You should also provide a brief summary of the article (either in the introduction or in the 2nd paragraph) because most of your audience will not have read the article before.
End your introduction with a thesis statement that indicates the overall effectiveness of the article being critiqued.
2. Depending on the content of your introduction, you may provide a background paragraph that provides information about the issue discussed in the article and/or a brief summary of the article itself.
3.An essay body consisting of a minimum of three paragraphs that analyzes different aspects of the article. Some students may choose to focus principally on the author’s arguments while others may choose a variety of aspects of the article including the background of the author, the author’s use of language, the author’s arguments, and the author’s logical and emotional appeals.
4. A concluding paragraph that reminds us of the overall effectiveness of the article and ends with an expanded thought. Now that you’ve determined the overall effectiveness of the article, what should the reader do or think about in more detail.
5.A works cited citation in MLA style of the article being analyzed.An introduction that introduces the topic and the article (“article title” and author) being critiqued.
LISTED BELOW are possible topics for your rhetorical analysis of the article. (Do not write about all these topics.)
One way (however, not the only way) to write this essay would be to analyze how the author uses each part of Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle (pathos, ethos, and logos). I envision at least one body paragraph for pathos, at least one body paragraph for ethos, and multiple body paragraphs for logos (1 paragraph for each type of evidence).
A. The author’s background (Ethos).
Note: This should be more than just factual information; use this information to argue whether or not the author has a sufficient background to be covering a particular topic. You are determining if the author is credible.
1. How well the author cites and/or acknowledges sources (Ethos).
B.The author’s intended audience (pathos).
a.What is the author’s intended audience and how well does the author reach his/her intended audience?
b.The author’s use of diction, language (pathos).
C.Logical Arguments (logos).
a.Does the author use any of the logical fallacies (errors in logic) we will cover in class?
b.Does the author build his/her argument in a logical way by making logical connections between assertions and evidence?
D.The author’s claim evidence (logos).
a.Every paper should have at least one body paragraph that does this. Some student will only focus on this (which is fine).
Types of evidence:
Statistics
Facts
Case Studies
Expert Opinion
Research
E. The author’s use of emotional appeal (pathos).
a.Does the author attempt to create an emotional response in his or her audience? Is this emotional response appropriate?
F. The author’s handling of opposing viewpoints (ethos and logos).
G. The author’s search for common ground (ethos and logos).
