What is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?

What is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?
Table of Contents
  1. What is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?
  2. Things to Memorize about Great Rhetorical Analysis Essay: Preparation
  3. How to Start a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?
  10. FINAL THOUGHTS: Where to Get an Effective Rhetorical Analysis Example Essay?

A rhetorical analysis essay is a form of writing where the author looks at the topic in greater detail and prove his standpoint, using effective and persuasive methods. In a broader sense, a rhetorical paper means 'writing about writing,' 'dreaming about a dream,' 'teaching a teacher,' and so on. It is one of the writing assignments which appears on the AP English exam. GRE essays are also part of some examps (see GRE essay examples).

The main point is to create the informative text by dividing apart the words/phrases that the writer comes up with to reveal the persuasive techniques used to get feedback from the audience. Good examples involve public speeches by various authorities. An effective evaluation requires selecting a certain article to analyze and interpret how all written sections relate to each other, forming one whole.

Student's goal is to create the top-notch paper. Following the basic questions is the key to success in rhetorical writing:

  • What is the situation described by the author of original piece?
  • Who is the writer/author/speaker?
  • What is the primary goal of the analyzed piece of text, article, or public speech based on the author's intentions?
  • Who is the author's target audience (age, nationality, gender, preferences, location, interests, and other factors)?
  • How does the content of the main message sound?
  • Do the overall form and content correspond?
  • Does the main article's or speech idea successfully complete the author's intentions and primary objectives?
  • What does the nature of communication tell about the culture that developed it?

In short, a rhetorical analysis essay has to be

  • grammatically correct
  • concise
  • clear
  • coherent
  • written in present tense
  • and respond to the analyzed article/speech/text.

Now, it is time to proceed to the detailed instruction of creating such paper.

Things to Memorize about Great Rhetorical Analysis Essay: Preparation

Following pre-writing stages is what every writer must keep in mind in order to create an effective introduction. One of the ways to get ready is to view several examples. Learn how to structure AP paper paragraphs to analyze the chosen article or piece of text effectively. The writer should:

  • Use SOAPS.
Secrets of Writing a Winning Rhetorical Analysis Essay
  • Involve rhetorical stages.
  1. Appeals (ethos, logos, & pathos) - read more information on these three important elements further in the article.
  2. Writing style (voice, tone, language, imagery, dialect, imagery, and more)
  • Understand why the speaker picked these ways to communicate with the target reading/listening audience, occasion, and goal.
  1. Here is where the analysis part of the article steps in! A summary of the text is never an analysis paper, so focus more on evaluation strategies in your text.
  2. Following a couple of primary questions helps; do not ignore them!
  • How do the rhetorical strategies/ways to interact with the readers help to achieve the main purpose of the writing?
  • Why did the author choose these ways to communicate with the target reading audience and for that certain occasion?

How to Start a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?

Another thing to keep in mind is the organization is essential for any types of academic writing, and a rhetorical paper is not an exception. Make sure to have excellent rhetorical analysis essay example on hand. Don't worry - this essay's structure looks pretty much the same as other types of school/college academic papers on any topic.

There are many different ways to grab the attention of your reader from the initial line of your essay. The best trick is to choose effective hook to reflect your topic. Keep in mind that a hook sentence should correspond to the tone and audience of your paper too. A joke won't be OK if you write a paper summarizing and analyzing the article on serious health issue like full disability. This type of hook is a perfect start for the paper which covers funny moments from the life of wild animals or popular books.

It's up to the writer to decide on the powerful hook!

  • A good story
  • Anecdote
  • Interesting fact or statistics
  • Literary quote
  • Poetry line
  • Comparison
  • Contradiction
  • Question
  • Simile/Metaphor




You need to involve the educational research on your topic to find several solutions to the existing problem. It shouldn't be too wordy or complicated. Proceed to this part after the moment you stated your thesis; having done it, you may move to the analysis of the topic. Use all possible strategies to support your idea in the best way possible.


It is an important part of critical academic work where you should support your thesis statement. Your task is to grab the attention of the audience: the strategy will be your helping hand, allowing you to do that. If you work on a rhetorical content, you should choose a winning strategy. You know who your reader is - now, it is high time to determine the target reading audience.


At first gaze, these terms sound like a conjuration in a magic story. Nevertheless, they are the major ingredients of persuasion created by Aristotle and know for centuries of the mankind history! Many years ago, Aristotle discussed these three terms in his well-known book Rhetoric. He considered them to be the primary persuasive strategies that authors should use in their papers.

