Rhetorical Analysis of Social Change

Rhetorically analyze a text in order to demonstrate the ways that the composers of popular and academic
media use research to enact social change. You will learn more about the use of research to enact social
change if you choose a different genre for each of the 3 RAs you write. The following is a list of possible
genres. Please let me know if you can think of others that aren’t on this list:
• Traditional Peer-Reviewed Research Article
• Newspaper or magazine article (online or print)
• Podcast or News segment
• Documentary Film (all lengths)
• Long-form interview
• Museum installation
• Performance art
Audience
Your instructor is your ultimate audience, but consider others, maybe even your classmates, who might want
to know more about the rhetorical situation of a particular social movement or issue.
Planning, Drafting, and Organization
You will write three different Rhetorical Analyses (RAs), evaluating a single text for each one. If you submit
your first one on time, you’ll get feedback that will help you with the next two. You may want to determine a
particular social issue to use as an organizing theme, but this is not necessary. For each of your RAs, answer
the following questions for the text.
• What is the rhetorical context of the text (audience, purpose, context)?
• What is the social issue being addressed)?
• What is the genre of the text? How can you tell? What are its features?
• What is the type of research being used? (Science? Mathematical data? Social science? Anecdotal?
Interview? Testimony? Ethnography? Something else? Some combination of types?)
• How, specifically, is that research being used to enact social change? (list at least 3 instances of
how the author uses research to support a claim about a social issue and how that claim is being
supported)
• What other rhetorical strategies are being used (Appeals to ethos, pathos, or logos? Repetition,
analogy, or other figurative language? Word choice (pronouns, adjectives, etc.)? Visual or interactive
elements?)?
• How effective ARE these rhetorical strategies and the use of research? What is the impact on the
audience?

Sample Solution