Rhetorical Analysis Essays

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Rhetorical Analysis Essays

• Okefenokee Swamp

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1. First paragraphget to the point.

• Intro paragraphs for AP essays do not have to be
  long. They can be a couple of sentences (!).
• You cant go wrong by stating the purpose of each
  passage in your intro paragraph.
• The first writer aims to provide the reader with
  educational information about the swamp, while
  the second writer aims to evoke emotion in the
  reader. (Maybe specify the emotion.)

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2. Organization.

• If you are given two passages, essays tend to be
  more successful if the writer organizes his essay
  by passage rather than point by point.
• Example

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Organization

• By Passage (Typically more successful)

• Point-by-Point (Typically not as successful)

• Intro
• Discussion of Passage 1
• Discussion of Passage 2
• Conclusion

• Intro
• Diction
• --Passage 1
• --Passage 2
• Style
• --Passage 1
• --Passage 2
• And so on

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3. Evidence from text

• Allow me to introduce you to the snippet.
• AP graders do not want to see you waste space.
  Therefore, do not quote long passages in your
  essay instead, focus more on quoted words or
  short phrases.

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Example

• Long quotesnot as effective

• Snippetsmore effective

• The writer continues in this style by describing
  the swamps low, sandy ridges, wet grassy
  savannas, small islands (called hummocks)
  surrounded by marshes and extensive prairies,
  or dark water areas covered by undergrowth and
  trees.

• The writer is candid in how he portrays the swamp
  as a hellish zoo and through his description of
  every acre as sodden as a sponge.

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4. The passages more than meets the eye

• Typically, more is going on in the passage than
  the obvious.
• Passage 1 Reads like a tour guide/encyclopedia
  article, but also a more positive view of the
  swamp bald cypress trees festooned with Spanish
  moss, meandering channelsform an intricate
  maze

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• Passage Two Vast and primeval, unfathomable,
  unconquerable, bastion of cottonmouth and the
  swamp archetypal, the swamp of legend, of racial
  memory, of Hollywood
• One insightful observation The writers tone
  is that of fear combined with a grudging
  admiration for the wonders that nature can
  produce.

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But be careful not to overshoot the purpose

• Save the swamp? Destroy the swamp?
• Make sure there is evidence to support it. ?