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Research Guides

Composition, Writing & Rhetoric: Rhetorical Analysis

An introduction to multidisciplinary research resources for English composition and writing courses

Rhetorical analysis

Rhetorical analysis breaks a piece of communication (including cartoons, advertisements, films, and speeches) into sections and explain how each part works to persuade, inform, or entertain, exploring the effectiveness of the techniques used, how the argument has been constructed, and give examples from the text.  A strong rhetorical analysis evaluates a text or other communication object, rather than just describes the techniques used. separate and apart from whether you personally agree or disagree with the argument.

Finding Examples of Rhetorical Analysis

To find locally-owned materials on rhetorical analysis, search keywords [your topic] AND ["rhetorical criticism"] in UW Libraries Search on our main page, e.g. "social media" AND "rhetorical criticism"