1. Rhetoric as a Field (Subject) of Study
How to produce effective pieces of communication
and
A way of understanding communication

2. Rhetorical Analysis: A Definition
An effort to understand how people in specific social situations attempt to influence others through
Written and spoken language
Architecture, memorials
Television,
Visual art, Web sites, ads, photos, and other images
Dance and popular songs

3. Two Different Emphases (Analytic Screens)
Textual analysis (RWS 100)
and
Contextual analysis (RWS 200)

4. RWS 100: Textual Analysis: The Text as Artifact
In RWS 100, students learn
to use rhetorical concepts to discern an author’s project and analyze the features of texts:
To identify the author’s argument, that is, the claims an author makes about the topic the reasons and evidence offered, and the conclusions an author reaches based on the evidence
To identify the target audience
To note instances of refutation
To discern ethos, pathos, logos appeals
To note arrangement its relationship to audience and purpose,
To identify style/appropriateness of language choices

5. RWS 200: Contextual Analysis: The Text as Part of a Conversation
In RWS 200, students learn
to examine the setting or scene out of which any communication emerges
to understand communications through the lens of their environments

6. Four Broad Categories for Contextual Analysis
The author’s life and works
The context of the publication
The larger conversation
The author’s political goals

7. 1. The Author’s Life and Works
Who is the author? (research on the web to learn all you can about the author of the argument)
What else has she/he written/produced?
How does the argument you are analyzing fit into the author’s body of works? How is this argument like or unlike the others?
Does the author repeat or borrow arguments or concepts from previous things he/she has written?
What motivated the author to write?

8. 2. The Context of the Publication
Who is the intended audience? (through research, learn all you can about the place where the argument appeared and the audience)
How does the occasion and the forum for writing affect the argument?
How would the argument have been written differently if it had appeared elsewhere?
What motivated the newspaper or magazine (or other venue) to publish it?

9. 3. What is the Larger Conversation?
Through research, find out what else was being said/written about the subject the author discusses.
What other concurrent pieces of “cultural conversation” (e.g., TV shows, other articles, speeches, Web sites) engage(d) the topic?
Who has written on this topic and when? What were the major/defining positions taken?
How does the text you are reading fit into the conversation? What position on the topic does the text you are analyzing respond to or “answer.”?

10. 4. The Author’s Political Goals
What is the author’s argument?
What was the author’s purpose in writing the text?
What social change, that is, change in policy, behavior, attitude, or thinking is the author hoping to bring about through her/his argument?

11. What is Contextual Analysis
Contextual rhetorical analysis is the attempt to understand communications through the lens of their environments and examine the setting or scene out of which any communication emerges.
Rhetorical analysis from a contextualist perspective understands individual pieces as parts of an ongoing conversation. The challenge is to reconstruct the conversation surrounding a specific piece of writing or speaking.