How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay: Helpful Tips & Topics

If you’re a student in a Mass Media and Communications course, you’re sure to get a rhetorical analysis essay as a homework task sooner or later.

At first, you might be wondering, “What is a rhetorical analysis essay?” It’s normal for novices to be confused about a new type of writing task. In this case, our guide is sure to help you out and guide you through the main nuances of writing a rhetorical analysis like a pro.

What Is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?

In simple words, rhetoric is a means of appealing to the audience, connecting to them, and persuading them of something in line with the author’s or speaker’s goals. A good orator or literary author uses a variety of appeals and strategies to support their claims, respond to potential counterarguments, and make their ideas more convincing. This is what a student should decipher to identify how the author achieved their goals and what devices they applied to attain a maximum persuasive effect.

Now that you know what this task is, the question is, “How to write a rhetorical analysis essay?” You can excel in this type of essay with ease if you follow this tried and tested algorithm:

• Study the assigned text closely. Reread it several times to capture the author’s intent and get a feel of how it affects you.
• Research the text’s context and intent by engaging external evidence. Find out the details about a historical period, the cause for which the text or speech was produced, and the audience to which it was targeted.
• Write out the appeals that the author used to strengthen their argumentation and claims. Analyze them in terms of style and type.
• Develop a concise thesis statement based on the results of your scrutiny and break it down into several body parts.
• Compose the introductory part to introduce the text, the author, and the analyzed material’s context and meaning.
• Write the body text to present a consistent evaluation of each persuasive device.
• Compose a concluding section to wrap it all up and give your broader analytical evaluation of the assigned text.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Structure

A thorough understanding of the rhetorical analysis essay structure is your clue to its quick and hassle-free composition.

• Introduction. The rhetorical analysis introduction is your opening section of the essay. It should stipulate what speech or other text you’re reviewing and give some background details about it. Besides, it should communicate the main idea or scope of research you’re going to present in the following paragraphs.
• Body. In this part, you should dedicate one paragraph to every device you’re analyzing. Describe it, give quotes from the analyzed text, and provide a thorough interpretation in the light of external evidence to substantiate your ideas. Rely on expert opinion and authoritative sources when presenting your evidence.
• Conclusion. A rhetorical analysis conclusion should wrap up your entire argument and recap the main points and devices you’ve covered in the body of the essay. Don’t just summarize and enumerate them; give a broader inference and your summative analytical conclusion for the work you’ve done.

This is how to write a rhetorical analysis in a structured way. Include these components into the structure, and you will create an essay that checks all the boxes for the professor.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Outline

Those experiencing trouble with its proper structuring are sure to benefit from a consistent outline. Outlining is valuable for every written assignment and simplifies the entire process of homework completion, regardless of the essay type you’re dealing with.

So, how can you compose an outline to guide your further writing efforts? The following template will be of much help for any assignment of this type. It is generic enough to match all kinds of assigned materials, from speeches to ads and literary pieces.

• Introduction: open the essay with the introduction of your analyzed piece. Explain what type of text it belongs to (a speech, a literary piece, a political or commercial ad, etc.). Present its brief background and the author’s purpose.
• Body: dedicate a separate paragraph to every device or strategy you’ve identified in the piece during its close reading. Analyze it with concrete evidence and examples.
• Conclusion: Wrap the narrative up with the broader conclusion about your assigned text’s persuasiveness and credibility.

Let’s illustrate the outlining principles for this type of essay on the example of an essay about Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign. The structure of your outline may look as follows.

INTRODUCTION

• Opening statement about Nike’s significant position in the sports and fashion industry.
• Background data about the “Just Do It” campaign – its origins, purpose, duration, and impact on the sports culture.
• Thesis statement about persuasive means applied in this campaign.

BODY

• Paragraph #1: Ethos. How Nike established credibility in this campaign (e.g., using celebrities, reputation as a high-quality sportswear producer, brand’s authority).
• Paragraph #2: Pathos. Inspiring stories and messages of personal empowerment, incorporation of diversity and inclusivity messaging in the campaign.
• Paragraph #3: Logos. A performance-based appeal and emphasis on innovation as simple and clear messages of a sports brand. Later on – appeal to the market success statistics based on the campaign’s progress.

CONCLUSION

Recap of the main elements of ethos, pathos, and logos in Nike’s advertising campaign and conclude about its broader impact on the customer culture and motivation in sports.
This way, a rhetorical analysis essay outline will guide you throughout the entire process of composition and will keep you focused on the topic and main elements without the risk of deviation.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Tips

Now, let’s go through a couple of professional rhetorical analysis essay tips that can help you excel in this assignment and complete it in line with the tutor’s expectations. Our writing experts recommend the following:

• Cover five main parts in your essay: purpose, topic, writer, audience, and context. By examining each of these aspects, you will make your essay deeply analytical and comprehensive.
• Avoid retelling the text’s contents in the essay. As a result of remaining descriptive and superficial, you will hardly present insightful analytical points.
• Focus on the most powerful devices and appeals. Every speech or impactful commercial has many language devices and is rich in persuasive strategies, which you can’t cover in a single small essay. Thus, you should prioritize the strongest aspects to include them in your content.
• Rely on tried and tested guidance. You can find a stellar rhetorical analysis sample essay online or turn to experts for assistance to ensure the high quality of rhetorical analysis writing. Writing support, structuring tips, and other forms of expert assistance may aid your initial steps in this type of homework.
• Look for elements of pathos, logos, and ethos in the assigned piece. These are the main types of rhetorical strategies which form the foundation of persuasiveness in textual and oral presentations. Thus, you can uncover some important dimensions of the author’s rhetoric in the essay by asking yourself questions about the author’s word choices, emotional appeals, and logical reasoning in the text. It also makes sense to evaluate the author’s credibility by looking at their persuasive strategies.

15 Sample Topics for Rhetorical Analysis

If you lack inspiration for this essay, our list of hand-picked rhetorical analysis topic ideas is sure to give you a head start with writing. Look through the following set of suggestions to choose the one that speaks to you.

1. The use of ethos, logos, and pathos by Martin Luther King in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
2. Appeal to hope and unity in Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech.
3. Rhetorical devices in John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address to the nation.
4. Persuasive devices in Ronald Reagan’s speeches.
5. Appeal to African Americans to become politically active in Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech.
6. Environmental concerns of Rachel Carson in Silent Spring.
7. Emotionally persuasive devices in Super Bowl commercials.
8. Themes of unity and peace in Coca-Cola’s Hilltop advertisement.
9. An ethical appeal to the jury in Atticus Finch’s closing address in To Kill a Mockingbird.
10. Greta Thunberg’s rhetorical devices in her UN speech about climate change.
11. The appeal to fear in the 1964 “Daisy Girl” political campaign.
12. Rhetorics of feminism in Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech.
13. Orwell’s critique of language manipulation by politics in his “Politics and the English Language” work.
14. What rhetorical means do social media influencers apply to persuade their audiences?
15. Mark Anthony’s funeral speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

As soon as you come to grips with how to write a rhetorical analysis essay, these suggestions will guide you through the initial steps of composition.

Nail Your Rhetorical Analysis Essay with Our Expert Help

Now, you have an exhaustive guide to composing a rhetorical analysis essay and several workable topics for rhetorical analysis at your fingertips. If you still have problems with this essay or lack time for it, feel free to turn to our experts for help. Expert essay writing assistance is just a couple of clicks away.