10 steps to write a masterful rhetorical essay

 

According to Aristotle, “A rhetoric is the art of seeing the available means of persuasion.” Thus, a rhetorical analysis examines the style, methods, and tools of persuasion used by an essay writer to convince the reader of his/her point. It does not, however, include augments about whether you agree with the writer or not; it rather explores the writing in debt and answers the “how” part of the writing or text. This type of essay divides the writing into different rhetorical elements that show how effective the author’s methods are in delivering his/her ideas or messages to the reader.

 

These rhetorical elements comprise the audience, tone, purpose, medium, Speaker, and context of the writing understudy. Understanding the rhetorical elements is the first step to writing a masterful rhetorical essay.

Audience: Who is the audience? (They could be readers, viewers, listeners), Why was this written for a specific audience? What can you deduce about this audience for example their age, gender, political affiliations?

 

Purpose: This implies understanding what the author is trying to convince the reader of. Why has the author written this piece? Is the author’s purpose clearly stated or not?

 

Speaker: Understanding who the speaker is in the writing acts as a crucial part of writing a rhetorical essay. Sometimes the author may choose to speak through a character of his/her story thus, speaking indirectly to the audience.

 

Medium: What is the medium through which the message is being delivered? Is it a video? Writing? Images? Podcast or other forms of audio?

 

Tone: the tone refers to the literary devices used by the author. This is one of the most important parts of writing a rhetorical essay. Recognizing the tone is crucial, if you cannot identify these devices, always consult an essay writing service that can guide you in writing a rhetorical essay.

 

The literary devices are rhetorical appeals or persuasion strategies that the author uses to convince the reader of their point. The three main modes of persuasion as put up by Aristotle are Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos is how you convince your audience of your credibility; it is the author’s appeal to trustworthiness using moral character and ethics. Pathos on the other hand appeals to emotions. And lastly, Logos uses reason and logic such as statistics, analogies, examples, etc., to convince the reader.

 

After you have understood what rhetorical appeals were used the 3rd step is to analyze the writing using those persuasion tools. Analyzing the text means deeply studying the author’s writing to examine the effectiveness in delivering the message. To analyze the author’s writing you will have to read the text multiple times. The analysis is a hectic and time-consuming task, you can ask someone to write my essay and they can easily. This will allow you to dig deeper into the reading, focus on the main points, make notes, and reflect on the way rhetorical elements have been used by the writer.

 

Moving forward, the 4th step is the evaluation of everything you just did till step 3. Here you evaluate using your brain, whether the author was successful in using all the techniques to reach his/her goal. If they were not, why is it so? Evaluation of the text will be incorporated into your thesis statement and introduction.

 

Step 5 requires you to make an outline for your rhetorical essay. This outline will compact your ideas into one platform making it easier for you to read and direct your thoughts. The outline looks something like this:

 

Ø  Introduction

 

Ø  Body paragraph 1 (Ethos)

 

Ø  Body paragraph 2 (Logos)

 

Ø  Body paragraph 3 (Pathos)

 

Ø  Conclusion

 

Step 6 and onward are quite similar to the simple format of an essay. After evaluating the text, you now need to state a clear thesis statement. Although most writers include the thesis statement at the end of their introductory paragraph, it is easier to form your stance before writing the introduction. A thesis statement includes a) the purpose of the writer; b) the rhetorical appeals the author has used, and c) the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of those methods/appeals. It is essential to include all relevant points concisely and concretely in your thesis statement. But if summarizing details is not your strong point you ask an essay writer to help you develop your thesis statement.

 

Now comes the introductory paragraphs as your 7th step, which begins with the introduction of the text and some details about the author. Sometimes it is better to give a summary of the text in case your instructor doesn’t know what the text is about. The introductory paragraph of a rhetorical essay doesn’t need to be lengthy, but be sure to reference the text’s title, author, and any other information regarding the text that needs citation.

 

Like any other formal essay, a rhetorical essay includes body paragraphs after the introduction. These paragraphs in step 8 are composed of a topic sentence in which you make a claim, basically, it is a subcomponent of one of the points that form the thesis statement, for example, the rhetorical appeal of Ethos. The second body paragraph should give a similar topic sentence about Lagos appeal and the third and last body paragraph should explain the last Pathos appeal (if any used by the author). The topic sentences should then be followed by an example from the text.

 

Last but not the least, step 9 is the conclusion which summarizes your essay by restating your thesis statement to emphasize the point you’re trying to make. You can also add a few lines about how the author’s work has impacted the reader/audience, or you can leave your audience with food for thought.

 

The final step to writing a masterful rhetoric essay to get you that A grade is to proofread your document. Revise your document for any grammatical mistakes, or sentence structures and avoid any plagiarism that might affect your work.

 

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