Rhetorical Analysis Essay Assignment To write a 3-5 page Rhetorical Analysis Essay in MLA style about the article you signed up for located on the class web site under Readings and Discussions. To add a creative title. To cite quotes, summaries, and/or paraphrases. To analyze findings. To avoid making judgment statements such as: “The author did a good job.” To attach a Works Cited page. Process: Use the outline posted in the Rhetorical Analysis Module to organize your writing for this assignment. Answer each bulleted question in the order of the outline. Conclusion: By the end of your Rhetorical Analysis Essay, you should have a strong sense about the person who wrote your article, why they wrote it, their audience, and what techniques they used to argue their position. Peer Review Checklist for Rhetorical Analysis 1. Formatting 1. Header – Last name and page number (one space between name and page) 2. Heading – Name, my name, English 201-XX, date 3. Times New Roman 4. 12 point 5. Double-spaced (Is the box checked under “paragraph”?) 6. Avoid “I” 7. No contractions 8. Name of your article is in " " not italicized 2. Title 1. Rhetorical Analysis: 2. Your title 3. Introduction 1. Stat, quote, question, anecdote 2. Background information that relates to you topic 3. Author 4. Title of article 5. Thesis (that suggests the author “argues,” “persuades,” or “claims”) 4. Body a. Answer all points in assignment i. Begin with author’s ethos 1. Include cite from bio source ii. Other following information again according to assignment 1. Include cite from article – (Author XXX). iii. Every claim needs to be supported by a cite iv. Transitions within paragraph v. Transitions between paragraphs 5. Conclusion a. Might i. Restate the thesis (in other words) ii. Connect points discussed iii. Closing remarks 6. Works Cited a. Should include i. Bio ii. Article Here is a SAMPLE: Rhetorical Analysis: Why the Big Cleavage? In recent times, Facebook has become a widespread popularity over other social networking sites such as MySpace. There seems to be loyal users on both sides, yet have you ever wondered why some people tend to use one cite over another? It turns out, this is the very topic which the professor of radio-TV-film at the University of Texas S. Craig Watkins seeks to explain in his book “The Young and the Digital: What the migration to Social Network Sites, Games, Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future” (Green and Lidinsky 505). Watkins argues that things such as race, gender, and possibly nothing more than just friends with friends who have similar interest, may be the reason for this cleavage. In reference to some of the aspects of the author mentioned above, Watkins appears to be someone with an exceptional amount of experience in this topic. He has written several books on popular issues, including ones such as “Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the S ...

1. Rhetorical Analysis Essay Assignment
To write a 3-5 page Rhetorical Analysis Essay in MLA style
about the article you signed up for located on the class web site
under Readings and Discussions.
To add a creative title.
To cite quotes, summaries, and/or paraphrases.
To analyze findings.
To avoid making judgment statements such as: “The author did
a good job.” To attach a Works Cited page.
Process:
Use the outline posted in the Rhetorical Analysis Module to
organize your writing for this assignment.
Answer each bulleted question in the order of the outline.
Conclusion:
By the end of your Rhetorical Analysis Essay, you should have
a strong sense about the person who wrote your article, why
they wrote it, their audience, and what techniques they used to
argue their position.
Peer Review Checklist for Rhetorical Analysis
1. Formatting
1. Header – Last name and page number (one space between
name and page)
2. Heading – Name, my name, English 201-XX, date
3. Times New Roman
4. 12 point
5. Double-spaced (Is the box checked under “paragraph”?)
6. Avoid “I”
7. No contractions
8. Name of your article is in " " not italicized
2. Title
1. Rhetorical Analysis:

2. 2. Your title
3. Introduction
1. Stat, quote, question, anecdote
2. Background information that relates to you topic
3. Author
4. Title of article
5. Thesis (that suggests the author “argues,” “persuades,” or
“claims”)
4. Body
a. Answer all points in assignment
i. Begin with author’s ethos
1. Include cite from bio source
ii. Other following information again according to assignment
1. Include cite from article – (Author XXX).
iii. Every claim needs to be supported by a cite
iv. Transitions within paragraph
v. Transitions between paragraphs
5. Conclusion
a. Might
i. Restate the thesis (in other words)
ii. Connect points discussed
iii. Closing remarks
6. Works Cited
a. Should include
i. Bio
ii. Article

