can you ask rhetorical questions in a research paper

Rhetorical Questions in Essays: 5 Things you should Know

Rhetorical questions can be useful in writing. So, why shouldn’t you use rhetorical questions in essays?

In this article, I outline 5 key reasons that explain the problem with rhetorical questions in essays.

Despite the value of rhetorical questions for engaging audiences, they mean trouble in your university papers. Teachers tend to hate them.

There are endless debates among students as to why or why not to use rhetorical questions. But, I’m here to tell you that – despite your (and my) protestations – the jury’s in. Many, many teachers hate rhetorical questions.

You’re therefore not doing yourself any favors in using them in your essays.

Rhetorical Question Examples

A rhetorical question is a type of metacommentary . It is a question whose purpose is to add creative flair to your writing. It is a way of adding style to your essay.

Rhetorical questions usually either have obvious answers, or no answers, or do not require an answer . Here are some examples:

• Are you seriously wearing that?
• Do you think I’m that gullible?
• What is the meaning of life?
• What would the walls say if they could speak?

I understand why people like to use rhetorical questions in introductions . You probably enjoy writing. You probably find rhetorical questions engaging, and you want to draw your marker in, engage them, and wow them with your knowledge.

1. Rhetorical Questions in Academic Writing: They Don’t belong.

Rhetorical questions are awesome … for blogs, diaries, and creative writing. They engage the audience and ask them to predict answers.

But, sorry, they suck for essays. Academic writing is not supposed to be creative writing .

Here’s the difference between academic writing and creative writing:

• Supposed to be read for enjoyment first and foremost.
• Can be flamboyant, extravagant, and creative.
• Can leave the reader in suspense.
• Can involve twists, turns, and surprises.
• Can be in the third or first person.
• Readers of creative writing read texts from beginning to end – without spoilers.

Rhetorical questions are designed to create a sense of suspense and flair. They, therefore, belong as a rhetorical device within creative writing genres.

Now, let’s look at academic writing:

• Supposed to be read for information and analysis of real-life ideas.
• Focused on fact-based information.
• Clearly structured and orderly.
• Usually written in the third person language only.
• Readers of academic writing scan the texts for answers, not questions.

Academic writing should never, ever leave the reader in suspense. Therefore, rhetorical questions have no place in academic writing.

Academic writing should be in the third person – and rhetorical questions are not quite in the third person. The rhetorical question appears as if you are talking directly to the reader. It is almost like writing in the first person – an obvious fatal error in the academic writing genre.

Your marker will be reading your work looking for answers , not questions. They will be rushed, have many papers to mark, and have a lot of work to do. They don’t want to be entertained. They want answers.

Therefore, academic writing needs to be straight to the point, never leave your reader unsure or uncertain, and always signpost key ideas in advance.

Here’s an analogy:

• When you came onto this post, you probably did not read everything from start to end. You probably read each sub-heading first, then came back to the top and started reading again. You weren’t interested in suspense or style. You wanted to find something out quickly and easily. I’m not saying this article you’re reading is ‘academic writing’ (it isn’t). But, what I am saying is that this text – like your essay – is designed to efficiently provide information first and foremost. I’m not telling you a story. You, like your teacher, are here for answers to a question. You are not here for a suspenseful story. Therefore, rhetorical questions don’t fit here.

I’ll repeat: rhetorical questions just don’t fit within academic writing genres.

2. Rhetorical Questions can come across as Passive

It’s not your place to ask a question. It’s your place to show your command of the content. Rhetorical questions are by definition passive: they ask of your reader to do the thinking, reflecting, and questioning for you.

Questions of any kind tend to give away a sense that you’re not quite sure of yourself. Imagine if the five points for this blog post were:

• Are they unprofessional?
• Are they passive?
• Are they seen as padding?
• Are they cliché?
• Do teachers hate them?

If the sub-headings of this post were in question format, you’d probably – rightly – return straight back to google and look for the next piece of advice on the topic. That’s because questions don’t assist your reader. Instead, they demand something from your reader .

Questions – rhetorical or otherwise – a position you as passive, unsure of yourself, and skirting around the point. So, avoid them.

3. Rhetorical Questions are seen as Padding

When a teacher reads a rhetorical question, they’re likely to think that the sentence was inserted to fill a word count more than anything else.

>>>RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO MAKE AN ESSAY LONGER >>>RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO MAKE AN ESSAY SHORTER

Rhetorical questions have a tendency to be written by students who are struggling to come to terms with an essay question. They’re well below word count and need to find an extra 15, 20, or 30 words here and there to hit that much-needed word count.

In order to do this, they fill space with rhetorical questions.

It’s a bit like going into an interview for a job. The interviewer asks you a really tough question and you need a moment to think up an answer. You pause briefly and mull over the question. You say it out loud to yourself again, and again, and again.

You do this for every question you ask. You end up answering every question they ask you with that same question, and then a brief pause.

Sure, you might come up with a good answer to your rhetorical question later on, but in the meantime, you have given the impression that you just don’t quite have command over your topic.

4. Rhetorical Questions are hard to get right

As a literary device, the rhetorical question is pretty difficult to execute well. In other words, only the best can get away with it.

The vast majority of the time, the rhetorical question falls on deaf ears. Teachers scoff, roll their eyes, and sigh just a little every time an essay begins with a rhetorical question.

The rhetorical question feels … a little ‘middle school’ – cliché writing by someone who hasn’t quite got a handle on things.

Let your knowledge of the content win you marks, not your creative flair. If your rhetorical question isn’t as good as you think it is, your marks are going to drop – big time.

5. Teachers Hate Rhetorical Questions in Essays

This one supplants all other reasons.

The fact is that there are enough teachers out there who hate rhetorical questions in essays that using them is a very risky move.

Believe me, I’ve spent enough time in faculty lounges to tell you this with quite some confidence. My opinion here doesn’t matter. The sheer amount of teachers who can’t stand rhetorical questions in essays rule them out entirely.

Whether I (or you) like it or not, rhetorical questions will more than likely lose you marks in your paper.

Don’t shoot the messenger.

Some (possible) Exceptions

Personally, I would say don’t use rhetorical questions in academic writing – ever.

But, I’ll offer a few suggestions of when you might just get away with it if you really want to use a rhetorical question:

• As an essay title. I would suggest that most people who like rhetorical questions embrace them because they are there to ‘draw in the reader’ or get them on your side. I get that. I really do. So, I’d recommend that if you really want to include a rhetorical question to draw in the reader, use it as the essay title. Keep the actual essay itself to the genre style that your marker will expect: straight up the line, professional and informative text.

“97 percent of scientists argue climate change is real. Such compelling weight of scientific consensus places the 3 percent of scientists who dissent outside of the scientific mainstream.”

The takeaway point here is, if I haven’t convinced you not to use rhetorical questions in essays, I’d suggest that you please check with your teacher on their expectations before submission.

Don’t shoot the messenger. Have I said that enough times in this post?

I didn’t set the rules, but I sure as hell know what they are. And one big, shiny rule that is repeated over and again in faculty lounges is this: Don’t Use Rhetorical Questions in Essays . They are risky, appear out of place, and are despised by a good proportion of current university teachers.

To sum up, here are my top 5 reasons why you shouldn’t use rhetorical questions in your essays:

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Social-Emotional Learning (Definition, Examples, Pros & Cons)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is Educational Psychology?
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is IQ? (Intelligence Quotient)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University

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Best can you ask rhetorical questions in a research paper

Home » Questions » Best can you ask rhetorical questions in a research paper

When it comes to writing a research paper, there are certain rules and guidelines that need to be followed to ensure the paper’s credibility and effectiveness. One common question that often arises is whether or not it is appropriate to ask rhetorical questions in a research paper. Rhetorical questions are those that do not require an answer, but are asked to create a certain effect or provoke thought. In this article, we will explore whether or not rhetorical questions have a place in research papers.

In general, research papers are meant to be objective and informative, providing evidence-based arguments and analysis. Rhetorical questions, on the other hand, are often used in persuasive writing or speeches to engage the audience and make them think about a particular issue. Therefore, using rhetorical questions in a research paper may seem out of place.

However, there are instances where rhetorical questions can be effectively used in a research paper. For example, if you are discussing a controversial topic or presenting a hypothesis, asking a rhetorical question can help to stimulate critical thinking and engage the reader. It can also be used to highlight a key point or draw attention to a specific aspect of your research.

See these Can You Ask Rhetorical Questions in a Research Paper

• Are there any ethical concerns surrounding genetic engineering?
• Can we really trust the data provided by social media platforms?
• Is it possible to achieve world peace?
• Do video games have a negative impact on children’s behavior?
• Should the death penalty be abolished?
• Are humans the main cause of climate change?
• Can technology solve the world’s environmental problems?
• Is it fair to use animals for scientific experiments?
• Do school uniforms promote a sense of unity among students?
• Can art be used as a form of therapy?
• Should the government regulate the use of artificial intelligence?
• Is democracy the best form of government?
• Can social media help to bridge cultural divides?
• Do standardized tests accurately measure a student’s intelligence?
• Should genetically modified organisms be labeled?
• Are alternative energy sources a viable solution to fossil fuel depletion?
• Can meditation improve mental health?
• Is it possible to achieve work-life balance in today’s society?
• Do celebrities have a responsibility to be role models?
• Should the government provide free healthcare for all?
• Are there any long-term effects of childhood vaccination?
• Can music therapy be used to treat depression?
• Is it ethical to use animals for entertainment purposes?
• Do violent video games contribute to real-life aggression?
• Should the legal drinking age be lowered?
• Are there any benefits to genetically modified crops?
• Can social media help to combat social isolation?
• Is it possible to achieve gender equality in the workplace?
• Do reality TV shows accurately depict real life?

While it is important to use rhetorical questions sparingly in a research paper, they can be used effectively to enhance your argument and engage the reader. Just make sure that the rhetorical questions you use are relevant to your topic and add value to your research. Remember to maintain the overall objectivity and credibility of your paper and use rhetorical questions as a tool to support your argument, rather than distract from it.

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How to Use Rhetorical Questions in Essay Writing Effectively

Table of contents

If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?

If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

These lines are from William Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, wherein he uses consecutive rhetorical questions to evoke a sense of human empathy. This literary technique certainly worked here because the speech manages to move us and pushes us to think.

Writers have been incorporating rhetorical questions together for centuries. So, why not take inspiration and include it in your college essays, too?

A rhetorical question is asked more to create an impact or make a statement rather than get an answer. When used effectively, it is a powerful literary device that can add immense value to your writing.

How do you use rhetorical questions in an essay?

Thinking of using rhetorical questions? Start thinking about what you want your reader to take away from it. Craft it as a statement and then convert it into a rhetorical question. Make sure you use rhetorical questions in context to the more significant point you are trying to make.

When Should You Write Rhetorical Questions in Your Essay?

Are you wondering when you can use rhetorical questions? Here are four ways to tactfully use them to elevate your writing and make your essays more thought-provoking.

