Wine ENG111 E2 Assignment
Rhetorical Analysis Essay: An Opportunity to Explore the Power of Persuasion in Visual Rhetoric
Description: The essay is a 900-1,250 word rhetorical analysis of a visual text that includes an argument
about how the text works to achieve its purpose for its target audience. The text under analysis can be anything
in the visual world across many disciplines and areas of culture – from political cartoons to popular
advertisements, from magazine covers to fine art. Ideally, your choice of image will initiate your focus for the
argument – pick either an issue that interests you or a medium that you’d like to examine more critically.
Learning Goals: The purpose of the rhetorical analysis unit is to help you develop your visual literacy and your
understanding of rhetoric. You must both argue for a text’s persuasiveness and be persuasive in doing so. In
addition, the purpose of this assignment is to help you employ the methods of rhetorical analysis we’ve
discussed so far so that you can develop the expertise in academic argumentation that you will need for the
research paper.
Process: A rhetorical analysis is VERY different from the kind of academic essays that you’re used to
writing. A rhetorical analysis is less concerned with the content or meaning of a text than the way the text is
written and HOW it works to achieve its purpose for a given target audience. The primary questions your essay
should answer is “How exactly does this text work to persuade its audience?” and “Who is the text attempting
to persuade and what does it seek to persuade them to do, think, feel, or believe?”
You must evoke and mention explicitly the terms we’ve discussed in class (pathos, logos, ethos, kairos,
audience, purpose, text). Your argument should be about the strategic use of rhetorical appeals and persuasive
power of the particular image and not about the content issue. Focus on HOW it works, not simply WHAT it
conveys or what it means; discuss how the use of rhetorical appeals determines the effectiveness of the visual
argument and don’t get distracted into arguing passionately for a particular position or extolling the
beauty/creativity of the text! To complete the essay successfully, you will need to discuss specific and concrete
elements of the image as visual evidence.
Brainstorm the essay! Before writing the essay, write out your responses to the following on a Brainstorming
worksheet:
· Describe all the visual elements you see in as much concrete detail as possible.
· What do you think is the overall message and purpose of this image?
· Who do you think is the specific audience for the image?
· What rhetorical appeals operate in this image (list each one in turn)?
· What are the effects of these rhetorical appeals on the persuasiveness of the text?
· How do images and words work together in the text to convey an argument?
· What is the significance of Kairos (or context) for the power of the image?
· What would you like your readers to learn or think about in reading your analysis of the image? What
specific and unique perspective can you share about this image? What will be your thesis for this paper?
Essay Format: The final version of the essay should be formatted according to MLA style. The list of Works
Cited should include, at a minimum, the image itself. If it is a web-based image, include a date of access in
your citation.
Your final essay must:
1. be at least 900 words. Essays that have not met the word count requirement will not earn a passing
grade.
Wine ENG111 E2 Assignment
2. be in MLA format.
3. have an original title.
4. include a thesis statement. In this essay the thesis will be a rhetorical analysis argument about how the
image works to convey a message to an intended audience
5. have an interesting introduction that draws in readers and a conclusion that addresses the “So what?”
question. What do you want your readers to get out of reading this analysis?
6. include specific details and in-depth analysis that support the thesis.
7. be organized into a logical series of paragraphs that all relate to the thesis. Each paragraph should have a
clear topic sentence expressed as a claim and include evidence to prove your claim and explanation from
you on how it does. It should also include appropriate transitions to connect ideas.
8. have a minimum of grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.
This essay is worth 200 points. The points will be broken down as follows:
Thesis statement (30 points)
Thesis makes a meaningful rhetorical analysis argument about how the image works to convey a message to a
specific intended audience—30 points (100%)
Thesis makes a rhetorical analysis argument, but is somewhat general, obvious, or clichéd—25 points (83%)
Thesis statement is extremely general or unclear—20 point (66%)
No apparent thesis statement, or thesis statement is not relevant to the assignment—below 20 points
Support for thesis includes specific detail (70 points)
Thesis is fully supported by relevant, well-developed vivid details, sufficient context, thoughtful analysis, and
insightful explanation—70 points (100%)
Thesis is supported and includes details, context, analysis, and explanation, but the supporting details are not
very specific or insightful—60 points (85%)
Thesis is partially supported, but the details are not specific or explanation lacks depth or insight—55 points
(79%)
Thesis is partially supported, but details are missing, analysis is not that in depth, and explanation is
superficial—50 points (71%)
Thesis and supporting details are not clearly connected; however, supporting ideas are connected. Student
needs to revise details to match thesis, or vice versa—40 points (57%)
Thesis has very little support and essay contains no meaningful explanation—30 points (43%)
Thesis is completely unsupported, no relevant details are present, no explanation—below 30 points
Logical organization (70 points)
Wine ENG111 E2 Assignment
Essay has an excellent introductory and concluding paragraph. Each paragraph is focused around one main
idea, has a clear topic sentence, is fully developed, and supports the thesis. Appropriate transitions connect
ideas—70 points (100%)
Essay has strong introductory and concluding paragraphs. Each body paragraph is developed and supports the
thesis, but one or two paragraphs are unfocused or lack appropriate transitions—60 points (85%)
Essay has adequate introductory and concluding paragraphs. Each body paragraph is developed and supports
the thesis, but 1-2 paragraphs are unfocused or lack appropriate transitions—55 points (79%)
Essay has weak introductory or concluding paragraphs, or two or more body paragraphs are unfocused,
repetitive, or lack appropriate transitions—50 points (71%)
Essay has a weak introduction and conclusion, or more than two body paragraphs are unfocused, repetitive, or
lack appropriate transitions—40 points (57%)
Essay lacks an introduction or a conclusion, or most paragraphs are unfocused, repetitive, and lack appropriate
transitions—30 points (43%)
Essay lacks an introduction and conclusion. Paragraphs are present, but all are unfocused and lack topic
sentences and transitions—below 30 points
Usage, Mechanics, Format (30 points)
Essay is written in clear prose with accurate, precise word choice, a variety of sentence structures, and correct
grammar and punctuation. MLA format is correct—30 points (100%)
A few grammatical errors or MLA format errors are present, but not enough to distract from the strong
prose—25 points (83%)
Grammatical errors are distracting, MLA format is incorrect, or word-choice and sentence structures are very
basic—20 points (66%) and below