3. Here is a SAMPLE:
Rhetorical Analysis: Why the Big Cleavage?
In recent times, Facebook has become a widespread popularity
over other social networking sites such as MySpace. There
seems to be loyal users on both sides, yet have you ever
wondered why some people tend to use one cite over another? It
turns out, this is the very topic which the professor of radio-TV-
film at the University of Texas S. Craig Watkins seeks to
explain in his book “The Young and the Digital: What the
migration to Social Network Sites, Games, Anytime, Anywhere
Media Means for Our Future” (Green and Lidinsky 505).
Watkins argues that things such as race, gender, and possibly
nothing more than just friends with friends who have similar
interest, may be the reason for this cleavage.
In reference to some of the aspects of the author mentioned
above, Watkins appears to be someone with an exceptional
amount of experience in this topic. He has written several books
on popular issues, including ones such as “Hip Hop Matters:
Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a
Movement” and “Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the
Production of Black Cinema” (505). Because of the number of
surveys and interviews he has completed in his analysis of
social media, and background work on what he calls “digital
trenches,” the reader feels a sense of authority coming in what
Watkins has to say.
Back in the summer of 2007, a blogger danah boyd wrote an
essay titled “Viewing American Class Division through

4. Facebook and MySpace.” This article did not really have any
Renfenoir 1
research backing it up, but was primarily based on the direct
observations made by boyd herself. She seemed to argue some
sort of online social division which could best describe by
class. However, she quickly qualifies this statement by saying,
“Americans aren't so good at talking about class” (Watkins
506). This blogger claims things such as Facebook kids coming
from “families who emphasis education and going to
college...preps and the jocks” (506). She then continues by
explaining how MySpace kids, “In contrast, come from the
other side of the cultural divide...expected to get a job when
they finish high school. Latino, black, and youth from working-
class...” (506) are more likely to be MySpace users. This is
where Watkins develops his thesis for his research and article.
He seems to be particularly intrigued by the possible truth in
what this blogger had to say. Watkins resounds with what the
blogger has to say and builds upon it. He uses her statements as
a kind of driving force behind his research and interviews in
this article, building on what boyd had to say.
It appears as if Watkins is using his facts in a way so as to
persuade his audience into believing what he has to say. He
makes statements such as, “Race is a kind of 'inconvenient
truth' for evangelists of the social Web” (506), to make his
statements feel like they are not just his opinion, but it is
mutual among others also. By using this method, Watkins makes
the reader feel as if there were some form of peer pressure and
popular opinion of others cornering them into believing what he
has to say. He has a whole multitude of facts which seem
inarguable and are quite logical, pushing his reader slowly into
believing what he has to say.
The very people Watkins is interviewing and trying to
understand seem to be the audience which he has in mind,
College aged Social Network users. He interviews people of the
college age- the majority of the social networking users- to
explain his points. By using these people as a reference, the

5. audience feels as if they can relate to what is being said. The
reason he
Renfenoir 2
chooses the very users of these social sites for his audience, is
because they are the ones to whom it is most applicable to and
the ones who will understand. By going through a rigorous
sequence of logical facts, he seems to piece together his
information into what becomes a statement of his observations.
For example, he interviews a whole set of college aged people
and comes up with key words which describe the social sites
(509). By taking these facts from people who are college aged,
it would only make sense that other college aged students would
be able to resonate with what he has to say. Social networking
is integrated very tightly with students today, therefore making
his appeals very personal to his audience and appealing to their
pathos.
The resounding idea of this article is the quest for discovering
why there is a divide between social networking sites. Watkins
bounces from several ideas, class, race, the site layout in
general and finally just friends who have friends like
themselves. For each of these speculations Watkins uses
different techniques to relate to his reader. In the first section
he is debating the possibility of class, he uses mostly what the
blogger boyd had to say. By quoting and summarizing what
boyd had to say Watkins fulfills a form of ethos, connecting
him with his audience in a special way. Primarily when Watkins
is looking at the factors of race in the divide, he uses facts or
logos. He pulls statistics from interviews and studies he's done.
For example, he says, “Among white students, more than eight
out of ten, or 84 percent, preferred Facebook. By contrast, “66
percent of those who identified as Latino preferred Facebook”
(507). By using logos in this passage he manages to wisely
navigate the subject of racial differences, yet still giving the
reader a sense of truth. In his final persuasion, he uses forms of
pathos to resonate with the audience. By saying things like “our
most intimate bonds online tend to be formed with like-minded

