Independent Reading: Non-Fiction Rhetorical Analysis

This project will be broken into two equal parts: the MicroAnalysis and the MacroAnalysis.

MicroAnalysis: this will be due some time in March, earlier than the MacroAnalysis

Choose a brief passage (2-3 pages at most, a couple paragraphs at least) within the work to analyze as an isolated example of rhetoric. Your rhetorical analysis should consist of the following:

1. Identify the central purpose of the passage, in terms of what level of stasis question it’s designed to address and what sort of audience it’s designed to impress.

2. Identify at least one key claim being made in the passage, and discuss that claim’s evidence and warrant(s) through skillful Toulmin Analysis.

3. Discuss at least three distinct rhetorical methods the author utilizes to achieve that purpose. These methods should include at least one of the Aristotlean appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos) as well as at least one of the rhetorical devices listed in “Silva Rhetoricae.”

To create an effective “microanalysis,” you may find the sources below helpful (these sources are also linked on my schoolwires page):

Notes on the rhetorical triangle from Indiana University

Notes on stasis questions from Professor John R. Edlund

“Toulmin’s Analysis” (owlet.letu.edu/contenthtml/research/toulmin.html)

“Understanding Misunderstandings”(

“Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

“Rhetorical Figures In Sound” (americanrhetoric.com/rhetoricaldevicesinsound.htm)

Your MicroAnalysis should contain direct quotations from at least some of the sources above, in order to demonstrate that you’ve attained a clear understanding of specific rhetorical terms. Please include as part of your MicroAnalysis a Works Cited Page in proper MLA format.

MacroAnalysis: this will be due some time in April, before the break

The idea of this part of the analysis is for you to take sources referenced in your chosen work’s footnotes and defend, challenge, or qualify what you perceive to be a key component of the work’s major argument.

Your essay on this question should be an argument in and of itself, directed towards potential readers of the text with an interest in the real-world issues it addresses, and should be persuasive not only on the level of abstract argumentation and evidence, but also on a sentence-by-sentence compositional level. It should be written in a sophisticated style that demonstrates a command of tone, diction and imagery to achieve a given effect, and should also employ evidence culled from at least three separate sources in addition to the text itself to develop a persuasive original argument.

A Works Cited page in proper MLA format will be essential to this essay. Please be sure to read extensively in the footnoted secondary sources that you choose to include in your analysis. You should quote directly not only from the text you’ve chosen to read, but also from the outside sources you draw from that text’s footnotes. Your use of these sources should demonstrate a clear understanding on your part of how each of these sources relateto the original argument you end up contributing to the conversation.

CHECK SCHOOLWIRES FOR SPECIFIC DUE DATES AND FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS