Have you ever listened to someone talk and thought, ‘Huh, they make a really good argument’? but haven’t really known why you think that? This is one of the questions that rhetorical analyses want to address. When we think about rhetoric, we’re thinking about how an argument is impressive or valid (not always at the same time), and this can stem from how a person delivers a speech, what they talk about, how they write, or how they appeal to their audience. Rhetorical analyses can include a lot of things, a lot, and it can get overwhelming very fast. However, a rhetorical essay outline helps us organize these thoughts, and we’re going to go over what you should know about these essays. This is the basic outline of what you need to do:
- Consider your source: what is it?
- Organize your main argument: what do you want to say with this analysis?
- Context: what surrounds this source?
- Pathos: how does the source connect emotionally with its audience?
- Logos: what facts does it use?
- Ethos: who made this source and how do they incorporate their reputation?
- Kairos: what was happening when this source was written or made?
- What does this mean for the source’s intentions?
Know Your Source
Any rhetorical analysis outline needs a source because, unlike argumentative essays, for example, you’re tasked with evaluating a specific source and its validity. You need to first look at your source and think, what’s their main argument? Why did they write this or give this speech? Am I the target audience? How does that affect their message? A common topic of rhetorical analyses includes political speeches where a candidate is selling their campaign to potential voters. Here, you’d need to know who they are, why they’re running, and what they need to do to convince people to vote for them.
Start Organizing
Any rhetorical essay outline should begin with a thesis, and this will guide the rest of your essay. Does the source succeed regarding its specific goal? Why? You’ll introduce your thesis and should look something like this: Jane Doe’s campaign speech for the Governor’s elections of 1990 was successful because she addressed her voters’ concerns, offered her plan for transportation, and cited other renowned leaders. The specifics of the thesis will vary according to your essay, but Litero can help you organize these elements if you need inspiration or just don’t know how to organize these points.
What is the Context of Your Source
What’s happening around the source is equally important because it gives you clues about why this source exists. Did a movie come out that challenged societal values or made everyone question whether another sequel was truly necessary? Did a leader say something questionable? These things tell you about the potential intentions of the author, and they’re necessary to consider because a rhetorical analysis outline should consider why a source exists. Moreover, including context helps your audience understand the source. Maybe you read the article and watched the movie the author criticized, but that doesn’t mean everyone else did.
Tip: you can paste the prompt into Litero and it’ll give you parameters you can use for this part.
Pathos: Emotional Appeals
How a source appeals to its audience on an emotional level is crucial because no one wants to read something that’s completely bland. The relevance of pathos stems from the need to connect with your audience, and any rhetorical analysis outline should consider this. Beyond facts, what does the source do to highlight their topic? For example, a speech about adopting puppies and cats could consider why having a pet can be a great addition to any family because they offer companionship. Emotional appeals can vary, and they can be analogies, language (like using ‘you’ or ‘we’ to signify a common issue), or the overall tone to support a call to action.
Tip: if you’re ever confused about what a section means or what you should cover in it, you can use Litero’s AI chat to ask questions or write something like ‘What is a pathos strategy that can be in a book/article/speech’? and it’ll give you an answer that will guide your writing.
Logos: Facts and Logic
Rhetoric also includes tangible facts that support a position or argument, and your rhetorical essay outline should consider this. Does the source include things like statistics? Are there facts that you can verify, such as how many electric vehicles were made in 2023? These elements make it easier for someone to understand the topic or argument, but you also need to consider whether these facts are relevant at all and if they come from valid sources. Moreover, returning to the idea of validity and relevance, does the source want to convince its audience? If so, what type of arguments would this audience expect? These help you think about facts within the larger context of the source and your analysis.
Ethos: Who Made This Source?
This is probably one of the most important aspects of a source because a person’s reputation can come with expectations. If it’s a speech by a political candidate, their history and successes affect their audience. If the author is an obscure person, then they might need to include their credentials, more facts, or emotional appeal strategies to ensure their audience sees them as a legitimate source of information. Your rhetorical analysis outline should consider how credibility affects the audience’s perception. Moreover, is there readily available information about the author? Would not knowing who they are affect the impact of the speech, article, etc.? It’s important to evaluate whether the author compensates for a lack of credibility with things like citations or if they rely on their reputation.
Kairos: Timeliness
Your source has a goal, but it also exists within a specific time frame. Considering everything that happened when the source was written or created and what you’ve considered in your rhetorical essay outline, does it make sense? Does it prompt a sense of urgency? This will vary depending on the source, but it’s an important variable that helps you understand the intention behind the source.
What Does This All Mean?
After you’ve written your rhetorical analysis essay outline, you now have the task of evaluating whether the source is successful. Depending on the type of source, goal, and author, you could say it’s effective because it uses important facts or isn’t effective because it doesn’t establish a connection with its audience. Every element we’ve described above gives you data about how to answer this question, and it’s important to remember that the goal here isn’t to determine whether the argument is good or right but rather if it succeeds at persuading, sharing an idea, or prompting a specific action.