DAWN KNIGHT: Hi.
I'm Dawn Knight, an English teacher
from Westfield, Indiana.
Today, we're going to talk about the rhetorical analysis essay.
Hopefully, you joined me for the last video
where we got a start on this prompt
and talked about thesis statements.
You can still watch this video without that,
but it's not a bad idea to watch that one first and get
some of that preliminary information.
Today, we're going to delve a little deeper
into the organization, our line of reasoning.
We're going to look at how to select evidence,
how to embed evidence, and depth of commentary
and sophistication.
So we worked with the 2019 prompt last time.
I'm going to read this aloud so that we're all on the same page
as far as the prompt goes.
In 1930, Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi led a non-violent March
in India protesting Britain's colonial monopoly on
and taxation of an essential resource-- salt.
The Salt March, as it came to be known,
was a triggering moment for a larger civil disobedience
movement that eventually won India independence from Britain
in 1947.
Shortly before the Salt March, Gandhi
had written to Viceroy Lord Irwin, the representative
of the British crown in India.
The passage below is the conclusion of that letter.
Read the passage carefully.
Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the rhetorical choices
Gandhi makes to present his case to Lord Irwin.
So the last time, we talked about what
the prompt is asking us to do and that we
need to two specific things--
the rhetorical choices Gandhi makes in order
to present his case to Lord Irwin.
We also looked for what those rhetorical choices were.
And we found that there were some if/then statements that
stood out.
And those are the ones we see in yellow here.
We also saw that there was word choice like between equals,
fellowship, equally suited to both, common good, mutual help,
that conveyed a tone that was amicable.
And then we saw, if you see that green arrow at the word
"but," we see a tone shift.
And then we saw words like cruel, monopoly, disfigured.
And we ended up with this almost warning from Gandhi
to Lord Irwin.
And so we saw this shift from amicable
to admonishing or warning.
We also looked at paragraph 5 and did the same thing.
We looked for those places where we found if statements.
We found the tone shift at "however."
So at the beginning of this paragraph,
he's talking about not wanting to embarrass Lord Irwin.
And then we have a "however."
And then he says not to deflect him from this course
and warns that he'll be making this letter that
outlines all of the things that Britain did to India published.
So based on that, we wrote a thesis that
directly answered the prompt.
It did both of the things.
We chose the right thesis that did both of the things.
It analyzed the specific rhetorical choices
that were made and talked about the specific message
that Gandhi was conveying.
So, that thesis statement ended up being,
Gandhi uses tone shifts from amicable to admonitory
and "if" statements to convey his message to Lord Irwin
that Britain needs to stop its poor treatment of India
and to treat it as an equal instead.
All right, that brings us to line of reasoning.
So, our thesis is always the basis
for our line of reasoning.
And what you see here is a really basic outline
for the rhetorical analysis essay.
We start with an introductory paragraph.
That can include a little bit of context or background.
That might include the rhetorical situation,
like we talked about in the last video--
the people, place, time, events that are
occurring to give some context.
And then the thesis statement is how we probably
want to end that introductory paragraph.
Then we have body paragraphs.
And each body paragraph has to be focused on supporting
that thesis statement.
So you'll notice here, body paragraph 1,
we have one reason the thesis is valid,
body paragraph 2, another reason the thesis is valid.
So we're always focused on that thesis statement.
You can have more than two body paragraphs, but remember,
since this is a timed essay, you don't
want to overdo your body paragraphs
and write yourself out of a good essay.
Two really well-written body paragraphs
would be better than three just OK ones.
Part of those body paragraphs, we can't just say,
here's a reason why my thesis is valid.
We also want to show it with specific evidence.
And we'll talk about selecting specific evidence today as
well, and then explaining what that evidence means,
how it supports the thesis.
And then finally, the conclusion-- this
is another place, because it's a timed essay,
we don't want to spend too much time.
We can do a really quick summary if that's all we have time for.
