Armbruster
WRIT 2072
Spring 2006

Rhetorical Analysis Questions

1) Audience. Analyze your audience.   You may want to break the audience down into the categories of initial, gatekeeper, primary, secondary, and/or watchdog.   Describe the defining characteristics of each segment of your audience:   How much do they already know about this subject? What aspects of the topic or information will they be most interested in? What is their attitude likely to be?   What questions are they likely to ask while reading what you've written?

2) Purpose. Define your purpose.   Exactly what are you trying to accomplish with this specific audience?   What do you want this piece of writing to enable them to do? What are you trying to convince/persuade them to do or believe?   How will you try to ensure that your final draft accomplishes these purposes?

3) Ethos/Persona. How should you present yourself in order to best accomplish your purpose?   Is there anything about yourself or your attitude that you need to downplay or edit?   Is there anything you should emphasize?

4) Information. What information do you need to include to accomplish your purpose(s) with your audience?   If you do not already have all the necessary information, how will you obtain it?

5) Overcoming Obstacles.   What obstacles might get in the way of your message accomplishing your purpose with your audience?   Will any readers have objections to what you have to say?   If so, how can you overcome them? Is there anything about your message which will seem negative to readers?   If so, how can you de-emphasize the negative aspect or help readers see it in a more positive light?   How else can you influence readers to be open to your message and purpose?

6) Context. Analyze the context within which you are writing (and within which your audience will read your writing).   Context could include the amount of time you have, the time of year, current events that affect your audience's perspective on various issues, etc.   What constraints may limit your ability to accomplish your purpose?   What aspects of your overall context may affect the way you go about accomplishing your purpose?