1. For Rhetorical Analysis
Writing an Intro
For Rhetorical Analysis

2. Things you must know in order to accurately analyze a text:
1.SOAPS
2.Rhetorical Strategies
a.Appeals (ethos, logos, pathos)
b.Style (diction, syntax, details, imagery, tone, etc.)

3. Things you must know in order to accurately analyze a text:
3.Why did the author choose these strategies for the particular audience, occasion, and/or purpose?
a. This is the analysis part! Without this, you are merely summarizing the text.
b.Think about these questions:
i.HOW do the rhetorical strategies help the author achieve his/her purpose?
ii.WHY does the author chose those strategies for that particular audience and for that particular occasion

4. Intro: Part 1 (optional) – The hook
You can choose just to delve right into your analysis of the text, but in order to get those higher scores, it works well to connect the purpose of the text you are analyzing to some sort of outside knowledge. This knowledge can be pulled from the classes you have taken over the years or your personal interests! Keep it brief and make sure that the connection is clear and not at all tenuous.

5. Intro: Part 2 – Speaker, Occasion and Subject
(Writer’s credentials), (writer’s first and last name), in their (type of text), (title of text), (strong verb) (writer’s subject).
Example: Novelist, Amy Tan, in her narrative essay, “Fish Cheeks,” recounts an embarrassing Christmas Eve dinner when she was 14 years old.

6. Intro: Part 3 – The Purpose (the abstract)
(Writer’s last name)’s purpose is to (what the writer does in the text).
Example: Tan’s purpose is to convey the idea that, at fourteen, she wasn’t able to recognize the love her mother had for her or the sacrifices she made.

7. Intro: Part 4 – The strategies (the concrete)
In order to achieve this purpose (author’s last name) (strong verb) (a list of rhetorical strategies you will analyze in your essay)
Example: In order to achieve this purpose, Tan appeals to pathos with heartbreaking but humorous anecdotes in addition to establishing a reflective persona through the use of long parenthetical sentences.

8. Intro: Part 5 - Audience
These rhetorical strategies in turn create a[n] (adjective describing the attitude/feeling conveyed by the writer) tone in order to (verb phrase describing what the writer wants the reader to do/think) in his/her (intended audience)
Example: These rhetorical strategies in turn create a sentimental tone in order to appeal to similar feelings and experiences in her adult readers.