If we have more time, we might get to the, so what,
and get into some implications.
And I'll talk about what that means a little bit later on.
All right, so for this particular essay,
our introduction might include context about the Salt March,
that it's 1930, the conflict between India and Britain,
Gandhi, Lord Irwin, those elements
of the rhetorical situation we talked about.
And then we get into our thesis statement.
And then our body paragraphs need to focus on that thesis.
So I might say, Gandhi uses tone shifts from amicable
to admonitory to convey his message,
because that's one of the devices that stood out
to me in conveying the message.
And then body paragraph 2, I might
focus on those "if" statements that I talked about that stood
out in conveying the message.
So I want to make sure that, again, I'm
focused on the thesis and using those rhetorical devices that
stood out.
So let's talk a little bit more about body paragraph 1,
then, with evidence selection.
The evidence we select is really important.
We don't want to just look for any evidence
of any rhetorical device.
We want specifically those that stood out in terms
of helping convey the message.
And we want to show with the evidence that that's the case.
So when I'm talking about tone shifts,
there were two specific places that I saw.
In paragraph 4, after the "but," we
went from calm to admonishing.
And that was illustrated through those word choices
that we saw that went from common good
and equals to cruel and monopoly and evils.
And then another specific example of that tone shift
was in paragraph 5, after "however."
It started off with Gandhi saying,
I don't want to cause you embarrassment.
And then after the tone shift, he
said he doesn't want Lord Irwin to deflect him from his course.
And if he does, he's warning him he will publish the letter.
So we see very definite tone shifts here.
So those are going to be specific pieces of evidence
that show how tone shift helps convey message.
And then we want to talk about commentary.
So we don't want to just say the evidence,
and we don't want to just summarize that evidence.
In our commentary, it's where we use our voice
to explain how the specific piece of evidence
supports the claim.
And so, a couple of things we want to say-- we
don't just tell, we don't just summarize.
It helps to think maybe starting even
in just your head-- you don't have to write it out--
but thinking, this shows that, and then getting
into your commentary.
What it shows-- what does it show?
What does that tone shift show that helps reveal the message?
You want to try to think about using two to three sentences.
That helps force you out of the summary a little bit.
And you want to include the rhetorical situation.
That's where we get into depth and sophistication.
So it's not just that Gandhi was using this.
It was that he was using it for a specific audience--
Lord Irwin.
And what do we know about Lord Irwin?
He was a representative of the British crown.
And so we want to include some of those things
in that commentary as well.
That's where we get well beyond summary
and into sophistication.
All right, so we're going to look
at that first piece of evidence with "but" as our tone shift.
And look at a sample, just the first half of this paragraph.
If we were writing it, here's what it might look like,
starting with the claim, and then getting into some
of the rhetorical situation.
So let me read it out loud first.
And then we'll talk about what some
of these colors on the screen mean.
Gandhi uses shifts in tone from amicable
to admonitory to convey his message to Lord Irwin
that Britain must stop its poor treatment of India
and treat it as an equal instead.
One of the ways he does this is through his specific word
choice.
He begins with a calm tone that includes
phrases like between equals and fellowship.
These, along with his choices of the phrase common good,
show Lord Irwin the benefits to Britain
of treating India as an equal.
Gandhi is likely appealing to Irwin's logic
and to his obligation as a representative
of the British government to consider
what is best for Britain.
Gandhi's message is even stronger
through a shift in tone as it is juxtaposed
with words that illustrate Britain's past treatment
of India, one that includes evils, is cruel, and is
a monopoly.
Gandhi warns that if Lord Irwin does not deal with this evil,
he will instruct his coworkers to disregard the provisions
of the salt laws.
All right, so what we saw here was the claim,
Gandhi to use shifts in tone from amicable to admonitory
to convey his message.
And then we get to a specific example, the shift
in tone with "but" and how word choice is a part of that.