#1. Hook Readers

We all know how important it is to start your essay with an interesting essay hook that grabs the reader’s attention and keeps them interested. Do you know what would make great essay hooks? Rhetorical questions.

When you begin with a rhetorical question, you make the reader reflect and indicate where you are headed with the essay. Instead of starting your essay with a dull, bland statement, posing a question to make a point is a lot more striking.

How you can use rhetorical questions as essay hooks

Example: What is the world without art?

Starting your essay on art with this question is a clear indication of the angle you are taking. This question does not seek an answer because it aims to make readers feel that the world would be dreary without art.

#2. Evoke Emotions

Your writing is considered genuinely effective when you trigger an emotional response and strike a chord with the reader.

Whether it’s evoking feelings of joy, sadness, rage, hope, or disgust, rhetorical questions can stir the emotional appeal you are going for. They do the work of subtly influencing readers to feel what you are feeling.

So, if you want readers to nod with the agreement, using rhetorical questions to garner that response is a good idea, which is why they are commonly used in persuasive essays.

Example: Doesn’t everyone have the right to be free?

What comes to your mind when you are met with this question? The obvious answer is – yes! This is a fine way to instill compassion and consideration among people.

#3. Emphasize a Point

Making a statement and following it up with a rhetorical question is a smart way to emphasize it and drive the message home. It can be a disturbing statistic, a well-known fact, or even an argument you are presenting, but when you choose to end it with a question, it tends to draw more emphasis and makes the reader sit up and listen.

Sometimes, rather than saying it as a statement, inserting a question leaves a more significant impact.

Example: Between 700 and 800 racehorses are injured and die yearly, with a national average of about two breakdowns for every 1,000 starts. How many will more horses be killed in the name of entertainment?

The question inserted after presenting such a startling statistic is more to express frustration and make the reader realize the gravity of the situation.

#4. Make a Smooth Transition

One of the critical elements while writing an essay is the ability to make smooth transitions from one point or section to another and, of course, use the right transition words in your essay . The essay needs to flow logically while staying within the topic. This is a tricky skill, and few get it right.

Using rhetorical questions is one way to connect paragraphs and maintain cohesiveness in writing. You can pose questions when you want to introduce a new point or conclude a point and emphasize it.

Example: Did you know that Ischaemic heart disease and stroke are the world’s biggest killers? Yes, they accounted for a combined 15.2 million deaths in 2016.

Writing an essay on the leading causes of death? This is an intelligent way to introduce the reason and then go on to explain it.

What are the types of rhetorical questions?

There are three different kinds of rhetorical questions you can use in your essays:

Epiplexis : This rhetorical question is meant to express disapproval or shame to the reader. It is not meant to obtain an answer; it is a way to convince the reader by demonstrating frustration or grief.

Erotesis : This is used to express strong affirmation or denial. It usually implies an answer without giving the expectations of getting one. Erotesis or erotica is used to push the reader to ponder and reflect.

Hypophora : When a question is raised and is immediately answered, it is referred to as hypophora. It is used in a conversational style of writing and aids in generating curiosity in the reader. It’s also a way to make smooth transitions in the essay while letting the writer completely control the narrative.

What to AVOID while writing rhetorical questions in your essay?

It is important to use them sparingly and wherever appropriate. Rhetorical questions cannot be used in every piece of writing.

Using rhetorical questions in the thesis statement : Asking a rhetorical question in your thesis statement is an absolute no-no because thesis statements are meant to answer a question, not pose another question.

Overusing rhetorical questions : Sub7jecting the reader to an overdose of rhetorical questions, consequently or not, makes for an annoying reading experience.

Using rhetorical questions in research papers : Research papers require you to research a topic, take a stand and justify your claims. It’s a formal piece of writing that must be based on facts and research.

So, keep this literary device for persuasive or argumentative essays and creative writing pieces instead of using them in research papers.

20 Ideas of Good Rhetorical Questions to Start an Essay

• "What if the world could be free of poverty?"
• "Is it really possible to have peace in a world so full of conflict?"
• "Can we ever truly understand the depths of the universe?"
• "What does it really mean to be happy?"
• "Is technology bringing us closer together, or driving us apart?"
• "How far would you go to stand up for what you believe in?"
• "What if we could turn back time and prevent disasters?"
• "Can a single person really make a difference in the world?"
• "Is absolute freedom a blessing or a curse?"
• "What defines true success in life?"
• "Are we truly the masters of our own destiny?"
• "Is there a limit to human creativity?"
• "How does one moment change the course of history?"
• "What if we could read each other's thoughts?"
• "Can justice always be served in an imperfect world?"
• "Is it possible to live without regret?"
• "How does culture shape our understanding of the world?"
• "Are we responsible for the happiness of others?"
• "What if the cure for cancer is just around the corner?"
• "How does language shape our reality?"

While rhetorical questions are effective literary devices, you should know when using a rhetorical question is worthwhile and if it adds value to the piece of writing.

If you are struggling with rhetorical questions and are wondering how to get them right, don’t worry. Our professional essay writing service can help you write an essay using the correct literary devices, such as rhetorical questions, that will only alleviate your writing.

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Should you use Rhetoric Questions in an Essay?

Rhetorical questions are questions asked to make a point or to create a dramatic effect rather than to get an answer.

Many college professors discourage using rhetorical questions in essays, and the majority agree that they can be used only in specific circumstances.

While they are helpful for the person writing an essay, if you want to include them in an essay, ensure that you rephrase them into a sentence, indirect question, or statement.

It is essential to say that there is only minimal space for including rhetorical questions in academic writing.

This post will help you discover why professors discourage using rhetorical questions in essays and when it is okay to use them. Let's dive in!

Why do professors discourage the use of rhetorical questions in academic papers?

We love rhetorical questions for the flair they add to written pieces. They help authors achieve some sense of style when writing essays. However, since they have an obvious answer, no answer, or require no answer, they have no place in academic writing, not even the essay hooks. They are a way to engage the audience by letting them keep thinking of the answer as they read through your text. Avoid using rhetorical essays in academic writing unless you are doing creative writing. There is no room for suspense in academic writing. Let’s find out why professors discourage them so badly in any form of academic writing, not just essay writing alone!

1. Because they don't belong in academic writing

Rhetorical questions are awesome; they can help engage your readers and keep them interested in your writing. However, they are only perfect for creative writing, diaries, and blogs and are not appropriate for academic writing. This is because academic writing is about logic, facts, and arguments, while rhetorical questions are about entertainment. The two are incompatible; the questions do not belong in academic writing.

Rhetorical questions are typically utilized in creative writing to create flair and suspense. However, academic writing does not need flair or suspense. Because most academic writing assignments are based on facts, evidence, arguments, and analysis. Thus, there is no need for the creation of flair or suspense. In other words, there is no space for rhetorical questions in academic writing.

Another thing that shows that rhetorical questions don't belong in academic writing is that they are usually written in the first person. The fact that they are written in the first person means they do not fit in academic writing, where students are usually urged to write in the third person. So while it is okay for rhetorical questions to feature in creative writing where the author addresses the reader, it is not okay for the questions to feature in academic writing where everything should be matter-of-fact.

Lastly, rhetorical questions do not belong in academic writing because readers of academic works do not expect to see them. When you start reading an academic paper, you expect answers, and you don't expect suspense, flair, or entertainment. Therefore, you will most likely be confused and even upset when you see rhetorical questions in an academic paper.

2. Because they come across as passive

When writing an academic paper as a student, you are expected to show your mastery of the content; you are expected to demonstrate your command of the content. What you are not likely to do is to pose rhetorical questions, and this is because the questions are passive and, therefore, unsuitable for academic papers. Specifically, passive voice is unsuitable for academic papers because it is dull and lazy. What is appropriate and recommended for academic papers is active voice, and this is because it is clear and concise.

You now know why you should not use passive rhetorical questions in academic papers. Another reason why you should not use passive rhetorical questions is that they will make you sound as if you are unsure of yourself. If you are sure about the points and arguments you are making in your paper, you will not ask passive rhetorical questions. Instead, you will develop your paper confidently from the introduction to the conclusion.                  

When you ask your readers passive rhetorical questions, you will make them Google or think about the answer. These are not the things that readers want to be doing when reading academic papers. They want to see well-developed ideas and arguments and be informed, inspired, and educated. Thus, you should spare them the need to do things they do not plan to do by not using rhetorical questions in your academic paper.

3. Because they are seen as padding

When your professor sees a rhetorical question in your essay, they will think you are just trying to fill the minimum word count. In other words, they will think you are trying to cheat the system by filling the word count with an unnecessary sentence. This could lead to you getting penalized, which you do not want for your essay if you are aiming for a top grade.

Why do professors see rhetorical questions as padding? Well, it is because struggling students are the ones who typically use rhetorical questions in their essays. Therefore, when professors see these questions, they assume that the student struggled to meet the word count, so they throw in a few rhetorical questions.            

4. Because they are hard to get right

It is not easy to ask rhetorical questions correctly, especially in essays. This is because there are several things to consider when asking them, including the location, the words, the punctuation, and the answer. Most of the time, when students ask rhetorical questions in their papers, professors roll their eyes because most students ask them wrong.

The correct way to ask a rhetorical question is to ask it in the right place, in the right way, and to use the correct punctuation. You will discover how to do these things in the second half of this post. Don't just ask a rhetorical question for the sake of it; ask only when necessary.

5. Because professors hate them

If the other reasons why professors discourage rhetorical questions have not convinced you to give up on using them, this one should. Professors hate rhetorical questions, and they don't like them because they feel the questions don't belong in academic papers. Therefore, when you use them, you risk irking your professor and increasing your likelihood of getting a lower grade. So if you don't want a lower grade, you should give rhetorical questions a wide berth.

Your professor might love rhetorical questions. However, including rhetorical questions in your essay is a risk you do not want to take. Because your hunch about them liking rhetorical questions might be wrong, resulting in a bad grade for you.

When to use rhetorical questions in academic papers

You now know professors do not like seeing rhetorical questions in academic papers. However, this does not mean you cannot use them. There are situations when it is okay to use rhetorical questions in your academic papers. Below you will discover the instances when it is appropriate to use rhetorical questions in your essays.

1. When introducing your essay

When introducing your essay, you must try to grab the reader's attention with your first two or three sentences. The best way to do this is to use a hook statement – an exciting statement that makes the reader want to read the rest of the paper to find out more. And the best way to write a hook statement is as a rhetorical question.

When you write your hook statement as a rhetorical question, you will make your reader think about the question and the topic before they continue to read your introduction . This will most likely pique their interest in the topic and make them want to read the rest of your essay.

Therefore, instead of starting your essay with a dull and ordinary hook statement, you should start it with a powerful rhetorical question. This will undoubtedly hook your reader. Below is a good example of a rhetorical question hook statement:

Where could the world be without the United Nations?

Starting your essay with the question above will definitely hook any reader and give the reader an idea of the angle you want to take in your essay.

2. When you want to evoke emotions

Most academic papers are supposed to be written in the third person and should also be emotionless, well-organized, and to the point. However, there are some that can be written in the first person. Good examples of such essays include personal essays and reflective essays.

