Write about the rhetorical elements within the source text (audience, purpose, logos, ethos, pathos, diction, and syntax of a source text) and how these are used to create a specific argument.

To be accepted as complete, the rhetorical summary must:
Follow the Rhetorical Summary Worksheet template structure
Be within the required word count (240-260 words)
Use a minimum of 6 sentences
Have correct MLA formatting (i.e., double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font, header, proper in-text citations, works cited page)
Include the word count of the summary in the footer of each page
Have a topic sentence that includes the title, author, and the author’s main claim
Specify who the author’s intended audience is and what purpose he/she is writing toward (e.g., to convince the audience of something, to disprove, to inform, to argue, to add to existing information, to create social change, etc.)
Write about the rhetorical elements within the source text (audience, purpose, logos, ethos, pathos, diction, and syntax of a source text) and how these are used to create a specific argument. Use the rhetorical summary worksheet template structure (link above) and the example below to craft your summary and analysis of rhetorical elements.
Sample Rhetorical Summary of Donald Murray’s “The Maker’s Eye.”
In “The Maker’s Eye” Donald Murray argues that expert writers craft a text through a multiple step process of revision, which distinguishes them from beginning writers who often write single drafts. To an audience of beginning writers, Murray writes an informative essay in order to encourage writers revise multiple drafts of a text. Murray uses words like “beginning writers” and “writers” to clearly identify his audience. The informative essay was written as a series of long paragraphs separated by two section headers that broke the text into three parts: introduction, a section about revision, and a section about editing and publishing. This structure helps the reader visualize revising and editing as two separate processes. Murray develops his main claim by explaining the process of an expert writer, focusing mostly on his own experience as a writer. In doing this, he draws upon his own credibility as a writer and attempts to build common ground with his audience. He uses the pronoun “I” frequently when stating his process, for instance he states, “I often read aloud” (Murray para. 19). He also draws upon the metaphor of the writer being a “maker” or “craftsperson” in order to emphasize the text as creation. The use of the metaphor appeals to the reader’s emotions with a sense of awe at what is possible in writing. Murray, in his somewhat informal academic essay, builds to the point that a the crafted essay is never fully complete, it can always be revised again, but it must be “delivered to a deadline” (para. 25) and submitted. [259 words]
Murray, Donald M. “The maker’s eye: Revising your own manuscripts.” The Writer 86.10 (1973): 14-16.
100 to >94.0 pts
Artist/Professional
Student fulfills all the minimum assignment requirements listed in the Novice level, the skills listed for Skilled Craftsperson level, and the following: • Connects key rhetorical elements to the sources text’s central idea and, in doing so, demonstrates a complex understanding of the central argument • Achieves a level of artistic mastery marked by innovative, authentic, and provocative thinking