Rhetorical Analysis Brainstorming Assignment

When you read texts or watch a video such as a TEDx, you must consider whatauthors say to form a basic understanding. When you analyze texts, you primarily examinehowwriters make their points andtheir purpose or “why” for doing so. You can expect to do the latter which requires critical thinking, reading, and writing as well as patience with the process.

You are to:

A.   select twopieces of work that present opposing arguments. Those pieces can either be a.) two scholarly articles from the KSU library orb.) one scholarly article and one TEDx. Just be sure that the two works directly relate to and argue your approved research question and thesis statement.

B.     apply what you have learned about analyzing. (e.g. summary, identification, interpretation, and critique) How am I to apply summary, identification, interpretation, and critique?For both pieces, you are to:

·         summarizeusing concise language.

·         identifyrhetorical aspects below using the questions providedand point to evidence from the text(s) and/or TEDx to prove the validity of what you say:

1.   argument--- What are the writers main claims of argument in each text?What reasons do the texts provide to support the main claim or thesis?

2.   appeals (logos, ethos, Kairos, and pathos) --- What rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos, kairos) are at work in this text? Do the texts appeal to people’s emotions? Do they appeal to reason? How? Through images, certain words, visuals, style, tone? Do the texts attempt to strengthen the position/credibility (ethos) of the speaker (company, organization)? How? Who are the speakers/writers? How does their identity affect how they write? Do the texts refer to a specific event/time? Of what relevance is the time or time period in which each text or video is constructed?

3.   purpose ---Do the texts criticize, please, shock, argue, advocate, call to action, entertain, advertise, conceal, divert from something? Do they seem to embellish/distort/ignore certain things?

4.   audience --- Who seems to be the audience, and how does the text relate to that audience? Can you think of people that are excluded as an audience?

5.   representation (if applicable) -- How do the texts represent people with respect to social class, race, or gender? If people are not represented at all, how do you see representation at work in both texts?What can we learn about our culture(s) from this text? What ideas does it confirm/ contradict?

·         interpretthe evidence you point to

·         critiquehow the authors deliver their effectiveand/or ineffective message