When you are writing personal essays, it is okay to express emotions. And one of the best ways to do it is by using rhetorical questions. These questions are perfect for evoking emotions because they make the reader think and reflect. And making your reader think and reflect is an excellent way to make them relate to your story.

The most appropriate way to use rhetorical questions to evoke emotions is to make your questions target specific feelings such as rage, hope, happiness, sadness, and so on. Targeted questions will help your reader think about certain things and feelings, which will undoubtedly influence what they will feel thereafter. Below is an excellent example of a rhetorical question used to evoke emotions:

Doesn't everyone deserve to be free?

This question makes you feel compassion for those who are not free and makes you think about them and the things they are going through.

3. When you want to emphasize something

Using a rhetorical question to emphasize a point is okay, especially in a personal essay. The right way to do this is to make the statement you want to highlight and ask a rhetorical question immediately after. Emphasizing a statement using a rhetorical question will help drive your message home, and it will also help leave an impact on the reader. Below is an excellent example of a rhetorical question used to emphasize the statement before it:

Nearly 1000 racehorses die or get injured every year. Is the killing and maiming of horses justified in this age of cars and underground trains?

The rhetorical question above brings into sharp focus the statement about the number of horses killed yearly and makes the reader think about the number of horses killed or injured annually.

4. When you want to make a smooth transition

One of the best ways to transition from one topic to the next is by using a rhetorical question. It is essential to transition smoothly from one point to the next if you want your essay to have an excellent flow.

A rhetorical question can help you to make a smooth transition from one point to the next by alerting the reader to a new topic. Below is an excellent example of a rhetorical question used to make a smooth transition from one paragraph to the next:

Did you know malaria remains one of Africa's leading causes of infant mortality? The tropical disease accounted for over half a million infant deaths in 2020.

The statement above smartly alerts the reader about a new topic and introduces it in a smooth and calculated manner.

Mistakes to avoid when using rhetorical questions

If you decide to use rhetorical questions in your essays, there are some mistakes you should avoid.

1. Overusing them

Using rhetorical questions in academic papers is okay, but you should never overuse them. The number of rhetorical questions in your essay should never exceed two, and more than two rhetorical questions are just too many for an essay.

2. Using them in research papers

Research papers are the most formal of academic papers. Most professors who give research paper assignments do not fancy seeing rhetorical questions in them. Therefore, you should never use rhetorical questions in research papers.

3. Never use them as your thesis statement

Your thesis statement should be a statement that is logical, concise, and complete. It should never be a question, let alone a rhetorical one.

As you have discovered in this article, rhetorical questions should ideally not be used in essays. This is because they do not belong, professors hate them, and so on. However, as you have also discovered, there are some situations when it is okay to use rhetorical questions. In other words, you can use rhetorical questions in the right circumstances. The fact that you now know these circumstances should enable you to use rhetorical questions in your essays, if necessary, correctly.

You should talk to us if you are too busy to write your essay or edit it to make it professional enough. Our company provides both essay writing and essay editing services at affordable rates. Contact us today for assistance or simply order your essay using our essay order page.

What are rhetorical questions?

Rhetorical questions are questions asked to make a point rather than to get an answer. They are often used in creative writing to create a dramatic effect or a sense of suspense.

When and how to use rhetorical questions in essays

Professors hate rhetorical questions in essays . You should only use them sparingly and when necessary. Otherwise, you should not use them at all.

What mistakes should you avoid when using rhetorical questions in essays?

You should never use a rhetorical question instead of a good thesis statement . You should also never use a rhetorical question in a research paper.

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

Chapter 9: The Research Process

9.1 Developing a Research Question

Emilie Zickel

“I write out of ignorance. I write about the things I don’t have any resolutions for, and when I’m finished, I think I know a little bit more about it. I don’t write out of what I know. It’s what I don’t know that stimulates me .” – Toni Morrison , author and Northeast Ohio native

Think of a research paper as an opportunity to deepen (or create!) knowledge about a topic that matters to you. Just as Toni Morrison states that she is stimulated by what she doesn’t yet know, a research paper assignment can be interesting and meaningful if it allows you to explore what you don’t know.

Research, at its best, is an act of knowledge creation, not just an extended book report. This knowledge creation is the essence of any great educational experience. Instead of being lectured at, you get to design the learning project that will ultimately result in you experiencing and then expressing your own intellectual growth. You get to read what you choose, and you get to become an expert on your topic.

That sounds, perhaps, like a lofty goal. But by spending some quality time brainstorming, reading, thinking or otherwise tuning into what matters to you, you can end up with a workable research topic that will lead you on an enjoyable research journey.

The best research topics are meaningful to you

• Choose a topic that you want to understand better.
• Choose a topic that you want to read about and devote time to
• Choose a topic that is perhaps a bit out of your comfort zone
• Choose a topic that allows you to understand others’ opinions and how those opinions are shaped.
• Choose something that is relevant to you, personally or professionally.
• Do not choose a topic because you think it will be “easy” – those can end up being even quite challenging

The video below offers ideas on choosing not only a topic that you are drawn to, but a topic that is realistic and manageable for a college writing class.

“Choosing a Manageable Research Topic” by PfaulLibrary is licensed under CC BY

Brainstorming Ideas for a Research Topic

Which question(s) below interest you? Which question(s) below spark a desire to respond? A good topic is one that moves you to think, to do, to want to know more, to want to say more. 

There are many ways to come up with a good topic. The best thing to do is to give yourself time to think about what you really want to commit days and weeks to reading, thinking, researching, more reading, writing, more researching, reading and writing on.

• What news stories do you often see, but want to know more about?
• What (socio-political) argument do you often have with others that you would love to work on strengthening?
• What would you love to become an expert on?
• What are you passionate about?
• What are you scared of?
• What problem in the world needs to be solved?
• What are the key controversies or current debates in the field of work that you want to go into?
• What is a problem that you see at work that needs to be better publicized or understood?
• What is the biggest issue facing [specific group of people: by age, by race, by gender, by ethnicity, by nationality, by geography, by economic standing? choose a group]
• If you could interview anyone in the world, who would it be? Can identifying that person lead you to a research topic that would be meaningful to you?
• What area/landmark/piece of history in your home community are you interested in?
• What in the world makes you angry?
• What global problem do you want to better understand?
• What local problem do you want to better understand?
• Is there some element of the career that you would like to have one day that you want to better understand?
• Consider researching the significance of a song, or an artist, or a musician, or a novel/film/short story/comic, or an art form on some aspect of the broader culture.
• Think about something that has happened to (or is happening to) a friend or family member. Do you want to know more about this?
• Go to a news source ( New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, etc)  and skim the titles of news stories. Does any story interest you?

From Topic to Research Question

Once you have decided on a research topic, an area for academic exploration that matters to you, it is time to start thinking about what you want to learn about that topic.

The goal of college-level research assignments is never going to be to simply “go find sources” on your topic. Instead, think of sources as helping you to answer a research question or a series of research questions about your topic. These should not be simple questions with simple answers, but rather complex questions about which there is no easy or obvious answer.

A compelling research question is one that may involve controversy, or may have a variety of answers, or may not have any single, clear answer. All of that is okay and even desirable. If the answer is an easy and obvious one, then there is little need for argument or research.

Make sure that your research question is clear, specific, researchable, and limited (but not too limited). Most of all, make sure that you are curious about your own research question. If it does not matter to you, researching it will feel incredibly boring and tedious.

The video below includes a deeper explanation of what a good research question is as well as examples of strong research questions:

“Creating a Good Research Question” by CII GSU

A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing by Emilie Zickel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Readings about Rhetorical Foundations

20 Rhetorical Foundations For Research

Jennifer Clary-Lemon; Derek Mueller; and Kate L. Pantelides

Excerpt from  Try This: Research Methods For Writers 

Uncertainty and Curiosity

Research does not start with a thesis statement. It starts with a question. And though research is recursive , which means that you will move back and forth between various stages in your research and writing process, developing an effective question might in itself be the most important part of the research process. Because there’s really no point in doing a research project if you already know the answer. That is boring. But it is how we are often taught to do research: we decide what we’re going to argue, we look for those things that support that argument, and then we write up the thing that we knew from the outset. If that sounds familiar, we suggest that you scrap that plan.

Instead, we suggest approaching research with an orientation of openness, ready and willing to be surprised, to change your mind. Of course, you never approach research in a vacuum. You probably have ideas about whatever it is that you’re working on. You probably have thoughts about what the answers are to your research questions, and that is as it should be, but that statement of belief should not be where you start.

Try This: Consider Everyday Contexts You Have Engaged in Research (15 minutes)

Take a moment to think about the many occasions when you have gathered information to answer a question outside of an academic context (i.e., What is the most effective deodorant? Where is the best place to eat? What is the fastest route home?). Follow the steps listed:

• First, make a list of some of these everyday questions you have identified and the answers you have come up with in your research.
• Select one that is still interesting to you—one that you may have answered but suspect there are more answers to or one that the answer you identified was only partial.
• Note the method or tool you selected to answer the question.
• Make a list of other methods you might employ to answer your original question.
• Reflect on how identifying alternative research methods might lead you to different answers to your original question, then make a new research plan.

We hope you cultivate an exploratory motive, an orientation of openness, and a willingness to learn. Adopting such a disposition is your work. Get ready to find data that conflicts with what you have come to know about a particular issue. You might even think about your thesis statement as the last thing that you develop in your research project. Let curiosity drive you forward in your work. Research is really only worth engaging in if you learn something from it. We often think about research as knowing, but it’s really about the making of knowledge(s), the movement from not knowing to beginning to know, figuring things out, trying to solve or sort out tricky problems. At the end of an effective research project, we usually have more questions than we started with. Sure, we answer the initial question (if all goes well), but that process of building knowledge usually leads to more questions and helps us recognize what we don’t know. Developing a research orientation includes seeing the world around you as abundant with research opportunities. Harness your curiosity, embrace uncertainty, and begin looking for researchable questions.

Try This: Make a List of Curios (30 minutes)

Reflect on times that you’ve gotten wrapped up in something—when you looked away from the clock and suddenly two hours had passed. What were you doing? Cooking, reading, engaging in a good conversation, playing a game, watching tv, hiking? Identify that experience and consider the following questions:

• What was it that made time fly?
• How might you capture that energy in a research experience?

Now make a curio cabinet of sorts. A curio is a special, mysterious object that inspires curiosity. Cabinets of curiosities were popularized in Europe in the late sixteenth century. They featured items from abroad and unique artifacts from the natural world. Such spaces allowed collectors to assemble and display collections that catalogued their interests and travels and that inspired awe in their reception. Create a curio cabinet for yourself, either by assembling a collection of artifacts that describe your interests, composing an image that represents your curiosities, or developing a textual representation of questions that interest you.

