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Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Lukas Znosko
UTEP

In every research based essay, it is crucial that the author of this essay provides citations
from credible and useful sources to enhance the content in their essay. However, how is it that we
know what is credible? How do we know what the author of the source is even trying to get
across to its reader? Through the use of rhetorical analysis, we as readers, are able to generate a
very strong idea of the credibility of the source, the exigence of the source, and the audience. In
this essay, I will introduce a source that I found about whether athletes understand the effects that
nutritional habits have throughout a season, and use the tool of the rhetorical analysis to analyze
the source.
The rhetorical analysis is one incredible tool to use while searching for a good source to
incorporate in an essay. Rhetorical analysis mainly looks for the purpose, exigence, and audience
of the piece, and also helps us gain a greater understanding of the exact meaning of what the
author is trying to portray. The purpose of the piece is what the author is trying to achieve in
writing. Is the author trying to persuade the reader? Or is the author trying to inform its
audience? This is a key question to answer as it is how we begin our understanding of the
intentions of the author. This can be achieved through the use of logos, or the organization of the
piece. The way the author organizes their facts helps us with the ease of understanding their
piece. Another appeal can be that of ethos, or credibility, of the author. The more the author
begins to appeal to this, the more we begin to trust the author. The way to find the credibility of
the author is to look for publications of their work, facts about the author, and even looking in
the abstract of the source. In this abstract, the reader can find what is basically a scholarly life
story of the author. The more accomplished the author, the more we tend to believe that the
information they are providing is accurate. Another thing that the rhetorical analysis aims to look
for is exigence. The exigence of a piece is just the reason for the author writing it in the first

place. There had to be a situation, a problem, or an observation that caused the author to present
the article. Analyzing this reason is very important because it shows the passion and emotion of
the author towards their piece. The author clearly feels some sort of way towards their topic that
they would feel the need to compose the piece. This pathos, or appeal to the emotion of the
audience, is the author's way of portraying their view and facts to the audience. The use of
specialized words, or lexis, along with visuals spark an emotional response in the reader that
allows the reader to be intrigued enough to keep on reading. The final aim of the rhetorical
analysis is to identify who the audience is. The audience is the key to identify because it allows
the reader to have an idea of who the author is talking to in his piece. Most pieces can have many
different audiences, but through the rhetorical analysis we can dig into the piece and have a
better of idea of specific audiences the author may be targeting.
In n article that I found recently written by Neal W. Prokop, Lindsay R. Duncan, and
Ross E. Andersen, the three authors aim to answer this question by conducting research with 24
collegiate hockey players, and investigate whether these 24 players would be able to recognize
changes within their bodies in a 3 month during the season. With the analysis of the purpose in
mind, the reader is able to pick out the author's intentions, and what they are trying to achieve. I
found that this purpose was to investigate what athletes, and in this case hockey players, truly
know about the value of nutrition, and to inform the reader of what their research yielded. This
purpose is clearly evident when the authors write, "Therefore, the purpose of this study was to
determine if a subset of elite, collegiate hockey players could detect the correct change in their
body composition during a 3-month period as they transition out of their off-season and into their
competitive sea- son playing form." (Pg. 1057). This part of their piece clearly states their
purpose, which drastically helped me in my understanding of it.

The exigence was also found pretty easily in this piece. The author's feelings on the topic,
and reason for the research of the topic is evident when they say, "Although it can be debated
whether the use of some supplements is worthwhile, necessary, or cost-efficient to the athlete, the
use of ergogenic aids and nutrition or fitness supplements among collegiate athletes is common,
and as high as 88% (Smith-Rockwell et al. 2001; Burns et al. 2004). An athletes perception of
his or her change in body composition may influence the athletes use of supplements and other
ergogenic aids, as well as the athletes acceptance and adherence to nutritional programs and
interventions." (Pg. 1056). In just the first few paragraphs the author uses this statistic to once
again enforce both the exigence and pathos. It appeals to the reader's emotion because the
statistic shows a staggering truth. The fact that the reader knows that athletes use supplements
keep the reader interested, and encourages the reader to continue on to find out the answer to
why this is.
The ethos of the authors was evident throughout the entire piece. For starters, they shared
a hypothesis, which is critical in any research. This step in their research showed that they knew
that they had to accomplish this step before they could further their research. Another way they
established their experience and credibility was their results. They included two tables in which
they looked deeply into body parts individually, and also as a whole. The fact that they broke
down the body, and percentages of their players the researched showed me a high degree of
knowledge of nutrition and the research process. Also, the article was published in the NRC
Research Press, which shows that it had to be peer reviewed by many peers, and that the
information was valid to be put in a publication. The logos of this article is also very influential
in helping to establish this credibility. The article starts with posing the question, and through the
use of outer sources, the article continues to provide facts and information that help to bring their

findings to the reader. It also help the authors establish their audience. The authors clearly aimed
at the audience of researchers. In the section titled Questionnaires, they step by step describe
what they did and asked with every single athlete, which leads me to believe that they intended
on allowing other people to again do this study using their methods. Another audience they
targeted were athletes. The fact that this entire article dives into the lives and habits of hockey
players can show a lot of insight to the habits of other sports players as well. It can be a very
good read for any sort of athlete that may or may not understand what nutrition does to the body
during a season, and how crucial it can be to monitor it.
Through my own research, the rhetorical analysis of a piece proves to be an essential tool
used to enhancing our understanding of it. Through understanding concepts of purpose, exigence,
audience, and the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, we can dive deeper into the true meaning and
intentions of the author, and gives us the knowledge that we are searching for.

References:
Proko, N.W., Duncan, L.R., Andersen, R.E.(24, June 2015). Do Canadian
collegiate hockey players accurately perceive body composition changes
after unmonitored training and diet?
Appl.Physiol.Nutr.Metab. volume 40, Pg. 1056-1060