Rhetorical Analysis Reflection

Rhetorical analysis is primarily focused on the principles of logos, ethos, pathos, and Kairos and discusses the effect of each on the author’s particular argument.  Whether the author is successful is predicated on the reader alone.  When I analyzed the rhetoric of one of my sources, I was sure to go in depth on the use of each, as well as detailing the meanings of each.  If there was something I could have done differently, I would have dedicated a couple paragraphs solely with the purpose of defining the rhetorical devices so that I did not have to in the paragraphs following.  It also could have some more value to the reader if they were not familiar with the appeals.  Furthermore, describing some commonly found devices and fallacies in writing could morph the paper from simply an analysis of a single paper and extend to how to analyze more than one at a time.

My writing style was very tense.  I took the topic very seriously as I wrote, and it was apparent in the vocabulary I used and the recurrent commas resulting in the passive voice, which is inherently seen as the more erudite syntax.  Although it was meant to be a formal analysis, it might have made more sense to be more relaxed with the paper than I was.  Not to say the paper was not written by me, but by focusing on my word choice, I missed opportunities to fully describe my thoughts.  The word count requirement had taken me by surprise; to the point where I was cutting entire sentences out for the sake of being close.  In retrospect, this was not particularly necessary because I could have been slightly less or more on target, as long as I was in the ballpark, points were not going to be taken off.

Overall, the rhetorical analysis was written fine, but the conjunction of word choice and the exclusion of some good points made the paper less interesting.

Help Received: None; Ryan H. O’Connor 5/4/21