No matter where your research and writing take you—in terms of major, interest, or profession—it’s useful to consistently reflect on what, why, and how you’re conducting research at each step in the process. This attention to thinking about your thinking is called metacognition . This process may sound exhausting, and it can be, especially at first, but being metacognitive about your research will help you transfer your learning into new contexts. Having this orientation toward your research ensures that you have intention in each step you take. The more you practice this approach to research, the easier it gets so that it eventually becomes instinctual.

Rhetorical Foundations of Research

What we have described thus far is a rhetorical approach to the research process. Derived from classical Greek influences, the five ancient canons of rhetoric include invention , arrangement , style , memory , and delivery . In the context of writing and research, these long established, foundational concepts also go by other names, such as pre-writing, organization, mechanics and grammar, process, and circulation of a research product. We want to keep in mind these qualities of effective communication throughout the chapter, but we’ll spend significant time with invention and delivery—canons that we think often get pushed aside or treated as afterthoughts in many approaches to research and research-based writing and that we pay particular attention to in this text.

As you familiarize yourself with an issue and the way scholars have talked about it, take note of the specific ways they talk about the issue and consider why that is. This is how you develop a rhetorical awareness of the ways in which research is constructed. So when you read, read like a researcher: consider both what is said about an issue and how it is said. Identify the rhetorical situation of the piece of writing; this includes the context in which it is written, the audience for whom it is written, and its purpose .

We begin here with a research proposal, but throughout this book we also highlight other research genres that may be more or less familiar to you: literature reviews, coding schemas, annotated maps, research memos, slide decks, and posters. Each time you encounter a new genre, we encourage you to place it in its communicative context: What is the reason to compose this way? What need does it fulfill for its audience? What situation is it most suited to? What communication problem does it solve? We hope that working through research genres in this way will also help you understand your own research process more fully.

Try This: Go on a Scavenger Hunt to Identify Genres in “The Wild” (30 minutes)

With a partner or two, walk around identifying, photographing, documenting, and analyzing genres in your midst. If you’re at a university, you might see posters, signs, and bulletin boards. If you’re at home, you’ll see different genres, and if you’re at a coffee shop, you’ll see yet another set of genres.

Consider this: one genre found in a coffee shop is a menu. It might be on a board, or there may be paper menus that each customer can pick up, but this genre is reliably found in coffee shops throughout the US. Wherever you are, be attentive to the genres that surround you by doing the following:

• Make a list of the genres (the kind of texts) that make up your immediate environment.
•  Choose one genre that interests you and consider its rhetorical situation: What is the context in which it is written? Who is its audience? What is the genre’s purpose?
• More broadly, consider the genre’s communicative context: How is this particular example of the genre composed? What communication problem does it solve?

How might such rhetorical knowledge about genre impact your approach to matching research questions to methods and delivery?

Research Example: Student Writing Habits

Let’s use an example to illustrate what happens at the beginning of a research project. Like us, you might be interested in student writing habits. In particular, you might research when (and why) students begin a research project: Do they begin when it is assigned? Two weeks in advance? The night before?

Other researchers have looked at this issue, so you might begin by examining what they have found. These secondary sources , the findings of other thinkers, constitute the critical conversation and might give you ideas for how you might proceed in your own project. Thus, examining this conversation might function as pre-writing , brainstorming , or invention for your research. Rhetorician Kenneth Burke uses the metaphor of a party to describe how critical conversations work: When you arrive at the party, the conversations have been going on for a while, and guests take turns articulating their points of view, sometimes talking over each other, sometimes interrupting, laughing, disagreeing, and agreeing. After listening for a while, you understand the conversation and have something to say, so you chime in, maybe building on what a previous guest has said or contrasting your ideas with a friend’s. Finally, you’re tired and have to head home, but when you do, the sounds of the party are still ringing in your ears, and the conversation will clearly continue.

But if you’re conducting primary research that moves beyond working with sources, the key is to next find out what this particular issue looks like in your local context, or in a specific context in which you’re interested. Most likely, scholars have not examined the issue of when students begin their assignments at your institution, and many factors may impact your context that might make your findings different than what you’ve learned from other scholars. Research methods give researchers recognizable ways to continue the party conversation started by secondary sources.

So the next step is effective research design . You might articulate this plan in a research proposal , further detailed at the end of this chapter. When you are beginning a new research project, the design is expected to be mixed up and messy, because oftentimes you are sorting through many different possibilities. Thus, we encourage you to notice and to write about the messiness of an emerging research design, pausing often to pose the following questions: What are you wondering about now? and, How are these curiosities connecting, drawing your attention to matters you hadn’t considered before? While it’s important to notice these inklings as you go, many effective researchers also write about them as a way to record (to help with memory) and focus. The activity of writing while researching demands patience and persistence, and yet the emerging research design will be magnitudes more refined in later stages as a result.

Design your research project so that your questions, methods, data, findings, and conclusions match up and so that you select or develop primary source data that will be most useful for your particular interest. For instance, if you only have data for about 30 students on campus, you can’t generalize about how all students approach the writing process. If you only know when these students start working on a given writing project, you won’t know why they started at that particular time. This doesn’t mean the information you have isn’t useful; it just means that you need to stay close to your data and only make sense of the information you have. Make note of things you want to know and wish you had more data about so you can develop the project if the opportunity arises.

For this research project on timing in student writing projects, you might develop a survey that asks students when they begin their research project as well as a series of related questions about motivation and timing. If you design a survey that gives students choices to select answers that range from “I begin a project when it is assigned” to “I begin a project the morning that it’s due,” you will develop quantitative data, or representative numbers, that answer your question. If you’re interested in longer, more nuanced answers, you might also provide open-ended questions on your survey, and you’ll develop both quantitative and qualitative data, or non-numeric data not organized according to a specific, numerical pattern.

A survey develops data that might be easily counted and categorized and can be offered to many folks. But you might be interested in more specific, extensive qualitative data than what you can gather through a survey. Your interest might be not just when students start a project, but also why they start at that specific time and if that starting time is a habit or if it depends on what they’re writing about or in which class it is assigned. If these are your interests, it might be more effective to work with people to develop an interview protocol or a case-study approach, methods that would require you to ask fewer people about their study habits but would allow you to develop a deeper understanding of each individual student’s writing habits. One isn’t necessarily better or worse. Like all research methods, each approach provides different data and different opportunities for analysis. It just depends on what you want to know.

Surveys, interviews—these might be methods with which you’re familiar, but there are lots of other useful methods for working with people. You might want to understand student writing processes by looking at all of a particular student’s writing for a given project. Instead of asking the student about her habits and working with reported data, or information that someone has told you, you might use a kind of textual analysis to read all of her notes and drafts for a particular project to better understand not just what she reports about her writing practices but how and what and when she actually writes in the lead up to a due date. Sometimes our perceptions of our actions differ than what we actually do, particularly in regard to writing habits, so collecting data that’s not reported can be helpful. Or you might want to observe that student while she writes to notice how often she takes breaks, if she texts while she writes, or if she listens to music. You might ask her to take pictures of herself or her writing environment at different points during the writing process, and you might develop a comparative visual analysis of the images.

Try This: Plan Your Own Writing Research Project (30 minutes)

What are your research questions about writing? Consider the examples we’ve given and develop your own questions on the topic, then think about possible methods you can use to investigate those questions by doing the following:

• List your interests in and questions about writing and the research process.
• Identify one area of interest on your list and develop it into an effective research question (a question that does not have a yes/no answer, one that requires primary research to answer).
• Consider what methods might be appropriate to help you answer the question you have identified.

Research Example: Access to Clean Water

Here’s an example of how to develop a research plan. Imagine you’re interested in developing a project about water, a topic that has been in the news quite a bit as of late. Depending on your specific interest and the kind of data you are interested in collecting and working with, you can design very different research proposals. The following list will aid you in determining an approach based on where your interest lies:

•   If you want to work with sources , maybe you’ll select developing a “worknet” as a research method. Your work with sources would find a focal article to generate a radial diagram as you select and highlight connections. One emerging connection, such as a linkage between long-term health outcomes and access to water filtration systems, can begin to crystalize as a research question that guides you in seeking and finding further sources or in choosing other methods appropriate to pairing with the question.
•   If you want to work with words , maybe you’ll select content analysis as a research method to make sense of the discourse you find on your local water treatment plant’s website. You might find that there is specialized or technical language, such as multiple mentions of contamination of which you were not aware, or terms with which you are unfamiliar (e.g., acidity, PPM, or pH). Gathering these terms and beginning to investigate their meanings can serve as the genesis of an emerging research focus.
•   If you want to work with people , maybe you’ll select survey as a research method, and you’ll distribute a survey about drinking water to everyone in your classes, perhaps asking questions about their uses of water fountains and bottle refill stations or their knowledge about where their water comes from. You may learn that folks in your community have not had consistent access to potable water.
•  If you want to work with places and things , maybe you’ll select site observation as a research method, and you’ll schedule a visit to your local water treatment plant. You may discover upon visiting that the plant is adjacent to a number of factories, or that it is difficult to access, perhaps that there is no one to give you a tour, or that much of the area is off limits. All of these on-site discoveries, carefully chronicled, substantiate distinctive ways of knowing not otherwise available.
•  If you want to work with images , maybe you’ll visit a local river, stream, or lake shore and photograph scenes where litter and wildlife are in close proximity, or where signs communicate about expectations for environmental care. A selection of such images may stand as a convincing set of visual evidence and may accompany a simple map identifying locations where you found problems or where additional signage is needed.

The data you work with and the conclusions you can draw are dependent on the research method you select. Each approach provides particular insights into your topic and the world more broadly.

Try This: Brainstorming with Methods (30 minutes)

We’ve illustrated two examples, one focusing on the timing of student writing projects and another focusing on water. Now try this out on your own. Select an interest and work through how each of the methods listed below would generate different data with the potential to draw different kinds of connections.

• Working with sources
• Working with words
• Working with people
• Working with places and things
• Working with images

As you consider an interest in light of each of these research methods, now would also be a good time to revisit the book’s table of contents and then to turn to the chapters themselves to leaf around and begin to see the more specific and nuanced approaches to the methods under each heading.

Research Across the Disciplines

Research conventions , or the expectations about how research is conducted and written about, differ across the disciplines—whether that is theatre, mathematics, criminal justice, anthropology, etc. Some disciplines generally value quantitative data over qualitative data and vice versa. Many disciplines gravitate to certain methods and methodologies and specific patterns of writing up and citing data. Usually these conventions can be rhetorically traced to the values of a particular discipline. For instance, many humanities disciplines (English and World Languages, for instance) favor using MLA style to cite sources, and many social science disciplines (Psychology and Sociology, for instance) generally adhere to APA style. One of the primary differences in these citation styles is that MLA generally privileges author name and page number, which can be traced to the importance of specific wording at the heart of language study. APA privileges author name and year, which can be traced to the ways that social sciences value when something was published.

