instructor: Jentery Sayers 
~ classroom: smi 309 
& ougl 101 ~ TTh: 9:30-11:20
Hierarchy of Rhetorical Patterns
Work your way through the text – from content down to diction – with the following hierarchy of rhetorical patterns, which can both help you identify the choices writers make and unpack questions about the text’s subject matter, purpose, writer, and intended reader.
- Content: What content is included? What content is excluded? How is the content treated? What sorts of examples are used? What is being used as evidence (personal testimony, facts, statistical data, etc.)? What does the choice of evidence tell us about the text?
- Rhetorical Appeals: What appeals to logos (reason/logic), pathos (emotion), and ethos (credibility) appear? What can each tell us about the text?
- Structure: How is the text organized? What are its parts? What can the text’s structure tell us about the text itself?
- Format: What is the text’s layout or appearance? It’s length? What can the text’s format tell us about the text itself?
- Sentences: How long are they? Are they simple or complex, passive or active? Does the sentence structure vary? Do the sentences share a certain style (conversational tone, colloquialisms, dialogue, etc.)? What can the text’s sentences tell us about the text itself?
- Diction: What types of words are most frequently used? How are verbs used? Are hedges (like “perhaps” or “might,” which suggest ambivalence) used? Is a type of jargon used? Is slang used? How are pronouns used to create writer and reader positions? What can the text’s diction tell us about the text itself?
The text on this page is based upon a handout by Anis Bawarshi, University of Washington Dept. of English.
uw english | jentery at u.washington.edu
