Six Steps To Writing Rhetorical Criticism
According to the Foss (2018), there are five to six steps to writing a piece of rhetorical criticism depending on what is being analyzed. In class, however, it is stressed to follow six steps which include: one, select an artifact, two, analyze the artifact, three, formulate a research question, four, review relevant literature and context, five, write the essay, and six, apply the analysis in activism.
When one starts the process of selecting an artifact, one must make sure that whatever artifact that you pick meets the method that you are utilizing. Which suggests that one must choose a method of analysis before identifying the artifact, but alternatively, one can choose an artifact before determining a methodology. The path the rhetorician chooses, however, is individualistic and is dependent on how one relates to the text. There are two criteria that one needs to meet to deem that said artifact as appropriate for the method of their choosing. That of one, the artifact must meet the method, for example, a metaphor method, an artifact must contain an abundance of metaphors/similes and two, the artifact should be something you take an interest in and are either curious or passionate about.
Second, is to analyze the artifact and figure out what the artifact is doing. Base your analysis on the procedures dictated in the methodology of your choosing. Ask questions like what stands out about it, what doesn’t make sense about it? The way you go about fulfilling the method criterions is up to you, some like to type up notes, some like to write their notes down into a list; regardless, the way you code your artifact is individualistic.
Third, formulate a research question which should conceptualize your entire paper, meaning that the question should be the epitome of what you want to find out about rhetoric from your said artifact. Note, the question itself must be generated from the prior codification of the artifact using said methodology. However, the question itself usually address one of the following four components, that of: the rhetor, in which motive of the rhetor is focused on; the audience, in which the relationship between the audience and the rhetor is questioned; the situation, which delves deeper into the context of the artifact and the message, which looks into what is being constructed whether that may be an argument, a metaphor etc. Some things to point out, however, is that when writing the research question, one must make sure to not make the question too broad, to not constrict the wording disallowing further discussion and explanation, and do not address one’s artifact.
Fourth involves reviewing relevant literature and context, basically a literature review. In a literature review, it is advised to one, provide context (historical etc.), two, discuss what prior rhetoricians have said about this text and three, code the text including the themes and synthesis the ideas explained to the audience. Some pieces of advice when embarking on the journey of your literature review, however, include: search for studies that directly answer your research question and select key terms that you would like to further contextualize.