Citation conventions are one of the most concrete, visible differences that distinguish research across disciplines. But the differences are often much deeper and more abstract. How do you decide which method is appropriate for a particular research project? How do you make data meaningful in a particular context? The way you answer these questions constitutes your research methodology , or your thinking about a research project—and methodology, similar to citation style, usually demonstrates disciplinary values. Whether or not you state your methodology, everyone has a way of thinking about the method they choose and how the data they are using matters. Articulating a methodology simply makes that approach transparent to your audience and clear to yourself. Thus, a research methodology is the approach to a method, or the understanding and thinking that organizes a particular method, as we show in Figure 1.1. Returning again to the etymology of “method” noted earlier (meta- and -hodos), consider the new part of the term, -ology. This addition assigns to method its reason for being selected. Accounting explicitly for the rationale, motives, and appropriateness of a research design, a methodology answers to justifications, underlying values, and established traditions for how knowledge is made and what kinds of knowledge matters in a given discipline.

For example, if you survey 100 people at your university about the timing of their writing projects, and you develop quantitative data as a result of your survey, you present that data as meaningful and suggest that such numbers provide a useful window into understanding student writing. However, you might not agree with this approach. You might think that to really understand student writing, you need to talk to students and ask open-ended questions. Or, you might believe that reported data about writing behaviors is not meaningful because we know that what people say they do and what they actually do are often very different things. You may believe that we need mixed methods to most effectively provide a portrait of student writing on campus, so you might design your study such that you incorporate both survey and interview data. Ultimately the kind of data that methodology values is related to disciplinary values, and as you select a research project, a professional focus, and a profession, you will inherit disciplinary values. For example, researchers in the humanities might especially value qualitative data, and researchers in STEM fields might especially value quantitative data. As you become a more ingrained member of a disciplinary community (for instance when the major or job you take starts to feel familiar) we encourage you to keep questioning the methodology and values you inherit.

In Figure 2, we show how developing more questions along the way in all parts of your research design may give way to more complexity in your project.

Critical conversations about research are both normative, in that they usually bring together many scholars’ thinking about a particular issue, and disruptive, in that new findings can up-end a particular conversation. Much of these changes are attributable to developments in methodology, such as updates in how we value a particular method or how we interpret certain findings. Changes to methodologies often cause significant ruptures in research communities. We are familiar with some of these large ruptures: the earth revolves around the sun instead of the reverse, bleeding a patient does not make her healthier, students learn most effectively through practice rather than listening by rote, etc. It is not always easy to come across findings that cause a rupture; however, as you examine the evolution of critical conversations over time, you might notice that they change slowly as new ruptures slowly become accepted in their associated communities.

Using Research Methods Ethically

The decisions you make in developing an effective research question, matching it to an appropriate research method, and then responsibly analyzing the implications of your findings (research design), are especially important because research is subjective . Subjectivity is often seen as negative and is frequently leveled as a reason to mistrust a decision or judgment, as in, “You’re just being subjective.” But: all research is subjective, all research is communication. Of course, not all scholars and fields believe this, but let us try to convince you, because it is important. This belief is central to conducting ethical research.

There is no pure objectivity when it comes to research. Research is conducted by people, all of whom have different ideas about effective research, but researchers abide by a code of ethics that holds them to standards that help them maintain safety and develop meaningful research. Even quantitative research, even computer algorithms that identify trends—all of the methods associated with developing this data are engineered by people and are, thus, subjective. And this is a good thing!

Instead of striving for objective research (an impossibility), we strive for ethical research. Ethical research takes into account the fact that people perform research and that their research designs are impacted by their own subjectivities : the thoughts, beliefs, and values that make us human. As researchers, it is essential to be reflective on our subjectivities, mitigate subjectivities that might make us conduct research unfairly, and adhere to high ethical standards for research.

move back and forth between various stages of a process, as both those engaging in a research process or a writing process do

awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes

the act of bringing knowledge or skills from one context to another; the goal of a first-year writing course is to transfer the writing skills developed in the class to other writing situations

a determination to act in a certain way; the product of attention directed to an object of knowledge

an approach that examines texts primarily as acts of communication or as performances rather than as static objects; the study of both production and reception of discourse

Invention - the finding out or selection of topics to be treated, or arguments to be used; often referred to as the brainstorming or prewriting stage of the writing process, though invention takes place across the writing process

Arrangement - the action of arranging or disposing in order; often referred to as the organization state of the writing process, though arrangement takes place across the writing process and can be both an aesthetic and an argumentative consideration

Style - the associated genre conventions with which an author chooses to compose; these conventions include tone, level of formality, choice of register, punctuation, and grammar and syntactical concerns

Memory - The perpetuated knowledge or recollection (of something); that which is remembered of a person, object, or event; (good or bad) posthumous reputation; the capacity for retaining, perpetuating, or reviving the thought of things past; the faculty by which things are remembered considered as residing in the awareness or consciousness of a particular individual or group

Delivery - how the compositions we develop reach the audience; in classical Greco-Roman rhetorical tradition, it was primarily concerned with speakers who in real-time stood before reasonably attentive audiences to speak persuasively about matters of civic concern; in modern tradition it is associated with genre, medium, circulation, and ecologies

the finding out or selection of topics to be treated, or arguments to be used; often referred to as the brainstorming or prewriting stage of the writing process, though invention takes place across the writing process

the action of arranging or disposing in order; often referred to as the organization state of the writing process, though arrangement takes place across the writing process and can be both an aesthetic and an argumentative consideration

the associated genre conventions with which an author chooses to compose; these conventions include tone, level of formality, choice of register, punctuation, and grammar and syntactical concerns

the perpetuated knowledge or recollection (of something); that which is remembered of a person, object, or event; (good or bad) posthumous reputation; the capacity for retaining, perpetuating, or reviving the thought of things past; the faculty by which things are remembered considered as residing in the awareness or consciousness of a particular individual or group

how the compositions we develop reach the audience; in classical Greco-Roman rhetorical tradition, it was primarily concerned with speakers who in real-time stood before reasonably attentive audiences to speak persuasively about matters of civic concern; in modern tradition it is associated with genre, medium, circulation, and ecologies

(also known as rhetorical situation) the context or set of circumstances out of which a text arises (author/speaker, audience, purpose, setting, text/speech)

a component of the rhetorical situation; any person or group who is the intended recipient of a message conveyed through text, speech, audio; the person/people the author is trying to influence

the author’s motivations for creating the text

sources that summarize, interpret, critique, analyze, or offer commentary on primary sources; in a secondary source, an author’s subject is not necessarily something that he/she/they directly experienced

the first stage of the writing process that include a combination of outlining, diagramming, storyboarding, and clustering; a way to record thoughts about a topic before trying to draft an organized text

the state at which a writer/author engages in generating ideas, exploring those ideas, and developing what will become the topic, thesis, and, ultimately, essay

information that has not yet been critiqued, interpreted or analyzed by a second (or third, etc) party; information gathered through first-hand or personal experience or study

the overall strategy that chosen for the intergradation of different components of a study in a coherent and logical way

a detailed plan or 'blueprint' for the intended study and approach to design

texts that arise directly from a particular event or time period; any content that comes out of direct involvement with an event or a research study

methods that collect and generate numerical or countable data

methods that collect observable or discursive data, which may include opinions or experiences and which generate non-numerical data

an instrument of inquiry—asking questions for specific information related to the aims of a study (Patton, 2015) as well as an instrument for conversation about a particular topic (i.e., someone's life or certain ideas and experiences)

a process or record of research in which detailed consideration is given to the development of a particular person, group, or situation over a period of time; a particular instance of something used or analyzed in order to illustrate a thesis or principle

the careful study of a text/speech where the context, audience, and purpose for discourse are considered; the process that helps demonstrate the significance of a text by carefully considering the rhetorical situation in which it develops and the ways that it supports its purpose

notice or perceive (something) and register it as being significant

a method of understanding that focuses on visual elements, such as color, line, texture, and scale

broadly refers to tools for collecting data; research methods may be qualitative, methods that collect discursive data that cannot be counted; quantitative, methods that collect numeric or countable data; and mixed, methods that draw on both quantitative and qualitative measures

influenced by or based on personal beliefs or feelings, rather than based on facts

impartial, detached approach

considerations of research design that weigh the potential outcome of the findings alongside the process of ascertaining those findings; ethical research includes (1) Respect for Persons (autonomy), which acknowledges the dignity and freedom of every person; (2) Beneficence, which requires that researchers maximize benefits and minimize harms or risks associated with research; and (3) Justice, which requires the equitable selection and recruitment and fair treatment of research subjects

existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought

Rhetorical Foundations For Research Copyright © 2021 by Jennifer Clary-Lemon; Derek Mueller; and Kate L. Pantelides is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• Chapter Six: Critical / Rhetorical Methods (Part 1)

Researchers use critical/rhetorical methods to ask questions about how a particular symbolic action constructs social reality. The questions posed by rhetorical criticism are as varied as the messages analyzed. Although a research question may not be stated explicitly, the central argument advanced by the research is. Unlike quantitative and qualitative research methods, there are no specific pre-defined step-by-step procedures in critical/rhetorical methods that can be replicated.

Researchers use critical/rhetorical methods when they want to understand and analyze what an act of communication does. Learning methods of rhetorical criticism enables you to critique communicators' use of verbal and nonverbal symbols in a specific context so that you can understand how communication constructs a specific understanding of the world. The more adept you become at analyzing others' messages, the more skilled you become at constructing your own. In the end, the quality of a critical/rhetorical study depends on the quality of the argument the researcher presents.

In Part I of this chapter, we explain of the importance of symbolic action to the critical/rhetorical approach and describe key concepts central to doing critical/rhetorical research. In Part II, we provide specific direction on how to do critical/rhetorical research, charting a path for you regarding how critical/rhetorical work can be accomplished.

• Chapter One: Introduction
• Chapter Two: Understanding the distinctions among research methods
• Chapter Three: Ethical research, writing, and creative work
• Chapter Four: Quantitative Methods (Part 1)
• Chapter Four: Quantitative Methods (Part 2 - Doing Your Study)
• Chapter Four: Quantitative Methods (Part 3 - Making Sense of Your Study)
• Chapter Five: Qualitative Methods (Part 1)
• Chapter Five: Qualitative Data (Part 2)
• Chapter Six: Critical / Rhetorical Methods (Part 2)
• Chapter Seven: Presenting Your Results

Rhetoric is Symbolic Action

Rhetoric  is  the use of symbolic action by human beings to work together to make decisions about matters of common concern and to construct social reality . For communication studies scholars, rhetoric is the means by which people make meaning of, and affect, the world in which they live. Central to this definition is the concept of  symbolic action , which is a little more complex than might first appear. So, we will unpack it, defining  symbolic , then defining  action , and then providing an few example of symbolic action.

By  symbolic , we mean that rhetoric is composed of symbols, including language-based symbols (like words) and visual symbols (like photographs, flags and icons). With this, we do not mean to imply visual and verbal symbols are mutually exclusive. In fact, most symbolic actions include both visual and verbal components. They work interdependently to create meaning.

