Analytical essay

The long awaited list on the blog of how to do the damn thing...

Intro -
Identify the issue and the reason its in the media. (Be sure you are identifying an issue and not a contention...)
Identify the articles/pieces of writing you will be analysing - title, author, date and publication (where these are available to you)
Identify writer's contentions.
List 2-3 persuasive techniques for each piece of writing. (These do not have to be the same.)

It is possible that one of the pieces you will be dealing with will not be directly persuasive - the contention may be very subtle or disguised within what looks like straight reporting - in which case you are looking for that hidden message and the persuasive techniques that give away this hidden intent.

Body paragraphs

There are a number of ways to approach this...if you happen to have two piece of writing that use the same kind of techniques you could write one paragraph per technique and comment on their persuasiveness and effectiveness whilst comparing them...this is unlikely to happen often so below is a model that should work in most circumstances...

Para 1 -
Identify which piece of writing you will be analysing first and the author's contention (Think - what do they want to persuade me of?)
Outline the techniques and give examples of each. (You can do this one technique at a time or in the first few sentences - up to you.)
Then explain why each example is persuasive. (Think - what is the effect that the writer wants to have on me as a reader? What do they want me to think or feel?) Remember to be specific - I don't want to know that rhetorical questions make the reader consider the answer themselves - I want to know how this specific rhetorical question does that and what answer it wants me to come to and why.

Para 2 and 3(if you are doing 3 pieces of writing)
Repeat model for para 1

Para 3 or 4

Compare the use of persuasive techniques

Conclusion

Assess effectiveness - which techniques were most effective and therefore which writer was best able to get their viewpoint across. Remember you are just considering use of language - not whether you personally agree with them or if their arguments had logical flaws etc.


Let's try for Thursday with these essays...