Writing About Rhetoric
The more we examine the elements of diction and syntax and consider their effects, the deeper our understanding of an essay, a speech, or a visual text becomes. We also have to reach that deeper understanding when we write about rhetoric and style, or we will end up merely summarizing rather than analyzing the strategies a writer uses to achieve a particular purpose (The Language of Composition 51).
While you are analyzing a text, you read the details, and this will lead you to the author's overall meaning and purpose. In writing about rhetoric, you do the opposite. You start with the author's meaning, and then you discuss the parts you feel the author used to develop that meaning.
If you do not annotate, use close reading strategies, think deeply about the strategies and devices used by the author, then writing about it will be VERY difficult. Before you write an essay, you have to ANALYZE.
If you do not annotate, use close reading strategies, think deeply about the strategies and devices used by the author, then writing about it will be VERY difficult. Before you write an essay, you have to ANALYZE.
What is analysis?
Rhetorical précis
A rhetorical précis analyzes both the content (the what) and the delivery (the how) of a unit of spoken or written discourse. It is a tool that mixes both summary and analysis into one small paragraph. We use it to help you understand the language expected in a rhetorical analysis, but also because a rhetorical précis sums up your understanding of how a text works rhetorically. It is a step toward the rhetorical analysis essay.
THE FIRST SENTENCE identifies the essays author and title, provides the article’s date in parentheses, uses some form of the verb says (claims, asserts, suggests, argues-) followed by that, and the essay’s thesis (paraphrased or quoted).
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THE SECOND SENTENCE conveys the author’s support for the thesis (the way in which the author develops the essay); the trick is to convey a good sense of the breadth of the author’s support/examples, usually in chronological order.
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THE THIRD SENTENCE analyzes the author’s purpose using an in order to statement.
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THE FOURTH SENTENCE describes the essay’s target audience and characterizes the author’s relationship with that audience – or the essay’s tone.
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Template: Rhetorical précis
*please note your final version should be a paragraph and not merely a filling in of the blanks on this template. |
Example:
Sheridan Baker, in his essay "Attitudes" (1966), asserts that the writers' attitudes toward their subjects, their audiences, and themselves determine to a large extent the quality of their prose. Baker supports this assertion by showing examples of how inappropriate attitudes can make writing unclear, pompous, or boring, concluding that a good writer "will be respectful toward his audience, considerate toward his readers, and somehow amiable toward human failings" (58). His purpose is to make his readers aware of the dangers of negative attitudes in order to help them become better writers. He establishes an informal relationship with his audience of college students who are interested in learning to write "with conviction" (55).
--From The Complete Stylist, 1966; in Elements
Precis Template
(Author's full name) _______________________________________, in his/her (essay, novel, poem, article, painting, short story, etc.) _______________________ (year for APA attribution)__________, asserts that ________________________________________.
(Author's last name) ____________________________________ supports this assertion by (showing, offering, using, citing, challenging, etc.) _______________________________examples of______________________________________________________ . His/Her purpose is to __________________________________. He/She (establishes, creates, constructs, suggests, offers, presents, etc.) ____________________ a/an ______________________________________________________with/for his/her audience of ______________________________________________________________________________ who _________________.
Sheridan Baker, in his essay "Attitudes" (1966), asserts that the writers' attitudes toward their subjects, their audiences, and themselves determine to a large extent the quality of their prose. Baker supports this assertion by showing examples of how inappropriate attitudes can make writing unclear, pompous, or boring, concluding that a good writer "will be respectful toward his audience, considerate toward his readers, and somehow amiable toward human failings" (58). His purpose is to make his readers aware of the dangers of negative attitudes in order to help them become better writers. He establishes an informal relationship with his audience of college students who are interested in learning to write "with conviction" (55).
--From The Complete Stylist, 1966; in Elements
Precis Template
(Author's full name) _______________________________________, in his/her (essay, novel, poem, article, painting, short story, etc.) _______________________ (year for APA attribution)__________, asserts that ________________________________________.
(Author's last name) ____________________________________ supports this assertion by (showing, offering, using, citing, challenging, etc.) _______________________________examples of______________________________________________________ . His/Her purpose is to __________________________________. He/She (establishes, creates, constructs, suggests, offers, presents, etc.) ____________________ a/an ______________________________________________________with/for his/her audience of ______________________________________________________________________________ who _________________.