About Rhetorical Analysis, Essay Example

Writers use rhetorical analyses to help examine the rhetoric within a piece of writing and gain a deeper understanding of what has been written by another writer or by the same writer.  This paper will focus a rhetorical analysis on a previously written paper of mine entitled “Excessive Drinking in College and High School.”  This paper was originally written in February 2007 for the course English 510.  The previous work was intended for an academic audience of individuals from all ages and backgrounds as it focused on the many circumstances that lead to students using alcohol to cope with difficult problems.  The purpose of the paper was to educate individuals on the reasons for alcohol abuse, and to examine the negative effects that can arise from excessive drinking in order to help alter the audience’s behavior in some manner, which may attempt to eliminate excessive drinking.  Through the use of ethos and pathos, I was able to make myself known as an authoritative figure on the topic through the use of facts and statistics as well as provide multiple examples to support the claims of the paper and draw upon the readers’ own thoughts and feelings on the topic.

Facts and statistics were provided throughout the previous essay in order to help establish that I was a credible authoritative figure on the topic.  This form of rhetoric, called ethos, was utilized to give the reader a purpose or motivation for wanting to read what was written on this subject.  In the very first paragraph the first fact was given that stated that “the average American has his or her first drink around age 14.”  Within the very introduction, the paper draws the attention of the reader and legitimizes the rest of the work through this one fact.  Furthermore, when discussing genetics and family inherited characteristics that could lead to excessive drinking, I utilized the claim that “research shows that it is not a gene, more like a behavior, although studies continue.”  In this sentence, the reader is provided an opportunity to glance at the current field of research in this area.  Genetics are still being researched and the reader understands that although nothing has been proven, researchers believe that family behaviors are to blame for inherited excessive drinking.  By providing strong quotes with facts and statistics, the reader considers me an authoritative figure, which was achieved through the use of ethos.

The previous essay contained the rhetoric pathos, which enabled me to draw upon the personal feelings and emotions of the reader to provide validity of my points.  For instance, I used several examples on each of the main points of the paper to provide the reader with a strong emotional tie into what is written.  Many of the examples could have happened or been observed by almost anyone at one time or another.  When discussing rebellion, the example was provided of my friend who was always feeling ignored by friends and family, so she turned to alcohol as a way to rebel.  Additionally, another example was used to explain the pressures of fitting in within a group of classmates, and how alcohol can be a key to achieving acceptance from peers.  Each of these examples pulls on the emotions and feelings that the reader has from their everyday lives.  Millions of people experience or know someone that has experienced similar situations where alcohol was used as a coping mechanism or a key to acceptance.  By providing this rhetoric, I intended to pull the reader in closer and forcing them to draw upon their own feelings on the topic from their own experiences.

In summary, the previous essay contained very strong use of rhetorical methods, such as ethos and pathos.  As this essay has explained, ethos and pathos helped provide credibility and authority on the subject matter, while drawing upon real-life examples to appeal to the readers’ thoughts and feelings.  Unfortunately, the overuse of examples may have clouded the overall point of some of the previous essay and was also a cause for confusion at times.  In this case, the use of pathos actually took away from a few of the points within the paper because there were too many real-life examples that I have experienced.  I believe this was a problem because of how closely I felt an emotional connection with each example from my own life, and due to the many problems associated with excessive drinking among my classmates, friends and family.  At times, the paper may have strayed to become a little more informal than what was originally intended.  The academic reader would care more for facts and statistics to draw academic conclusions, instead of so many personal experiences.  In these cases, the paper could have been considered a failure, but the use of rhetoric throughout the paper showed very strong examples to support claims and achieved the goal of legitimizing myself as an authoritative figure on the topic.