Rhetorical analysis

By: Melissa Koosmann, SALT Center
Rev. January 08

Rhetorical Analysis Worksheet

SOAPS

Subject_______________________________________________

______________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

Occasion____________________________________________
__ ____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
_

Audience ___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Purpose ______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

Strategies____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Having trouble filling in the blanks? Maybe these will give you some ideas:

S What are the key elements of the text? What ideas are repeated? How do

paragraphs begin?
O This could be an event, like September 11th, or a long-term condition, like a

lifelong struggle with racism.
A To figure this out, find out when and where the text came from. If it came from a

journal, ask yourself who might subscribe to it. If it came from an anthology, take
a look at the texts around it and look for similarities. Remember that the author
might be addressing a historical audience instead of a contemporary one.

P What claim is the writer making? What is she trying to influence or change?
S Figure out how the major claim is being supported. Is the writer appealing to

your reason or your emotions? Ask yourself what kinds of words are being used
(long, academic words? slang?) and how the text is organized. Look for places
where the writer shows why the audience should pay attention to her opinions.

What is this
author
writing
about? What prompted

this author to
write in the first
place?

Who was
this written
this for?

What is the
author’s
goal?

How is the
author trying to
convince the
audience?

By: Melissa Koosmann, SALT Center
Rev. January 08

Rhetorical Analysis Worksheet

Now put together all the information you generated in the SOAPS exercise to help you
judge the effectiveness of the text. This involves making connections between the
elements of SOAPS. It is not necessary to cover answers to all of these questions in the
body of your paper. Just focus on the ones you can say the most about.

Is this particular audience likely to be convinced by these strategies? Why or why not?

Are the author’s style and tone appropriate to the audience?

Do you think the author includes all the necessary information about the subject, or are
important things left out?

How does the author involve the audience’s emotions? Does he use specific strategies to
convince (or perhaps to manipulate) the audience?

Does the text accomplish the author’s purpose?

Does the author seem knowledgeable enough for the audience to trust her opinions?
Does she refer to other texts or to personal experience to back up her claims?

Before reading this text, how much did the audience probably care about the subject?

Writing a Rhetorical Analysis Thesis Statement

A rhetorical analysis thesis statement should say whom an author is addressing, how she
is addressing them, why she is saying what she is saying, and whether or not it is
effective. If you want, you can plug your ideas into the following sentence to make sure
you get everything you need into your thesis statement, but it will probably sound
awkward, so be sure to rephrase it later.

This text ___________ effective in using _________________________to convince
(is/is not) (name the strategies)

______________________________ of ______________________________.
(name the audience) (name the purpose)