In Lunsford’s paper, he defines rhetorical analysis as, “a close reading of a text to find how and whether it works to persuade” (Lunsford 97). The idea is to read a text that is meant to be persuasive. Rhetorical analysis comes into play once you begin analyzing the text for specific strategies, tricks, and other writing tools that are meant to persuade its audience onto the writer’s side. An argument is made all the better depending on how well the writer can work the pieces of his argument into one, fluid, convincing proposal. As Lunsford says, “Ask yourself what strategies the piece employs to move your heart, win your trust, and change your mind—and why it does or doesn’t do so” (Lunsford 97).

 

Source: Lunsford’s “Rhetorical Analysis”