24 Analysis Writing

Typically, writing an analysis involves rhetorical analysis.

Rhetorical analysis is the genre, or type of writing, that examines the way writers and speakers use language to influence readers. Rather than describing or summarizing content rhetorical analysis focuses on the individual parts of a text to show how language works to create the effects the writer wants. In other words, in addition to content, writers use rhetorical strategies to deliver and strengthen their ideas and thus influence their readers. A rhetorical analysis should, therefore, address the rhetorical situation, or conditions of communication that surround the rhetoric. These consist of the author (who), message (what), readers (to whom), purpose (why), means (how), context (where and when), and culture (community).

Writers of rhetorical analyses consider these elements carefully and ask questions based on them. What are the goals of the author of the text? What factors are at play in the author’s choice of strategies used to make a rhetorical impact? What may occur in the interaction between the writer and reader? Will readers approach the piece neutrally, with no previous opinions?  

The aim of rhetorical analysis is not to find agreement with or praise for the writer, although either may be implied or stated. Establishing credibility, sharing personal experiences, targeting emotional concerns, using devices that draw attention to claims, Supporting claims with convincing evidence, Acknowledging the opposition, Questioning the motivation of the opposition.

A rhetorical analysis can be applied to any medium: article/book, literary, film, advertisement, and visual.

Examples of visual, literary, and film analysis follow in the next chapter.