Teaching writing is tough! We live in a world with a multitude of resources available, but so many times, it’s just not enough. Students need simple ways to analyze rhetoric. By simplifying the process of Rhetorical Analysis, we can work to ensure that all students can, to some degree, master the writing process. More than anything, they need a plan! With a Rhetorical Analysis Essay Outline, every student has the opportunity to write an essay that works through the difficult process of rhetorical analysis!

5 Steps IN Using A Rhetorical Analysis Essay Outline:

1. ANNOTATE WHILE READING-Preparing for the rhetorical analysis Essay

Many students believe that they can just read something without interacting with a text in some way. With a focused annotation strategy, writing rhetorical analysis will be much easier! Model how to underline textual evidence for each of the ideas below, label the concept near the evidence (ex. Speaker), and then write a note about the meaning and relevance of the evidence.

use S.P.A.u.t.s. before creating the rhetorical analysis essay outline!

Check out this organizer from my “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Pack!

• Speaker: As students read, help them to examine the speaker and his/her traits. Who is the speaker or author? What are some traits that describe the speaker? What is the speaker’s motivation?
• Purpose: Usually, the author will state the purpose somewhere in the introduction and/or conclusion. The body paragraphs will support that purpose with examples throughout. At the end of the text, the author will reinforce his or her purpose and, most likely, challenge the audience in some way. By identifying the purpose, students will be much more successful in achieving rhetorical analysis!
• Audience:  Students  also need to be sure WHO it is the author/speaker is writing for. No, the AUDIENCE is NOT the READER or EVERYONE. How many times have we heard this as teachers? Instead, we need to allow students to break down the text first and then think about the audience. What does this audience look like? What are their thoughts and/actions? What does the speaker want the audience to accomplish? In identifying the audience, the students should be better able to pinpoint the purpose.
• Universal Idea: In order to really go beyond the purpose of the rhetoric, students must connect to a higher idea. Why is this text important? Why is the text necessary? How is the rhetoric effective or ineffective? Why? Should the audience take action in some way beyond what the speaker is asking? *Encourage students to think about the significance of the rhetoric in connection to universal ideas/messages. 
• Tone:  Ascertaining the actual tone of a piece of rhetoric is vital! Sometimes a speaker/writer comes off as quiet or frustrated or lighthearted, when in fact, the tone is much more forceful or even the complete opposite. As you expose your students to satire and higher levels of rhetoric, it may be tough for students to identify the true emotions of the speaker. Help students to triangulate the actual tone in more specific, rather than vague, terms. For example, is the tone upset>irritated>frustrated>resentful>angry>infuriated>livid? Acknowledging tone is the first step, but having students locate evidence will help in supporting a specific tone!
• Strategies: Knowing literary or rhetorical analysis terms helps students as they break down the rhetoric. You can encourage them to use a Rhetorical Appeals Chart to examine Logos, Pathos, and Ethos in a meaningful way, or they can always examine the diction (be sure to encourage specificity), figurative language, etc.

1. 1. Logos- an appeal to the audience’s rational thought by using facts and statistics
   2. Pathos- an appeal to the audience’s emotions through the use of emotional language
   3. Ethos- an appeal to the audience through a belief in the speaker’s authority

2. organize ideas in whatever way makes sense

I prefer having students use an organizer of some sort. Most beginners struggle with making sense of rhetoric. Helping students organize their ideas will ultimately benefit them as they work to write their essays. 

• You can start by encouraging students to identify the purpose.
• Then, help students to locate evidence that connects to the purpose.
• Next, identify the type of evidence used.
• After each piece of evidence, write down the annotations as well as more developed analysis with a connection to the overall purpose of the text.

*These ideas will aid students in the overall writing process!

3. Create a thesis based on the ANNOTATIONs & ORGANIZER

Most students need a starting place for writing a thesis. Here are some thesis starters your students can use: (Make sure to focus on SPEAKER, TECHNIQUES, AUDIENCE, & PURPOSE for each thesis!)

• Ex. _________________ uses _______________ and _____________ in order to __________________________________________________________________________.
• Ex. Through the inclusion of ______________, _____________, and _________________, ___________________ works to ________________________________________________.
• Ex. In order to ________________________________, _____________________incorporates _________________________ and ________________________________.

4. Focus on a step-by-step process (at first)

Like a basketball coach, you will need to practice basic skills with your students. Most come to us from elementary or middle school with a set of skills that mirror process writing; however, rhetorical analysis requires much more of students. Instead of using a piece of evidence and explaining it, students need to consistently practice analysis of how the device works to contribute to the purpose. Here is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay Outline that may help your students who struggle through writing their VERY FIRST rhetorical analysis paper!

• Topic Sentence-Students may struggle with this part because they need to be shown that their ideas need to connect throughout the entire rhetorical analysis in order to make sense.
• Evidence-Students will need to use evidence to support their ideas; you may need to model what this looks like. 
• Analysis-After providing evidence, we need to PRACTICE showing our students how to connect to the purpose through analysis. The BEST way to do this is continual practice through every type of rhetoric 🙂 Check out rhetorical analysis essay texts below!
• REPEAT with MORE Evidence and Analysis-This is the part where we might lose students. They may have been told that a paragraph is 3-5 sentences (which teacher told them this, I do not know). They might also have been taught to use ONE example, but we are asking them to write with TWO or MORE….I know, I get funny looks from my students too!
• Ending Sentence-For this last part, I model how to connect to the topic sentence without sounding redundant. You could also have students discuss the effectiveness of the strategy concerning the overall purpose. This last part should reinforce the device and message. So many students don’t realize that this part is necessary, because it leads to clarity as well as coherency. 

Check out the examples in my RHETORICAL ANALYSIS PACKS!

• Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
• Ain’t I A Woman?
• A Modest Proposal
• Declaration of Sentiments
• Declaration of Independence
• Gettysburg Address

5. USe the outline to write the essay

When it comes to putting it down on paper, why not have students use the outline? That is what it is there for. So often, my students think it is absolutely crazy that they can copy and paste their ideas from their own annotations, organizer, and outline to use in their rhetorical analysis papers.  The body paragraph outline reflects that is required. The only paragraphs left are the introduction and conclusion. 

the introduction in the rhetorical analysis Essay outline: 

The introduction is simply meant to introduce the speaker, text title (students forget the title all of the time), the context (encourage students to do a bit of research), the audience, purpose, and strategies/techniques.  It does not need to have a hook with a question or description. I think we have all read these, and I believe we can all agree that a traditional hook is unnecessary for a rhetorical analysis 🙂

Conclusion in the rhetorical analysis Essay outline: 

The conclusion is usually an afterthought for most students. Many simply restate the thesis or summarize the text. To be fair, this is what students have been taught throughout the years. Instead, let’s have students answer the following questions:

• How are the strategies, techniques, or appeals effective?
• Why is this rhetoric important or unimportant?
• What makes this text a valuable (or useless) part of academia, culture, or society as a whole?

More than anything, students need constant practice. Like developing in a specific sport or becoming a better baker or learning how to interview for a job, continuous exposure to specific skills, even the most basic of skills, is vital! We need to model, practice, and let students struggle and grow; then, they need to rinse and repeat the process over and over. 

Afterward they effectively analyze rhetoric, the real fun begins…they can begin writing their own rhetoric!

By Kristin Menke-The Integrated Teacher

Check out my SHOP>>> Integrated ELA Test Prep!