For example, the power of a speech is never just its words, but also is the body from which it is delivered and the place where it is delivered. When Mary Fisher (artist and daughter of a major Republican fundraiser) delivered a  speech  on AIDS at the 1992 Republican National Convention, it was powerful because she proclaimed from her Republican, white, attractive, non-drug using, heterosexual, economically privileged, married when infected, HIV+ body: "You are at risk" (par. 18). If the same words had been spoken by a different body, they would not have been as powerful.

Often people think of their communication as something that just happens, as if it is separate from purposeful actions, such as driving a car recklessly or opening a door for another person. But when one habitually says "hi," she/he is exhibiting an action of politeness, or when one says "you are forgiven," the act of forgiveness has begun. All communication, intentional or not, is an action. People do something when they communicate.

The emphasis on rhetoric as symbolic  action  is heavily influenced by rhetorician Kenneth Burke. Burke profoundly influenced the disciplines of rhetoric and communication studies by arguing that words are actions and that the best way to understand human relations and motives is through an analysis of symbolic action (Burke, "Dramatism" 447). Understanding rhetoric as symbolic action is the first step in recognizing the way in which the human world is socially constructed.

A core assumption of rhetorical criticism is that symbolic action is more than a means to transmit information, but actually constructs social reality, or people's understanding of the world. When we say "rhetoric is symbolic action," we mean that rhetoric is the use of symbols to act in and on the world.

Rhetoric is Symbolic Action: Example

Linguist George  Lakoff  explores the how use of the phrase "tax relief," a phrase that has become commonly used in political debates since the early 2000s, implies a very particular understanding of what taxes are and how they function. The phrase "tax relief" is a symbolic action that structures the way people understand taxes. The phrase "tax relief" has embedded within it a metaphor – it uses the idea of burden to explain what taxes are. According to Lakoff,  relief  implies that one is carrying some burden; in this case taxes are a burden from which one needs to be relieved. This metaphor did not arise spontaneously, but was chosen by human beings to frame how people understand taxes. If you accept that taxes are best understood as a burden, then you also begin to think that the person who relieves another of a burden is a "hero," while anyone who would impose taxes is a "villain."

Leakoff describes how fiscal conservatives have worked for decades and spent billions of dollars funding think tanks to develop language to represent their ideas, and "tax relief" is an example of that language. Lakoff explains, "It has taken them awhile to establish the metaphors of taxation as a burden, an affliction and unfair punishment – all of which require "relief'" ("Framing" par. 7).

Taxes could be thought of differently, not as a "burden," but as a "civic duty" for living in the United States and reaping the benefits of its extensive road, water, electricity, and Internet infrastructures. In contrast to taxes as a burden, here is how Lakoff describes them (a description that contains its own political perspective as well):

As [early 1900s Supreme Court Justice] Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said, ["]taxes are the price of civilization.["] They are what you pay to live in America -- your dues -- to have democracy, opportunity and access to all the infrastructure that previous taxpayers have built up and made available to you: highways, the Internet, weather reports, parks, the stock market, scientific research, Social Security, rural electrification, communications satellites, and on and on. (Lakoff, "Framing" par. 8)

Looking at taxes as "dues" frames the way people think about taxes differently than thinking about taxes as a burden (Lakoff,  Moral  189-192), illustrating the power of words chosen to describe a concept that could be viewed as positive or negative. The predominant way of describing something like taxes, when used over and over again in a society, helps build the "reality" for people about that concept – showing the power of rhetoric to create people's belief systems.

People invest significant time and money in finding the right words to express their positions. Conservative pollster and republican strategist Frank I. Luntz has made a profession of it, with his group  The Word Doctors  that advertises: "Got words? We make them better." His  webpage  identifies a series of phrases he has researched in order to find the words that best identify conservative ideas, including: "estate tax" vs. "death tax," "drilling for oil" vs. "exploring for energy," "global warming" vs. "climate change," "school choice" vs. "parental choice." In each case the second phrasing shifts people's attention to see the world from a perspective more consistent with conservative ideals.

Assessing Symbolic Action

Given rhetoric is an action, researchers can assess it from a variety of perspectives: the effects of the action, the aesthetics of the action, and the ethics of the action.  Effects  refers to the identifiable influence a rhetorical act may have had upon an audience.  Aesthetics  refers to the artistic techniques used in a rhetorical action – the artistry of the act.  Ethics  refers to the morality of both the techniques used and the ends sought by the symbolic action.

Simply identifying a speech or advertisement as effective is only part of the critical process (and usually determining a cause-effect relationship is best done through controlled quantitative methods). In fact, determining an effect happened (or not) is more likely the starting point of criticism, not the end goal. You first might find a text that seemed to have a strong effect (or none at all). Then, you ask the more interesting question for rhetoric: What was it about the symbolic action that enabled or induced the effect? One can easily determine that Mary Fisher's speech had an effect on her audience. The Republican Convention hall was filled with tear-stained faces who had been struck silent by  Fisher's speech  (usually, during speeches by people other than the candidates, the floor of the convention is quite noisy as people talk to each other and rarely listen to the speakers). People stopped, and listened, to Fisher. Why?

Fisher's speech was aesthetically elegant and powerful. In her speech, Fisher skillfully wove together powerful metaphors, comparing AIDS to the invading armies of Hitler, declaring: "HIV marches resolutely toward AIDS in more than a million American homes, littering its pathway with the bodies of the young" (par. 13). She used herself as proof of her argument that all are at risk, that the disease "does not care whether you are Democrat or Republican; it does not ask whether you are black or white, male or female, gay or straight, young or old" (par. 3). She also personalized the impact of AIDS. Although  she looked in perfect health , she made real what AIDS meant to her as she closed her speech by making clear she would die, and then each of her sons would "take the measure of his mother" and "sort through his memories" (par. 16). These linguistic and nonverbal choices functioned to create a stronger empathic response from multiple audiences. Fisher's speech also was ethical in its means and goals. She did not lie, she did not treat human beings as a means to an end, she used inclusive language, and she sought to invoke a humane response in her audience to treat all people as members of the human family.

Given rhetoric is an action, this means it is an action for which people can be held accountable. Although a person may not intend to do something with a rhetorical action, she or he can be held accountable for its effects, and should consider the effects of their actions whenever they communicate. In other words, all people need to be more self- reflexive about their rhetorical action in order to be ethical communicators. Thus, rhetorical criticism explores not only if or why a text was effective, but also whether it is ethical.

Examining the concept of  ethics  is particularly central in critical/rhetorical analyses. Native Canadian author Jeanette Armstrong outlines a powerful language ethic, making clear each person is responsible for the words she or he uses:

Thus, whenever one talks about rhetorical or symbolic action, one necessarily is also talking about ethics. Communication ethics thus involves not just your intent when using words as a tool, but also the action involved in using words to construct social reality whether consciously intended or not.

The point of learning methods of rhetorical criticism is to be able to critique the use of symbolic action by communicators so that you can understand how a particular symbolic action constructs a particular understanding of the world by framing a concept in one way rather than another.

Components of Rhetoric

For any rhetorical action, you will need to analyze the central components of the action: the text, the audience, and the rhetor (the originator of the message). These three core components have structured the analysis of rhetoric since Aristotle, who systematized the study of rhetoric in his 4th century BCE treatise,  On Rhetoric . As we discuss these components, we will use the example of President Barack Obama's speech at Cairo University on June 4, 2009, to illustrate each component.

The concept of  text  is central to critical/rhetorical study. Text is the focus of one's study, the artifact the researcher examines. In Communication Studies,  text  not only refers to something composed of words, but also of images and sound. Examples of texts/artifacts include: speeches, advertisements, photos, monuments, films, songs, bodies, documentaries, and newspaper articles. Although the historical focus of rhetorical criticism was speeches, in a multi-mediated age, rhetoric happens in a variety of forms, both visual and verbal. People now often hear/see fragments of texts rather than complete texts.

Although you might at first think identifying the artifact for study is easy, it can be more complicated. Is the text only the speech in its entirety, as transcribed, or is the text something a little different? The reality is presidential speeches are rarely listened to in their entirety but instead appear as sound bites on television news. When President Barack Obama spoke at Cairo University, his  speech  was over 6000 words long. However, when the NBC nightly news aired a story about the speech, it replayed less than 300 words ("Highlights"), which is considerably more than average. In a quantitative analysis of political campaign coverage, communication researchers Erik P. Bucy and Maria Elizabeth Grabe found that from 1992 to 2004, the average length of a presidential campaign sound bite on network newscasts went down from 8.52 seconds to 7.73 seconds (664). Interestingly, as the length of time you could hear a candidate speaking declined, the amount of time you could see a candidate's image increased from 22.99 seconds to 25.83 seconds, demonstrating the need to remember that symbolic action involves words  and  images. So, your text could be just the speech transcript, or it could be the fragments aired on the nightly news, or it could be a videotape of the speech, or a videotape of the news segments in which President Obama was shown speaking. Once you have the text identified, you should not stop there. The text is not just the words and images, but also the deeper social meanings attached to them.

In order to analyze this speech, you could pick a variety of texts or artifacts: the words of the speech itself, the interplay between the image of Obama as president and the words of the speech, the speech sound bites as played on the evening news, the speech parts reprinted in print outlets, or the media coverage of the speech. Depending on the text/artifact chosen, different constructions of reality may be presented. For example, the way MSNBC covered the speech is probably different from how Fox News covered the speech.

When studying a text, one looks not only at the surface meaning of the text, but also the deeper, culturally influenced meaning. One way to explain how a text may mean different things to different people can be found in the study of what U.S. philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce called  semiotics . Peirce rejects the idea that each symbol refers or corresponds to only one thing in the world. Instead, he identified three aspects to symbols or "signs": the symbol/sign itself, the referent (what the sign refers to), and the connotative meaning of the symbol/sign (a person's individual meaning for the symbol/sign).

Semiotics enables people to distinguish between a word's denotative and connotative meanings.  Denotation  refers to the literal, commonsense or semantic meaning of a sign; it is ostensibly value-free and objective. For example,  estate tax  and  death tax  have the same denotative meaning; they refer to the exact same part of the tax code.

Connotation  refers to the emotional or cultural meanings attached to a term. Connotations often are usage-specific and emerge when the sign's denotative meaning is not sufficient to enable complete communication of a concept. So, even though the thing referenced by  estate tax  and  death tax  is identical, the change in the symbol/sign used influences your thoughts about what is being referenced.  Estate tax  likely induces a neutral or positive valuation, while  death tax  induces a negative valuation. Thus, while words' (signs') denotations may be easily decoded, their connotations require a more complex form of decoding.

Although people often think of audience as composed of those who hear a speech (or see a movie, or listen to a song), in actuality, multiple audiences may exist, and not all of them may be present for the delivery of a speech.  Audience  can mean: any person who hears, reads or sees a symbolic action; the group targeted by a message, even if it is not present; or the group capable of acting in response to the message. Additionally, for any given symbolic action, multiple audiences may exist.

