purpose for addressing this issue?
  • To provoke, to attack, or to defend?
  • To push toward or dissuade from certain action?
  • To praise or to blame?
  • To teach, to delight, or to persuade?
• What is the form in which the writer conveys it?
  • What is the structure of the communication; how is it arranged?
  • What oral or literary genre is it?
  • What figures of speech (schemes and tropes) are used?
  • What kind of style and tone is used and for what purpose?
  • Does the form complement the content?
  • What effect could the form have, and does this aid or hinder the author’s intention?
• Who is the audience?
  • Who is the intended audience?
  • What values does the audience hold that the author or speaker appeals to?
  • Who have been or might be secondary audiences?
  • If this is a work of fiction, what is the nature of the audience within the fiction?

Audience Feedback

It is much easier to feel out feedback while giving a speech than while writing a technical document. Most likely, you will not be around to see the reaction from the audience. However, you can employ surveys or usability studies to help gauge what your audiences’ response will be. This process is a great way to get a feel for what the audience may or may not respond to and gives the author an opportunity to change the document to reflect audience feedback before it is finalized.