6. people”(512), he brings his readers into a closer look at their
personal feeling lives and what is important to themselves by
inferring his own experience in his claims. In doing so
Renfenoir 3
he is able to pull the reader into a deeper understanding of how
he relates the divide of social sites to the division among people
in real life.
The setting for this article is in the book stated earlier, “The
Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network
Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our
Future” (505). When something comes from a book it has a
feeling of authority. Whether the book is true or not, readers
feel that because it made it through the whole publishing
process it must be something of truth and value. Books in
college are often taken at face value as fact, thus making this
genre of publication a perfect method for persuasion, especially
to those in their collegiate years.
Watkins uses data which is very current and applicable even to
today. He published the article in 2009, and even in 2013, the
facts which he gives are still relevant (505). Watkins glues his
article together with many different possibilities and supports
each sufficiently. In so doing, Watkins is able to fulfill his
intentions and persuade his readers into taking a closer look at
what he has to say.
The very topic of a social divide among the on line world is as
Watkins puts it, “Social and mobile media may be changing how
we connect, but as we move into the digital future it does not
appear to be significantly altering who we connect to” (505). By
providing a set of possible resolutions to this topic, he is able to
set the readers up to understand his final statement. We can see
how both a combination of our values and customs both come to
play in the social cleavage by the methods he came to this
conclusion. He points out how human customs have led to a
strict interaction with only others who are like themselves,
maybe for not reason other than that is what they have always
done. Yet he still bares American values when he uses the

7. example of poll in which mass requests were sent out on
friend.com using both black and white avatars,
Renfenoir 4
“Among light skinned avatars, 20 percent more said yes” (514).
By using the results from an example like this, Watkins is able
to cut to the readers mind. They are able to relate to their
personal reactions and see how their values would have affected
their decision to be much like those in the poll.
As Watkins argues throughout his article, there are many factors
in the social division. Class, race, and just peer interaction, can
all be argued to a point of factual belief. Watkins uses many
different forms of persuasion to bring his points to home with
his readers. As Watkins suggest towards the end of his article, it
may not be class or race at all but indeed just the mere instance
of people associating with likeminded peers, or the “Big Sort”
(512) as Watkins likes to put it. Yet Watkins leaves use with the
final thought that maybe the reason for this divide is actually
just the “biases we develop in our off-line lives” (515). Watkins
is extremely affective in using this last sentence because it
leaves the reader to think for their self. He isn't out to prove
anybody right or wrong, but just lay out a well-supported set of
conclusions.
Renfenoir 5
Works Cited
Watkins, Craig S. “From The Young and the Digital.” From
Inquiry to Academic Writing. Stuart
Greene and April Lidinsky, eds. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2012. 298-309. Print. Greene, Stuart and April Lidinsky, eds.
From Inquiry to Academic Writing. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2012. Print.
ALAMOUDI

8. 1
Turki ALAMOUDI
Pro. Kathy L. Rowley
Eng 201
July 23, 14
Rhetorical analysis of “Kid Kustomers” by Eric Schlosser
In “kid kustomers,” Eric illustrates using various examples used
by advertisers in targeting
children in business. He uses various quotations from other
authors and experts to support their
facts to show the emotional position though variation of
degrees. It is worth to note that, he
explores rhetorical strategy as a device to make readers accept
his arguments.
To begin with, Schlosser’s “Kid Kustomers” outlines his facts
in a systematic logical approach.
He explores this through explanation through use of transitional
statements to take readers to thje
next point throughout the essay. The essay begins by
elaborating why advertisers target children.
The visible transitional statement makes it clear that the

