College Composition / Unit 28 CMP 0688 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Analyzing an Appeal's Effect
The idea
Analyzing an appeal means explaining what effect it has on the intended audience and how that effect serves the writer's purpose.
In practice
Analyze in order. First, quote or describe the specific passage. Second, name the appeal or strategy it uses. Third, explain how it works: what it asks the audience to feel, believe or trust. Fourth, explain its effect on the intended audience, given what they value and know. Fifth, judge how well it serves the writer's purpose, and whether it is fair. For example, an advocate who opens with the story of a single family losing its home uses pathos to make an abstract housing statistic personal, which can move a general audience to care before the data arrives.
Where people slip
Naming the appeal is not analysis. "This passage uses pathos" is the beginning of a point; the analysis is the explanation of how and with what effect.
Your place on the trail
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