Commentators noted President Obama addressed multiple audiences in his attempt to respond to the problems that arose in U.S.-Muslim relations in the wake of 9/11; not all of those audiences were present at the speech. NBC's chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd explained during the NBC  Nightly News : "The president used this speech to talk to three or four different audiences, including explaining Islam to Americans, explaining America to Muslims, and trying to jumpstart a conversation between Israelis and the Arab world" ("Highlights"). The speech was not simply a single message to a homogenous audience, but was a complex set of messages directed to heterogeneous audiences. Americans, Muslims, Israelis and Arabs operate from diverse cultural orientations, participate in distinct ideologies, and possess a range of different values, beliefs and attitudes. To speak effectively to all these audiences, President Obama had to consider all of this, which is why he reportedly began working on the speech even before he was elected to office ("Highlights").

By rhetor, we mean the person, institution, group, or entity that originated the text. In the above example, President Obama is the rhetor (he delivered the speech). However, in other cases, multiple rhetors or an institution may the originator of the text. For example, during a medical crisis, hospitals, the Centers for Disease Control, or even the state government may produce messages.

Multiple rhetors (or authors) may exist for a single text. For example, is a movie director the author of a movie? Or is the screenplay writer the author? Or the producer? And, especially if the movie is one in which actors are encouraged to improvise, who is the author then? The focus of rhetorical criticism, then, is not finding out the authors' (whoever they may be) intent (whatever it may be), but is instead examining and trying to understand the rhetorical (verbal and nonverbal) action or interplay among contexts and audiences, as will be explained next. One uses the rhetorical/critical approach to ask questions regarding how a text functions to construct social meaning, to persuade, and to create a connection between the rhetor and the audience. The ability to reveal the practical and theoretical functions of a text is a distinct characteristic of this method.

In the case of President Obama's speech, you could treat him as the rhetor, or you could also consider the fact that presidents use staffs of speechwriters (Ritter and Medhurst). If you choose to study the news fragments, then the news producers and anchors also become part of consideration of the rhetor.

So, how might you decide which method to use to study Obama's 2009 speech to Cairo University. If you wanted to know what the diverse audiences (from the United States, or Muslims in the Middle East, or both) thought about the speech, then that question would lead you to use quantitative methods (like surveys) or qualitative methods (like interviews). But, if you had a question about why the speech was praised so widely, or how through the speech the President sought to reposition the United States in the post 9/11 world, or how Obama as a president of African-American descent who had spent time in a Muslim country could speak to multiple audiences, or how media coverage of the speech framed it, then a rhetorical criticism examining the verbal and nonverbal symbolic actions is your method of choice.

Key Concepts: A Heuristic Vocabulary

How does one then study all the ways a message could influence perceptions of reality? Instead of the rigid methods prescribed for quantitative research, rhetorical criticism offers what communication scholars William L. Nothstine, Carole Blair, and Gary A. Copeland refer to as "conceptual heuristics or vocabularies" (40). A heuristic enables you to learn and discover through the process of trial and error. Thus, a heuristic vocabulary is a collection of terms you can use to discover things about your artifact. What follows is a description of heuristic vocabulary terms that can be helpful in a rhetorical criticism.

Identification

Identification  occurs when people are unified on the basis of common interests or characteristics. Identification does not automatically occur, but instead is created by a rhetor between her or himself and the audience. Thus, questions asked by rhetorical criticism often focus on how symbolic actions create a sense of identification between the rhetor and audience. Although attention to persuasion long dominated studies of rhetoric, identification now functions as rhetoric's key term. With identification, the focus is less on how one person can intend to create symbolic action to persuade other people, and more on how symbolic actions "spontaneously, intuitively, and often unconsciously act upon" people to create a sense of collective identity between them (Burke,  Development  27-8). Identification does not automatically exist, but is created through symbolic action.

For example, in the speech by Mary Fisher described earlier, she seeks to create identification on multiple levels. On one level, she creates identification between herself and others with HIV/AIDS. She declares:

On another level, she creates identification between herself and the delegates at the convention when she says to them: "My call to you, my Party, is to take a public stand . . ." (par. 7). She identifies herself as a member of the Republican Party. Here is one of the deft moves in her speech, as she creates identification between Republican delegates and those with HIV/AIDS. Think of it this way: If black infant/lonely gay man = Mary Fisher = Republican Party member, then black infant/lonely gay man = Republican Party member. Fisher sought to make HIV/AIDS a human issue, not a gay man's issue as was commonly assumed in the U.S. at the time.

Another way of analyzing Fisher's speech is to examine it from a dramatistic perspective. Burke argues that within every rhetorical act resides a drama, a story – thus, his commonly cited approach is called "dramatism." When doing a dramatistic analysis, one would apply Burke's pentad of dramatistic terms to the text.

According to Burke, each person's symbolic action identifies, and constructs within it, relationships between a  pentad  of terms: the agent of action, the act, the agency, the purpose, and the scene (Burke,  Grammar  xv). According to Burke:

• agent  refers to the "person or kind of person who performed the act
• act  refers to "what took place, in thought or deed"
• agency  refers to the means by which the act was accomplished
• purpose  refers to the justification for the act
• scene  refers to "the background of the act, the situation in which it occurred"

(Burke,  Grammar xv )

Whenever a human being describes an event or situation, all these elements are present, offering a drama for consideration. Which aspects of the drama are emphasized in the telling of the story affect the audience's interpretation of the narrative told. In the case of Mary Fisher's speech, she filled out the pentad in the following way:

• agent: HIV and AIDS – "this killer stalking your children" and "It is a present danger."
• act: "stalking," "marches"
• agency: a militaristic attack – "HIV marches resolutely toward AIDS in more than a million American homes, littering its pathway with the bodies of the young" enabled by people's belief they are safe – "If you believe you are safe, you are at risk" and "We have killed each other with our ignorance, our prejudice, and our silence."
• purpose: AIDS purpose is to destroy indiscriminately -- "the AIDS virus is not a political creature"
• scene: everywhere in the United States and world – "There is no family or community, no race or religion, no place left in America that is safe" and "The reality of AIDS is brutally clear. Two hundred thousand Americans are dead or dying. A million more are infected. Worldwide, forty million, sixty million, or a hundred million infections will be counted in the coming few years."

Note: Fisher is  not  the agent, the scene is  not  the convention hall, the act is  not  the speech. Instead, pentadic criticism has you look at how rhetors describe why they think is the agent, how rhetors describe the scene, etc.

Although many were deeply moved by Fisher's speech, not everyone agreed with Fisher's description of AIDS and the government's responsibility to combat it as it would an invading force. A Minnesotan delegate, Ruth Hatton, rejected Fisher's basic premise that ignorance was a primary cause of the spread of AIDS, saying "It's promiscuity" (qtd. in DeFrancisco and Jensen 269). She completed the pentad in a way distinct from Fisher's. As Burke explains, "Men [and women] may violently disagree about the purposes behind a given act, or about the character of the person who did it, or how he [or she] did it, or in what kind of situation he [or she] acted; or they may even insist upon totally different words to name the act itself" (Burke,  Grammar  xv.). Thus, critical/rhetorical questions can focus on the stories told within a symbolic action, the way in which the elements of the story are characterized, and the multiple attributions and interpretations rendered.

Another example illustrates the way different people can describe the exact same event in radically different ways, in fact naming the event in such a way that it becomes two different things. The event happened in 1876 in southern Montana along the Little Bighorn River. Is it "The Custer Massacre," "Custer's Last Stand," or "The Battle of Little Bighorn"? Two different dramatic narratives give very different accounts of the event. A news story appearing in the Bismark (ND)  Tribune  days after the event offered the "First account of the Custer Massacre." An eyewitness account by the Lakota Chief Red Horse described "The Battle of Little Bighorn."

With headlines declaring "MASSACRE," the  Tribune  story called "Gen. Custer and 261 men the victims" and declared "Squaws Mutilate and Rob the Dead." This constructed a very particular perspective or drama. In the news story, Custer was centered as the agent of action: "Custer with his usual vigor pushed on . . . and attacked the village" (1). In the act of their attack, Custer and his men used the agency of "desperate hand to hand combat" in order to fight back the "red devils." Custer and his men were portrayed as "gallant defenders" of the hill; "of those who went into battle with Custer none are living." The scene was a battlefield, in which soldiers were "massacred" by a mindless horde.

In contrast to the desperate defensive fighting of the soldiers, the story portrays Indians as mindless enemies. In other words, the Indians' purpose was  not  to defend their village, but was to kill for killing's sake. The story explains: "The Sioux dashed up beside the soldiers, in some instances knocking them from their horses and killing them at their pleasure." Lt. McIntosh "was pulled from his horse, tortured and finally murdered at the pleasure of the red devils." The Indians were not described as human, but instead were labeled "screeching fiends." The Indians did not mount a concerted defense of their village, but "literally swarmed the hillsides and on the plains." Swarming is something that insects, not humans, do. The end result of this description is that Custer and his men were portrayed as heroes who, in service to their country, were massacred by red devils. The first real difference in the two stories comes in how the event was labeled. Chief Red Horse refers to a battle, not a massacre. This is an important distinction. Technically, a massacre occurs when a group of people is indiscriminately killed by an organized force.

Massacres do not happen when competing military forces meet. Those are battles. In addition, in Chief Red Horse's account, the scene is foregrounded differently. Although a battle took place, it was not the primary scene. Instead, the scene was a peaceful village composed of many native nations and where women were digging wild turnips. Into this scene, "soldiers were charging into the camp" and women and children had to "mount horses and go, meaning to get out of the way" (par. 3).

In his account, Chief Red Horse distinguishes between the soldiers and their levels of bravery. He does not refer to them as "white devils," but instead provides individual accounts of their actions. One officer was described as "the bravest man they had ever fought" (par. 4) while others were described as "foolish" when they asked to be taken prisoners (par. 9). In this drama, the invasion of a village led to a defensive battle in which the superior force of Indian warriors bested US soldiers.

As these quick summaries demonstrate, the very same event can be presented in very different ways. From the newspaper's perspective, Custer bravely led soldiers into a battle where they were overwhelmed by a mindless force of red devils who massacred the soldiers for no purpose other than to kill. From Chief Red Cloud's perspective, Indian warriors defended their village from an attack by soldiers. Indian warriors killed soldiers for the purpose of defending their village.

Thus, questions asked by rhetorical criticism often focus on how symbolic actions name the elements of the dramas they describe in distinctive ways. This approach to symbolic action also influences the aesthetic study of film. In their book Film Art, film scholars David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson note how one productive way to study film is through an analysis of "narrative form" (74). They define narrative as  "a chain of events in cause-effect relationship occurring through time and space"  (75). How you understand that story "depends on [y]our understanding of the pattern of change and stability, cause and effect, time and space" (75). To draw a connection to Burke, your ability to understand the narrative depends on your unique interpretation, and your ability to see relationships between agent and act, act and scene, purpose and agency, etc., and also to see the relationships between the various acts.