9. motives of the advertisers are
straightforward from the excerpt he says, “Get kids to nag their
parents and nag them well”
(223). The author goes ahead to explain how the advertisers
uses different ways to know children
likes (224). Eric systematically elaborates how the advertisers
succeed in their motives through
use of Internet. He finalizes by transitioning through making
claims of the enomous increasing
importance of the social media mainly television and Internet as
crucial approaches in
advertising (225).
Eric uses rhetorical approach in the kid customers through his
survey findings from the journal
of the American Medical Association, through his findings he
brings up James U. McNeal, that
is considered the leading authority on children advertising
(223). After his business analysis, he
also uses psychological experts and the president of youth
market System consulting besides the
author to show what kids want and buy (223). The rhetorical
approach is also visible through his

10. focus on the rules of the advertisers through information got
from federal investigations and the
federal trade commission laying emphasis on Michael pertschuk
and the chairperson.
It is worth to note that Eric presents Pertschuks argument as a
positive issue that need children to
be shielded away from advertising that takes advantage of their
vulnerability; that clearly shows
the believes that the government planned about marketing in
children (225). It is rhetorical to see
how men and women use emotional appeals but they latter rely
on liberal move. In the article,
Schlosser infuses “kid customers”, all the way from the
beginning. It is evident from the first
paragraph entails the tactics advertisers’ uses sweet names that
are appealing to the children
hence their main target in their branding are children making
them famous before finding a name
(222). From the second paragraph, he highlights the dangers of
the advertisements from a study
that identified Joe Camel who is familiar as Mickey Mouse
(223). He identifies the existing
difference between the two and a flashing sign is the available
difference that provokes to an

11. emotional response. Additionally, he makes a citation from
another study that found Budweiser
advertisement rated as the best kids, advertisement (223).
From the article, it is evident that Eric Schlosser applies
rhetoric strategy through using words
that intestinally bring a negative light on the various activities
of advertising companies on
children. From example from the passage “Market researchers
analyze children’s artwork, hire
children to run focus groups, stage slumber parties and then
question children into the night.
They send cultural anthropologists into homes, stores, fast food
restaurants, and other places
where kids like to gather, quietly and surreptitiously observing
the behavior of prospective
customers”. (224)
Eric uses phrases that create a real picture of various advertisers
laying the children to answer
their questions and building spy on them for research. He uses
the word “they” repeatedly to
bring the main fact through organizing, analyzing and staging.
In addition they also send an

12. anthropological message besides, studying and fantasizing
children lives and lastly, they apply
the research results in the advertisements with the design
products (224). Eric points out the
findings on regarding the percentage of those advertisers who
requested additional personal
information from the children. He explores that in the year
1998, 89 percent of the ad agencies
requested the information of parents (225).
He makes quotation basing on the McDonald’s website claiming
him as the great authority, from
the quote “Today, with the children’s Online privacy Protection
Act it is not visible, but to Eric,
he explores emotional implication but there was still no change
as the advertisers continued
doing the wrongs even though they are barred. The choice of
words that Eric uses has a pivotal
role in inciting emotional responses from his readers.
Previously, there was a ban against
children advertising that was backed up by several groups that
were made up of teachers, parents
and pediatricians, but unfortunately, other groups attacked it,
concerning the broadcasting and
children’s product manufacturers (225).

13. Another rhetorical approach is the way Schlosser takes his pain
to make arguments that the ban
was actually defeated immediately the FTC drooped in April
1981 after the president’s
inauguration (225). However, he fails to produce links about the
information with the ban, but
through the statements, it is much easier to gauze that through
the president’s election the policy
was reversed and FTC collapsed.
In the final paragraph of the article, Schlosser uses rhetorical
approach by using an emotional
plea to enable the readers to make considerations regarding
children market. He uses various
examples statically to show the magnitude of how advertising
targets children besides the
information on the television and the much they watch
television. He gives an erstimation
whereby thirty thousand programs are commercialized (226).

14. Works Cited
Schlosser, Eric. "Kid Kustomers." 2001. Signs of Life in the
U.S.A.: Readings on Popular
Culture for Writers. By Sonia Maasik and J. Fisher Solomon.
6th ed. New York, NY:
Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 222-26. Print.