Rhetorical Context and Analysis

Today's Scripture

• Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through him who strengthens me"

Review

• Group present your evaluation of your media/image

Considering the rhetorical situation and examining texts against the rhetorical appeals

ANGLE OF VISION

• How does the author control what the reader sees?
• Where does the author use words with certain connotations or create a certain tone or style?
• How does the author reveal her point of view?

EXAMPLE
Tompkins attempts to make her research process look objective: she shows the reader how she systematically consults a wide range of historical accounts, from primary sources written by colonists to analyses by historians trained in differing schools of thought. Ultimately, however, the reader can only see her research process through Tompkins’s own perspective—which is the point she implicitly arrives at in the end of her essay. The unusual use of first-person in this academic article highlights this insight. For instance, when she writes, “I did not care to have any real exemplars interfering with what I already knew” (101), she draws attention to the fact that her personal feelings influenced how she approached her research.

Purpose or Rhetorical Situation

1. What is motivating the author to write this piece?
2. Does the author want to...
-express a certain idea or opinion?
-respond to a particular occasion or another text?
-explore a topic or inquire into a problem?
-inform the reader about a topic that is misunderstood?
-analyze, synthesize, and interpret data?
-persuade the reader of an argument?
-reflect on a topic?
-advocate for change?

Example
Tompkins has multiple purposes in writing this piece: she is responding to the problem of finding the “truth” in historical accounts, informing the reader about how history is constructed, reflecting on the problems of escaping a single perspective, and trying to persuade the reader to be more skeptical in the research process.

Audience
To whom is the author writing?

Example
Tompkins is writing to an academic audience familiar with the process of historical research, though her simplified language and use of first-person experience make the essay accessible to a broader audience that might include undergraduate students and the educated general reader. The author is reflecting on the process of how historical knowledge is formed and wants the audience to think about what might seem to be a straightforward process in a new way.

Author's Kinds of Claims

-Claims of fact based on objective facts but are sometimes interpreted by the author for the purpose of argument
-Claims of value present an evaluation or judgment of a situation. They often use value-laden words like variations of “good,” “bad,” “moral,” “immoral,” “beautiful,” “ugly,” etc.
-Claims of policy often call for action and use “should” or “must” statements

Ethos

• Refers to the author of a document
• Writer’s appeal to authority includes the writer’s charisma, character, and credibility
• Helps determine the author’s credibility
• Accuracy of the information presented

Questions to ask...

• Does the author possess the appropriate credentials to discuss the topic?
• Is the author’s character one that renders him or her trustworthy to the audience?
• What elements of the author’s writing exemplify ethos?

EXAMPLE
Tomkins systematically lays out her research process in narrative form, showing the reader how many different sources she consulted in writing the article, establishing her professional credibility

Pathos

• Uses tone to appeal to the audience’s emotions or passions
• Convince them of his or her point of view
• An author might wish to bring about in an audience a particular emotional reaction...it may include, happiness to sadness, pity, outrage, etc

determine the writer’s agenda and intentions

• Honorable: to inform or advance the safety of the audience
• Malicious: to manipulate or misinform the audience

Questions to ask...

• What kind of emotional response is the author trying to get from an audience?
• What language does the author use to generate this emotional response?
• What does the audience’s emotional reaction reveal about the author’s agenda?
• What is the mood/tone & how does it appeals to the audience’s emotions?

EXAMPLE
Unusually for an academic essay, Tompkins begins with a personal account of her childhood impressions of“Indians” and continues to narrate the rest of the essay in first person. This narration establishes a more personal bond with the reader than most other academic writing, which generally avoids personal anecdotes

Logos

• Means the author’s appeal to the audience’s logic, intellect, or reason
• Serves as the “meat” of the piece in that it gives an audience direct concrete evidence about a topic
• Can use to support their own arguments when attempting to persuade audiences of their viewpoints

Questions to Ask:

• What claim is the author making?
• What evidence or reasons does the author provide to support his or her claims?
• Are the reasons and evidence provided logical and supported by credible sources?

EXAMPLE
The logos of Tompkins’s argument is established in a similar way to her ethos: her systematic explanation of her research process creates a logical sequence for the reader to follow.

Rhetorical Situation

• Refers to the speaker, audience, and occasion when writing any document
• Formal or informal, published or unpublished
• Writer is comprised of the audience, occasion, and purpose

For example...
If an employee were writing a memo to an employer requesting a pay increase, the rhetorical situation would be as follows:
1. The audience would be the employer,
2. the occasion would be the memo
3. the purpose would be requesting a pay increase.

REview

• Describe the purpose and rhetorical situation.
• What are the three types of the author's kinds of claims?
• Describe what an author can do using the ethos, pathos, and logos. How can you detect the usage of each?

SOAPSTone

Speaker or Writer/Author

-Who is the speaker or writer of the piece?
-Are they fictional or real?

-What are their credentials?

-How will the attributes of the speaker affect the intended message of the piece?

Occasion

-What prompted the writing? What is the need for writing the piece?

-Is it an assignment for school, a memo for work, or a letter to a friend or relative, for example?

Audience

-Who will be the readers of the piece?
-What are their attributes?

-How will/does the audience influence the way the author chooses to write the piece?

Purpose

-What is the writer’s agenda?

-What does the writer hope to accomplish with this document?

-What does the writer want the audience to think after reading the text?

Subject

-What is the piece about?

-reader should be able to identify the subject in only a few words

Tone

-What is the attitude of the author toward his or her audience and subject?

-How does the author’s diction (language choice), syntax (sentence construction), and use of literary devices and figurative language (e.g., imagery, metaphors, similes) reveal his or her tone?

crucial to help ensure a writer conveys his or her message adequately

also help readers more accurately assess the meaning of a document

Writer-based prose

• Refers to writing composed solely for the author and no additional audiences
• Includes journals, diaries, & any other writing meant solely for the author to read
• Author does not need to consider audience when writing
• Only reader will be the author because the only reader is the author

Reader-based prose

• Audience-based writing is public and intended for multiple readers, not just the author. Ex. include books, essays, short stories, poetry, blogs, etc.
• Authors consider all elements of the rhetorical situation when composing texts
• If the audience of a text changes, the text will often need to change as well

Visual Media

• Writers of websites, brochures, and other texts need to keep the audience in mind
• Pictures, videos, and other images...choices can impact the way the message is conveyed to the audience
• Accuracy of the audience’s interpretation can impact the success or failure of the text...# of visitors/readers (in the case of websites or webpages) of the text

For example

• An historian created a webpage about the Vietnam War for veterans-likely would include different images, videos, and text than he or she would use in a webpage targeted toward an audience made up of high school students or an audience of Vietnam War protestors

analyzing the media/image's purpose/audience

• What are the author's beliefs about the subject matter?
• Why would the organization create the media/image?
• What role does the audience expect the organization to play regarding the subject matter?
• How does the writer establish ethos, pathos, and logos?