  • The ethos appeals to ethics. The term refers to the author's credibility on the theme he wants to analyze; the writer must prove the audience why they should believe him.
  • The pathos appeals to emotions. In a similar vein, it is the emotional reaction of the target audience to the arguments provided by the author. You should create an emotional response to your essay.
  • The logos mean the using of the rational thinking. You provide different truthful facts and other logical arguments to influence your audience's ways of thinking.

If all statements mentioned above are difficult to understand or you can't make a boast of the writing talent, you will always find the professional assistance at JustBuyEssay. It is a reputable custom agency, collaborating with professionals in the writing area. Their authors know all secrets of working with essays, case studies, course works, and other types of important but creative assignments.

After considering all major aspects of the task, it is time to proceed to the outline.


Browsing the web and learning the information presented on different portals, you will find out the outline is essential. There are many examples, proving such fact. Keep in mind that it is not a chaotic writing where you start working when the muse comes; when you create the outline, we guarantee, the inspiration will come faster!

  • Information Gathering

The point comprises the identification of the writing style, choosing the core audience and examination of appeals. Having coped with such issue, you may proceed to work on the main paragraphs.

  • Write the Introduction Paragraph

Introductory paragraph always sets the tone of the entire essay, so it has to include all the main ideas you're going to discuss. Here, you need to designate the goal of your work by notifying your reader in advance about what your essay is. You need to create your thesis statement. Choose a single idea you like better than others, narrow it down, and write a concise, clear sentence highlighting this idea to your readers. A thesis statement is an extremely important part which regulated the way the information is conveyed and delivered to the audience of readers. You should state the types of rhetorical techniques you use. Think about choosing the original argument and focus your writing on it; this argument must be traced throughout the body paragraphs.

  • Write Three Body Paragraphs with Arguments

It is the leading part of any school or college academic writing assignment. Nevertheless, if you cope with the previous part, this one will not be difficult or time-consuming. During the writing process, you should pinpoint attention upon arrangements, but the process will speed up once you manage to provide effective evidence.

There are many arguments a writer can find online/in the library while trying to support thesis statement and each argument in particular. Include information which is credible, time-tested, fresh, and supports the argument in the best way. If you're running out of ideas, include an opposing view, but try to reject it with the help of strong evidence.

Working on body paragraphs, organize them by rhetorical appeals (divide them into sections and identify the epos, logos, and pathos). Your essay shouldn't be too wordy. Your primary aim is to give facts and fortify them with various ideas so that in the end, each body paragraph will have a single claim and supporting evidence.

  • Work on the Rhetorical Analysis Essay Conclusion

The specific goal of the conclusion is to summarize all ideas mentioned in your essay, state the specific ideas/arguments, and rewrite the thesis. Still, you should rephrase the thesis statement and mention it once again. Information alluded in conclusion should be brief. If the theme of work is too broad and requires additional research, you should also mention it in conclusion.

It is better to end up your descriptive essay with a powerful call-to-action. Other ways include an expression, related question, or forecast to leave a positive impression on your reader.


Below, we want to publish six important tips that you may put into your essay.

  1. Never mention new information in conclusion - summarize and paraphrase the ideas discussed in the text before.
  2. Don't argue as the overriding priority of such paper is to analyze, but not to espouse your view.
  3. Never start conclusion with the word combination "in " If your writing piece belongs to a high academic level, this expression will only clutter your work.
  4. Once you're done with your draft, check it several times with the help of various free grammar-checking tools available online. Show the draft to your educator to point out your mistakes; fix them before the deadline arrives.
  5. Revise the final papers at least two times to see whether you fixed everything. The good idea is to give your finished essay to people around to share their ideas on what can be improved.
  6. We have asked academic writing experts how to write a rhetorical analysis essay. We will share one of the most interesting tips:
"I would recommend reviewing different rhetorical analysis examples to understand the main point. Sensory details, emotions, and examples altogether help to support thesis statement just like arguments help to support the main argument in the argumentative/persuasive paper. Thus, facts alone are not effective enough. I suggest that students utilize different literary and creative writing tools like similes, metaphors, personification, comparisons, and parallels to provide a complete description of the topic."

Daniel Rosenberg, Dean's Assistant at Clemson University.

Writing an example of rhetorical analysis is not your worst nightmare any longer!


We believe that our rhetorical essay example or custom article will help you create a superior academic paper. Nevertheless, if English is not your native language or you can't brag about ideal writing skills, you can always find the professional assistance at JustBuyEssay. This online service is aware of all peculiarities of working with this type of assignment. Its talented academic authors with more than 20 years of combined experience in educational services used to write such works on a timely basis. For that reason, their professionalism can comply with requirements of the most demanding people.