PODCAST 3:
DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS
COMS 430: Rhetorical Criticism
Dr. Stephen Heidt
Four Stages of Rhetorical Criticism
A. Analyze discourse for distinct characteristics
B. Understand discourse in context
C. Select/create critical methodology
D. Make evaluative judgments of quality, effect, or both
Challenge: Avoid Cookie Cutter
◦ Criticism can become formulaic – we find what we are looking for
◦ Organic criticism: consider a rhetorical act on its own terms, not approach it with prejudgments or prior
associations – try to understand how it works before judging it.
◦ Example: Donald Trump
◦ For many, first impulse is to make fun of him for being ignorant or degrading or racist and so on
◦ Understood, but…
◦ The key to criticism is understanding: have to recognize Trump’s discourse does certain things – the Tweets, the
bombastic statements, the bravado, and so on represent a certain type of rhetorical power
◦ Rather than dunk on discourse we don’t like, our challenge is to analyze and criticize to delve into its power
First Step: Descriptive Analysis
◦ The careful and exhaustive examination of the discourse itself – Intrinsic analysis of the text itself
◦ Set aside context because:
a) Context risks elevating historical or contextual factors above the discourse.
b) Ex. The historical case for war with Japan in WW2 may place material factors above and beyond discursive
factors by making it seem inevitable
c) Contextual information may bias the evaluation of the rhetoric, what the rhetor could have or should have said,
distorting the analysis
◦ Focus on the nuances of the text:
◦ selections of language, structure, arguments, and evidence.
◦ This focus provides grounds for ascertaining purpose and desired audience response
◦ It also suggests the role the speaker has chosen to play, the ways the audience is perceived, and the strategic
choices embedded in the text
Elements of Descriptive Analysis
1. Purpose: argumentative conclusions. Speeches ask something of the audience. They seek a desired by the
audience. May be explicit but also might be inferred
2. Persona: Role or roles rhetor takes for strategic purposes. Ex. Commander-in-Chief. Ex. Reagan as
Grandfather (stolen from FDR). Establishes ethos. Important for thinking of relationship between speakertext
3. Audience:
a. Empirical audience includes those literally present and those who get snippets or whole speech later.
b. But for this stage, audience is derived from the text. This is the implied or desired audience. Show how
discourse selects or targets an audience.
c. Ex. A speech about education that emphasizes student loans implies an audience of students or
graduates with loans. Assumes baseline of experience and knowledge
d. Ask is the text empowering or disempowering the audience? Does it ask things of us or not? Obama vs.
Trump right here. JFK.
e. Texts create specific audiences. Ex. Nixon “Great silent majority” – invitations.
Elements of Descriptive Analysis
4. Tone: Linguistic elements suggestive of the rhetor’s attitude toward the subject/topic. Derived from
stylistic cues – sarcasm, irony, bitter, angry, warm, funny, etc.
5. Structure: Form of discourse, how it unfolds. Ex:
a) Chronological
b) Narrative-dramatic
c) Problem-solution
d) Taxonomy
6. Supporting materials: explanations, illustrations, analogies, statistics, quotations or testimony from
average person, and other things that make visible your argument
Elements of a Descriptive Analysis
7) Other strategies: How rhetors select certain aspects of the previous to achieve strategic goals.
Examples:
a) Refutation and other argumentation strategies
b) Labeling/relabeling “Star Wars”
c) Repetition
d) Vivid depiction
e) Allusions to culturally familiar material
f)
Enthymemes: shared underlying premises that result in audience co-production of meaning. Ex. Freedom
Example: Apple TV Ad
Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky Speech
George W. Bush 9/11
Self-Immolation Picture
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS
COMS 430: Rhetorical Criticism
Dr. Stephen Heidt
Four Stages of Rhetorical Criticism
A. Analyze discourse for distinct characteristics
B. Understand discourse in context
C. Select/create critical methodology
D. Make evaluative judgments of quality, effect, or both
Challenge: Avoid Cookie Cutter
◦ Criticism can become formulaic – we find what we are looking for
◦ Organic criticism: consider a rhetorical act on its own terms, not approach it with prejudgments or prior
associations – try to understand how it works before judging it.
◦ Example: Donald Trump
◦ For many, first impulse is to make fun of him for being ignorant or degrading or racist and so on
◦ Understood, but…
◦ The key to criticism is understanding: have to recognize Trump’s discourse does certain things – the Tweets, the
bombastic statements, the bravado, and so on represent a certain type of rhetorical power
◦ Rather than dunk on discourse we don’t like, our challenge is to analyze and criticize to delve into its power
First Step: Descriptive Analysis
◦ The careful and exhaustive examination of the discourse itself – Intrinsic analysis of the text itself
◦ Set aside context because:
a) Context risks elevating historical or contextual factors above the discourse.
b) Ex. The historical case for war with Japan in WW2 may place material factors above and beyond discursive
factors by making it seem inevitable
c) Contextual information may bias the evaluation of the rhetoric, what the rhetor could have or should have said,
distorting the analysis
◦ Focus on the nuances of the text:
◦ selections of language, structure, arguments, and evidence.
◦ This focus provides grounds for ascertaining purpose and desired audience response
◦ It also suggests the role the speaker has chosen to play, the ways the audience is perceived, and the strategic
choices embedded in the text
Elements of Descriptive Analysis
1. Purpose: argumentative conclusions. Speeches ask something of the audience. They seek a desired by the
audience. May be explicit but also might be inferred
2. Persona: Role or roles rhetor takes for strategic purposes. Ex. Commander-in-Chief. Ex. Reagan as
Grandfather (stolen from FDR). Establishes ethos. Important for thinking of relationship between speakertext
3. Audience:
a. Empirical audience includes those literally present and those who get snippets or whole speech later.
b. But for this stage, audience is derived from the text. This is the implied or desired audience. Show how
discourse selects or targets an audience.
c. Ex. A speech about education that emphasizes student loans implies an audience of students or
graduates with loans. Assumes baseline of experience and knowledge
d. Ask is the text empowering or disempowering the audience? Does it ask things of us or not? Obama vs.
Trump right here. JFK.
e. Texts create specific audiences. Ex. Nixon “Great silent majority” – invitations.
Elements of Descriptive Analysis
4. Tone: Linguistic elements suggestive of the rhetor’s attitude toward the subject/topic. Derived from
stylistic cues – sarcasm, irony, bitter, angry, warm, funny, etc.
5. Structure: Form of discourse, how it unfolds. Ex:
a) Chronological
b) Narrative-dramatic
c) Problem-solution
d) Taxonomy
6. Supporting materials: explanations, illustrations, analogies, statistics, quotations or testimony from
average person, and other things that make visible your argument
Elements of a Descriptive Analysis
7) Other strategies: How rhetors select certain aspects of the previous to achieve strategic goals.
Examples:
a) Refutation and other argumentation strategies
b) Labeling/relabeling “Star Wars”
c) Repetition
d) Vivid depiction
e) Allusions to culturally familiar material
f)
Enthymemes: shared underlying premises that result in audience co-production of meaning. Ex. Freedom
Example: Apple TV Ad
Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky Speech
George W. Bush 9/11
Self-Immolation Picture
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
