This document provides guidance on choosing sources for a rhetorical analysis paper. It recommends including at least one primary source, such as an artifact or news article that is being analyzed, as well as at least one secondary source to provide additional context. Primary sources are the main focus of the analysis, while secondary sources help strengthen the analysis by providing outside perspectives on the topic. The document describes in detail how to analyze different types of primary sources, including artifacts, news articles, and provides tips on incorporating relevant secondary sources into the analysis.

1. WRIT 1301: Choosing
Sources for the Rhetorical
Analysis
Prof. Brian Malone
University of Houston Clear Lake

2. What kinds of sources
should I use in my
paper?
Primary and Secondary Sources

3. How many sources do I
need?
You should have at least two
types of sources including one
primary source and at least
one secondary source.

4. Primary Source
• This is what you’re analyzing! Your
primary source for this assignment
can be an artifact or a news
article. This is the source you will
build your entire paper around.
You will consider the rhetorical
context and how the rhetorical
appeals affect the viewer/reader.

5. Primary
Source:
Artifact
Option
• By artifact, I mean you are allowed to
analyze “a thing.” Pick a monument, piece
of art, song, poem, building (ie.
architecture), a letter, etc.
• If you choose this option, you might find
the textbook page CL-63 on “Analyzing
Visual Rhetoric” especially helpful,
depending on your artifact.

6. Analyzing an
Artifact
• Be sure to describe the artifact. What does it
look like? Sound like? What distinct features
does it have?
• You might describe line breaks in a poem,
rhythm in a song, materials in a building, etc.
• Then analyze by asking how those features
work rhetorically to affect the audience. Here,
you will think about rhetorical context –
author, audience, topic, purpose – and
rhetorical appeals – to logic, to emotion, to
credibility (logos, pathos, ethos, etc.).

7. Primary Source:
News Article Option
• Articles can be primary sources or
secondary sources depending on how you
use them. If your goal is to analyze how an
author develops an argument or
contextualizes an event for their audience,
then you are using that article as a primary
source. However, if you are making you are
citing the article alongside others to offer a
different perspective or to contribute to a
much larger conversation about a topic, you
are using the article as a secondary source.

8. Analyzing a
News Article
• Summary is an important part of the
analysis. You can summarize central
components of the news article as you
progress through your analysis, or you can
write a paragraph of summary before you
begin your analysis.

9. Analyzing a
News Article
(Cont.)
• Summary is an important part of the
analysis. You can summarize central
components of the news article as you
progress through your analysis, or you can
write a paragraph of summary before you
begin your analysis.
• The summary should fairly represent the
rhetorical context – author, genre, topic,
purpose – without judging it.

10. Analyzing a
News Article
(Cont.)
• Summary is an important part of the analysis. You can
summarize central components of the news article as you
progress through your analysis, or you can write a paragraph
of summary before you begin your analysis.
• The summary should fairly represent the rhetorical context
– author, genre, topic, purpose – without judging it.
• To analyze, you should then look at how the article moves.
What kinds of examples, language, stories, etc. does the
author use? How is the article structured (ie. long/short
paragraphs, lots of exclamation points, are images
incorporated along with text, etc.)? Why is the text
structured this way? Here, you are linking rhetorical appeals
to rhetorical context. As in, “[Author] does/says X because it
will [appeal to audience’s emotions by… / establish their
credibility by…]” etc.

11. Secondary
Sources
• When you write about your primary source,
it is helpful to bring in outside perspectives
to better contextualize or prove your own
argument. These secondary sources can be
scholarly articles, news articles, descriptions,
social media comments, videos, etc.

12. Secondary
Sources
• When you write about your primary source,
it is helpful to bring in outside perspectives
to better contextualize or prove your own
argument. These secondary sources can be
scholarly articles, news articles, descriptions,
social media comments, videos, etc.
• Please use at least one secondary source in
your rhetorical analysis, although truthfully
you should plan on using more than one!

13. Secondary
Sources
• When you write about your primary source,
it is helpful to bring in outside perspectives
to better contextualize or prove your own
argument. These secondary sources can be
scholarly articles, news articles, descriptions,
social media comments, videos, etc.
• Please use at least one secondary source in
your rhetorical analysis, although truthfully
you should plan on using more than one!
• Strong integration of secondary sources
demonstrates your ability to understand the
breadth of conversation about your topic.

14. Secondary
Sources (Cont.)
• Imagine you are analyzing a poem and you learn
that the poet was a Modernist. Maybe a
secondary source that defines Modernism will
help!
• Imagine you are analyzing a controversial image
posted to social media. Maybe citing some of the
comments to show different peoples’ reactions
will help!
• Imagine you are analyzing a song off an artists’
most recent album. Maybe citing some articles
written by music critics will help!
• The possibilities for secondary sources and how
they can strengthen your analysis are wide-
ranging. Email me or visit my office hours to
brainstorm how these secondary sources can help
you!