But then notice in the commentary
how we're explaining about Lord Irwin,
about how he's a representative of the British government,
about the idea of Britain treating
India as an equal, part of that message that's being conveyed.
And so, all of these elements are part
of that rhetorical situation.
And this is how we add that depth and sophistication
to our commentary.
All right, now the last thing I want to talk about
before I give you a chance to do a little writing
is how to embed evidence, because we
don't want to just drop it in as these, just,
quotes by themselves.
We want to embed it.
So first, we're going look at a couple of the common mistakes
we see.
One is when students use a full quote.
And you'll see, we're going to use the same quote
from the passage for each of these examples.
So it's a pretty long quote.
And if we just drop it in as a direct quote
with no explanation, no introduction,
that's called a floating quote.
And we definitely don't want that.
It's just the quote itself.
You'll notice there are quotes, and that's it.
We don't even see, Gandhi says.
Another common mistake we see is just
that the quote is too long.
Our voice should be central to this essay.
So again, adding, Gandhi writes, means
this isn't a floating quote.
But we still have a really long quote here.
And we don't really need the whole quote
to get the gist of what's happening in this passage.
So now we'll look at how we can embed evidence in a better way.
One, we can paraphrase it.
So if we don't lose the strength of the quote
by paraphrasing it or putting it in our own words,
paraphrasing is one really good choice.
So if you look at the screen, Gandhi
warns Lord Irwin that if Irwin does not
deal with the evils of the British government,
Gandhi will instruct his peers to disregard the salt laws.
We've paraphrased, and it's much less cumbersome in our essay
that we don't have that big long quote in there.
Another way we can do this is using a segment of the quote
and embedding it at the beginning of a sentence.
So we could say, but if you cannot see your way to deal
with these evils, Gandhi warns Irwin,
then he will tell his peers to disregard the salt laws.
So we have part of the quote, and then partial paraphrase.
We can do the same thing, but in the middle of the sentence.
Gandhi warns Irwin, if you cannot see your way to deal
with these evils, then Gandhi will instruct his peers
to disregard the salt laws.
Or, obviously, at the end--
Gandhi warns Lord Irwin that if he does not
deal with the evils outlined in this letter, then
Gandhi will tell his peers to disregard the provisions
of the salt laws.
Or finally, you can use more than one segment
throughout the sentence along with some paraphrasing.
Gandhi warns Lord Irwin, if you cannot see your way to deal
with these evils, then Gandhi will instruct his peers
to disregard the provisions of the salt laws.
So those are just some better ways to embed evidence.
And again, that shows that element of sophistication.
So as I said, it's your turn.
So, I have the first part of this paragraph done for you.
Now it's your turn to add the second piece of evidence,
that shift in tone, with "however."
So you'll finish, including the specific piece of evidence
and including the commentary, trying to weave
in some rhetorical situation.
And remember that you want to try to embed the evidence
and not just drop it in in a direct quote.
All right, so, your turn.
Just pause here.
And when you're ready, hit play to continue.
All right, and then if you want some more practice,
you can do the same thing, except write an entire body
paragraph for body paragraph 2 using those "if"
statements that we talked about earlier.
And again, you can pause here and write that paragraph.
And just hit play whenever you're ready,
remembering again that you're including
not just the examples, but practicing in the commentary
and trying to get to that rhetorical situation,
and practicing embedding your evidence.
All right, so, to recap, remember
to organize your essay around a thesis for a solid line
of reasoning, to select evidence that illustrates the choice
and helps convey the message.
So, we want to answer both parts of that thesis.
We're not just dropping in examples and direct quotes.
We're embedding evidence into the sentence.
And we don't just summarize in our commentary.
We explain how the evidence supports the claim using
the rhetorical situation.
All right, thank you so much for joining me.
I hope you'll join for the next video.
We're going to talk about argument essays.
And just a reminder to be kind to yourself and others--
thanks so much.