ENGL 1301 - Guide to writing a textual/rhetorical analysis

1. Critical Analysis
Analyzing a Text

2. Rhetorical Context
• Background of the author
–What makes the author reliable or credible?
–Is the writer writing within his or her area of
expertise?
–Does the author identify with a particular group or
set of beliefs?
–What experience does he or she have?
–Is the author a writer by profession?
• Why is that significant?

3. • Type / Genre of the Source
– Is it a researched and documented essay
by a specialist?
– Is it the text of a speech delivered to a
specific audience?
– Is it an editorial or an op-ed piece?
– Is it a syndicated column, political
cartoon, or comic strip?
• Why is that significant?
Rhetorical Context

4. • Intended Audience
– Who was the article meant for?
– Does the author expect a popular audience? A general
but educated audience? A specialist audience of shared
expertise?
– Does the author anticipate an audience that share
cultural, political, or religious values?
– What type of audience was it? Supportive?
Sympathetic? Skeptical? Hostile?
• Why is that significant?
Rhetorical Context

5. • Primary Purpose
– Is the work primarily informative or persuasive in intent?
– Is it designed to entertain or be inspiring?
– Does it narrate, describe, illustrate, define, compare, or
offer analysis?
– What goals does the author identify in his/her thesis
statement?
• Why is that significant?
Rhetorical Context

6. • Sources of Information
– Where was the information obtained?
– Are the sources clearly identified?
• Beware of “unnamed” or “reliable” sources
– What kind of sources does the author use?
– Does he rely on facts and figures? Personal
experience? Anecdotal evidence?
• Why is that significant?
Rhetorical Context

7. Style
• Diction and Tone
– Is the writer using a
conversational tone or a more
formal style of writing?
– Does the writer use slang words or
technical words?
– Is the word choice concrete and
vivid or abstract and intellectual?
• Why is that significant?

8. • Sentence Structure
– Are the sentences generally long or
short, or varied in length?
– Does the writer use sentence
fragments (incomplete sentences)?
– Does the writer seem to be using an
overly simplistic style? If so, why?
– Does the writer use parallelism
(coordination) or antithesis
(contrast)?
• Why is that significant?
Style

9. • Figurative Language
– Does the author make use of
metaphors or similes?
– What are the items being
compared?
– What is the point of
comparison?
– What is the emotional impact of
the figurative comparison?
• Why is that significant?
Style

10. • Organization
– Where are the ideas placed? The beginning, middle,
end?
– What does the placement say about the importance of
the idea?
– What parts of the discussion are developed at length?
– What points are treated only briefly?
• Why is that significant?
Style

11. Style
• Other things to pay attention to:
– Hyperbole (exaggeration),
understatement, or irony
– Quotation marks, italics, or capital
letters
– Repetition
– Examples