What is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?

A rhetorical essay provides an analysis of a non-fiction paper task. According to Plato:’’ Rhetoric is the art of winning the soul by discourse.’’ A Greek philosopher Aristotle defines rhetoric as an ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion. 

The main elements of rhetoric are context (occasion or time it is written or spoken), purpose (a goal that the writer aims to achieve) and thesis (main idea of the statement). Ethos describes how well does the writer present himself, pathos means how well does the writer affect the readers' emotions and logos defines how well does the writer use ''text'.

The writer provides the story in a way to explain his point of view. One of the rhetorical essay examples is public speeches that are written by selecting a specific topic and analyzing it.  It aims to present an informative paper by selecting the words/phrases to get feedback from the audience. 

The main purpose of a rhetorical essay is to convince the audience to change their opinion about a certain subject. 

How to write a rhetorical essay 

The length of a rhetorical essay is approximately 500-750 words. The resources are numerous textbooks, databases and online journals for the corresponding topic. In the beginning, always outline the major questions and tasks to answer in the essay. 

A rhetorical essay consists of the introduction, body paragraph and a conclusion. The introduction is the main part of the essay. An introduction explains the author's point of view and provides a background of the paper. Each paragraph provides examples of certain opinions and illustrates them.

The body paragraphs need to support the idea and explain all the necessary thesis statements. Organize the body paragraphs by rhetorical appeals divided by the sections. Identify the epos, logos and pathos. 

A rhetorical essay is written to influence beliefs, attitudes and behaviour through the language.  The most effective rhetorical analysis essay titles are: Thank People for Smoking, Did Martin Luther King Believe in ‘His Dream’, Persuade students in the importance of school uniforms etc. 

There are certain words to incorporate more frequently such as abstract, detached, esoteric, literal, jargon, nostalgic, passionate, patriotic, precise, concrete, formal, monosyllabic etc. 

The expressions such as euphemism and dysphemism are used in the rhetorical paper. A euphemism is an expression used to place less offensive, disturbing phrases. A dysphemism is an expression used so that the reader sounds more offensive. 

A captive hook is recommended in a way to introduce a good story, anecdote, literary quote, poetry line, interesting facts or statistic etc. 

Tips on rhetorical essay writing

When on a rhetorical essay writing, summarize and paraphrase all the necessary ideas. The main questions to answer prior to any essay writing are to define the purpose of the paper, define the target audience and the specific situations about them. 

The recommended essay length is approximately 500-750 words, if not required differently. Write in the present tense using up-to-date techniques and provide stunning examples. 

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