Writing the Critical or Rhetorical Analysis

When we hear the term “critical” or “criticism,” we often think of negative or unfavorable judgments or comments. This idea, however, makes up only one part of the meaning of criticism. According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, criticism, where it concerns commenting in writing on what we read or hear or see, is “the art of evaluating or analyzing works of art or literature” (275). Criticism of a work can result in praise just as easily as in condemnation. What matters is that a criticism should demonstrate a thoughtful evaluation of a work (in composition class, usually a piece of non-fiction). This type of assignment is also called a rhetorical analysis, which means an analysis of “writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion” (1004). Writing a critical or rhetorical analysis is a common and practical use of critical thinking skills.
In writing a rhetorical or critical analysis, you are typically asked to evaluate an essay from a collection in an anthology or a piece of writing from today’s media, such as an editorial or letter to the editor. Even though you may have some opinion about the topic and the writer’s position, in a critical analysis your main purpose is not just to agree or disagree. Instead, you need to focus on how the writer expresses his or her opinion, and on whether the writer succeeds in making a point. In other words, you will be writing about a piece of writing, not about a particular topic (e.g., If you analyze an essay about crime, your paper will not be primarily about crime, but about the essay you have read.). Within this general area, you may focus on analyzing a variety of things.

• You might analyze the writer’s tone of voice, the “sound of the writing” that tells you whether someone’s approach is serious or silly, technical or casual. Does the writer seem to be angry? What cues in the writing suggest anger? Is an angry tone an effective one in this case? Does the writer convey a conversational tone by using colloquialisms? (This last question can overlap into the areas of word choice and audience as well.)

• Similar to an analysis of tone is one of persona. Does the writer seem to be a lecturer in a classroom, a parent talking to a child, or a lawyer arguing a case in court? Does the writer appear to be speaking as an individual or as part of a group? What effect does persona have on the success of the writer’s argument?

• An analysis of the writer’s relationship with his or her audience could involve determining the appropriateness of the author’s approach considering whoever is likely to read or be influenced by the piece of writing. How does the writer apparently conceptualize the readership? Does the writer seem to assume that the audience has prior knowledge of the subject or of background material? Is the audience assumed to be naive or expert or hostile?

• In analyzing the author’s word choice, you could examine the connotations or emotional effect of certain words and evaluate their use by the author in making a point. Does the use of jargon in a piece about technology in effect limit the writer’s audience to those readers who understand it? Does the use of slang make the piece accessible or annoying? What would be the effect if other words had been used?

You may include several different points in one rhetorical analysis, but generally, you don’t have to include all of the possible areas in one essay. You may also be asked to compare two essays or authors, so you might write a paper contrasting the personae of two writers addressing the same subject. You might use an analysis of a work to explain how it fits a certain genre or rhetorical mode. Whatever your point is, that becomes your thesis, and remember, it’s a thesis about a piece or pieces of writing, not primarily about the issue that the writing addresses.

Find Support for Your Viewpoint
To support your thesis, you need to gather evidence from the writing that you’re analyzing. Typically, your introduction of the evidence follows a pattern in which you make your point, introduce a quoted passage from the work being analyzed, and then explain how the quote supports your point.

Example:
The author expresses disgust at what she sees in the mass media, using words such as “tripe,” “pap,” and “gutter-speak” to characterize the television news magazines. Such language makes the author’s argument an emotional one, as these words all have negative connotations. It almost sounds like simple name-calling.

Keep Your Voice Distinct
As in the summary paper, it is important in the rhetorical analysis to keep your voice and point of view distinct from those of the author of the work being analyzed. In the following passage, the writer has not been careful to make this distinction.

Bad Example:
The first paragraph describes the news media in a negative way. News shows are usually a waste of time for viewers. They would be better off watching the grass grow.
The above passage makes it unclear whether it is the writer of the analysis who thinks that viewers would be better off watching the grass grow than wasting time on news magazine shows or whether this opinion is held by the writer of the work being analyzed. In the passage below, the source of the opinions is clear.

Good Example:
The first paragraph describes the news media in a negative way. The author thinks that news shows are a waste of time for viewers, who, she says, “would be better off watching the grass grow” (55).

A Word of Warning
In writing about another piece of writing, you always face the danger of falling out of the analytical mode and lapsing into summary. Remember, unless you are assigned to write a separate summary, your audience is presumed to have read the work you are analyzing, so you don’t need to retell or describe everything that the author says. It may help to think of your audience as someone who has read the work but has a question about it. Your analysis answers the question. For example, your reader may be someone who wonders why the author uses a certain level of vocabulary or someone who isn’t sure what makes this essay a good one. Keeping your reader’s question in mind can help keep you on the right track. Finally, remember to cite the source(s) of your quotes. The Writing Lab has a handout explaining how to use MLA style to do this.

See an example of a critical analysis.