Public Vocabulary Repertoire

The power of rhetoric extends beyond its impact on an immediate audience. It constructs and maintains a public vocabulary that structures people's everyday lives. In other words, rhetoric carries not just the short-term effects of a single message, but also long-term effects as it maintains and/or alters the way people talk about the world. Communication scholar Celeste Condit argues that the "process of convincing" involves more than just acceptance of a particular policy or idea; it also requires "that a given vocabulary (or set of understandings) be integrated into the  public repertoire " (6). The public repertoire refers to a collection of words, a vocabulary, with which to discuss public issues.

Rhetorical critics John L. Lucaites and Celeste M. Condit describe this  public vocabulary  as the "culturally established and sanctioned" terms that compose people's taken-for-granted understanding of the world. However, this vocabulary is not just a neutral naming of things and ideas, it is a means through which people come to understand themselves as individuals, as members of communities, and as members of publics and cultures. Philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer clarifies how "language is not only an object in our hands, it is the reservoir of tradition and the medium in and through which we exist and perceive our world" (29). Ideology is embedded in language.

A public vocabulary is how an ideology is enacted on a day-to-day basis in human interaction. Daily, people in a community call upon this vocabulary to justify their actions. But, when they want to bring about social change, language is also a tool to affect the way a society values an issue. However, when conditions call for social change, "the public vocabulary needs to be managed and reconstituted in ways that require" rhetorical skill (Lucaites and Condit 8). Rhetors can try to "rearrange and revivify" the existing vocabulary or they can introduce new vocabulary (Lucaites and Condit 8). Metaphors, narratives and characterizations, and ideographs are key elements of the public vocabulary that frame perception and can be used to change perceptions.

Metaphor . A  metaphor  is a figure of speech in which two dissimilar things are presented as similar. This comparison of unlike things offers a new perspective. In the introduction to this chapter, the metaphor of  burden  is meant to provide a perspective on taxes, while  dues  provides a different perspective. Burke believes metaphor provides "perspective," because it is "a device for seeing something  in terms  of something else. It brings out the thisness of a that, or the thatness of a this. . . . metaphor tells us something about one character as considered from the point of view of another character" ( A Grammar  503-4). Because of their ability to provide perspective, metaphors play a central role in the public vocabulary.

People make decisions about what to do not only on the basis of arguments supported by empirical data, but also on the basis of the metaphors used in the arguments. Finnish political scientist Riikka Kuusisto explains "Divergent interpretations are the rule in human interaction and, in order to gain wider approval, each version of a case has to be supported by careful argumentation in which convincing metaphors are integral" (52).

Because public arguments occur in language that has embedded within it judgments, a close analysis of rhetoric would include a consideration of the metaphors used. Thus, a rhetorical criticism could focus on the role of metaphor in order to really unpack the perspective on reality contained within a message.

In her rhetorical criticism of Western leaders' rhetoric on the war, Kuusisto identifies the ways former U.S. President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and French President Jacques Chirac created particular perspectives on the NATO military intervention in Kosovo through their use of the metaphors of heroic fairy tale, athletic game, and business deal. These metaphors played a role in the arguments over the conflict as they structured people's perspective on the conflict: "they made participation in the conflict chivalrous and reassuring (heroic tales), exciting and fun (games), and profitable and rational (trading)" (Kuusisto 62). The perspective created by the metaphors "brought the complicated and destructive conflict into the sphere of the well-known and harmless" (62). In the process, the metaphors downplayed "the misery, pain, and turbulence often associated with deadly quarrels" (62). The metaphors enabled people living outside of the conflict zone, and who had no direct experience of the horrors of war, to understand the war; but the metaphors provided a very particular understanding, one that "tied the progression of the events to a logic of responding and accepting the challenge, a logic that could not easily be reversed into negotiating or giving the enemy a second chance" (62).

Characterizations and Narratives: Characterizations  are the labels and descriptions attached to the parts of a story. Those parts include: act, agency, agent, scene and purpose – the elements of drama Burke identifies, as discussed previously. These labels "integrate cultural connotations and denotations while ascribing a typical and pervasive nature to the entity described" (Lucaites and Condit 7). In other words, the language used in the telling of story is never neutral or purely denotation, but also contains within it judgments about the people in the story, their actions and motives, the means used to achieve their purposes, and even the scene in which the acts occurred. The connotations attached to the characterizations will direct your judgment of the people and their actions. The earlier example of the competing stories of the Battle of Little Bighorn provide one example. A speech event for U.S. Senator John Kerry and the "Don't tase me, bro!"  video  that went viral on YouTube in September of 2007 provides another.

During an address by U.S. Senator John Kerry at a Constitution Day Forum at the University of Florida, Andrew Meyer, a senior telecommunication major, asked Kerry why he had conceded the 2004 presidential election and whether he was a member of Yale secret society Skull and Bones. Meyer's questions exceeded the time allowed, and university police officers attempted to escort Meyer out of the lecture hall. Meyer declared he had done nothing wrong and asserted his right to stay in front of the microphone, which was turned off after which the officers forcibly escorted him outside. Meyer resisted, and the officers used a taser. In response, Meyer screamed: "Don't tase me, bro!"

If you critically analyze the media coverage of this event, you would likely discover that the initial stories seriously questioned what appeared to be an excessive use of force against a college student. Media stories characterized the tasing (the act) as an unwarranted use of force and the officers (the agents) as acting wrongly. However, as more details about Meyer emerged, they created a characterization of him. He became the agent whose purpose was attention seeking. One day after the incident,  CNN  reported Meyer had his friend videotape him with his own camera ("Cops on Leave"). The  International Herald Tribune  and ABC's  Good Morning America  both noted Meyer was known for "practical jokes" ("Florida Student" and "Taser Attack"). The characterization of Meyer as a practical joker also characterized his act not as the exercise of free speech, but as just a joke. Thus, the officers were not interfering with a constitutional right, but with the immature acts of an attention-seeking college student.

Narratives , or stories, are everywhere. Leading moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, in  After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory , describes the human being as "a story-telling animal" (216). Thus, it should be unsurprising that narratives form part of the public vocabulary. Communication scholar Walter Fisher identifies the way narratives offer good reasons in public deliberation and help people make sense of the world. Thus, rhetorical criticisms can focus on the narratives, and the way agent, act, agency, purpose and scene are characterized in those narratives.

For example, if you were interested in how meaning was created about the May 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, and the ensuing oil spill caused by the ongoing leak, you could analyze a variety of texts: statements by BP officials, statements by President Obama and administration officials, and/or media coverage of the incident. Debates over fault and responsibility ultimately are debates over who is the agent: who is the person or group responsible for what happened, and fixing it. Also, the degree of responsibility is affected by characterizations of purpose. Was BP's purpose to discover oil in domestic waters in order to lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and, thus, the accident was just that – an accidental byproduct of a good act? Or, was BP's purpose to make money and did they ignore safety requirements and take shortcuts – thus this was no accident but an act of negligence?

Ideograph . The rhetorical critic's goal is to develop a better sense of the ideology in the symbolic action. What are the core assumptions of the rhetor, and what assumptions does the rhetor want the audience to make as well? Communication scholar Michael Calvin McGee recognized the intimate connection between language and ideology. He developed the term  ideograph  to describe

Ideographs are examples of single words, or short phrases, that have embedded within them the ideology of a group, nation, or culture.

For example, if you log onto the Tea Party Patriots  website , you are immediately faced with a pop-up window asking you to "Join the fight for liberty."  Liberty  is being used as an ideograph here. Its meaning is more than its denotation of being free from constraints or being able to do something. If you went around your classroom, and asked each person to define  liberty , you likely would hear as many definitions as there were people in your class. The interesting question is: what is  liberty ? So, you could analyze the main documents of the Tea Party Patriots movement to try and track down what they mean when they say  liberty . Their " Mission Statement and Core Values " mentions liberty in the following passages:

• Fiscal Responsibility: . . . A constitutionally limited government, designed to protect the blessings of liberty, must be fiscally responsible or it must subject its citizenry to high levels of taxation that unjustly restrict the liberty our Constitution was designed to protect. . . Such runaway deficit spending as we now see in Washington D.C. compels us to take action as the increasing national debt is a grave threat to our national sovereignty and the personal and economic liberty of future generations.
• Constitutionally Limited Government: . . . As the government is of the people, by the people and for the people, in all other matters we support the personal liberty of the individual, within the rule of law.
• Free Markets: A free market is the economic consequence of personal liberty. The founders believed that personal and economic freedom were indivisible, as do we. Our current government's interference distorts the free market and inhibits the pursuit of individual and economic liberty. (Tea Party)

In these passages, liberty is something bestowed by a higher power in the form of a "blessing." The greatest threat to liberty is taxation, and economic liberty is the type most often mentioned. Liberty is possessed by the individual, as a form of "personal liberty." Thus, the best way to protect liberty is to protect the economic assets of an individual.

For the Tea Party Patriots, liberty functions as a powerful ideograph.  Liberty  is an abstraction that represents the group's "collective commitment to a particular but equivocal and ill-defined normative goal" (McGee 15). The reality of the goal being ill- defined was made clear when some Floridians and Texans aligned with the Tea Party in protests against supposed cuts in government spending on NASA's space shuttle program because it might adversely impact jobs in their state (Davidson, "Tea Party"). Typically, government spending is viewed as an infringement on liberty (because it relies on taxing the individual). Yet, in this case, members of the Tea Party protested cuts in government spending, making clear how liberty can be ill-defined.

The Tea Party's understanding of liberty is a very particular one. A rhetorical critic focusing on ideographs might say the Tea Party's focus on economic rights as freedom from taxation is quite narrow, especially when one compares it to the rights articulated in the  United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights , Article 3 of which recognizes "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person" (United Nations).

As this example should make clear, it is easy to invoke agreement and identification on the basis of ideographs. All are likely to say: "Yes, I support liberty." Yet, when you ask a person what that means, she or he may come up with quite different answers.

Understanding rhetoric rests on many postmodern assumptions. To understand postmodernism, is might help to understand what it is post to. Modernism (emerging in the Age of Enlightenment in 18th century Europe and America) emphasizes the certainty of the scientific and technological progress of humanity and the modern emphasis on scientific objectivity, often demonstrated by the systematization and categorization of knowledge. In contrast, postmodernism questions the fixedness of categories, recognizes texts have multiple interpretations, argues authors are not sole determinants of texts' meanings, and recognizes many contemporary texts are fragments. Because postmodernism is suspicious of the possibility of objective truth or global narratives, it tends to emphasize the role of language and symbols in the creation of meaning. For postmodernists, truths do not exist outside of the human ability to symbolize those supposed truths.

Postmodern rhetorical criticism does not seek to find  the  meaning of a text, but rather to unpack the multiple meanings in a text. Carole Blair, Marsha S. Jeppeson, and Enrico Pucci's rhetorical study of the  Vietnam Veterans Memorial  illustrates the utility of such an approach. After the Vietnam War, the public was deeply divided over its meaning, so divided it took years before a monument to the fallen soldiers was commissioned. Even after Maya Lin's wall was selected from among 1,421 proposals in 1981, controversy continued. Not until an agreement was reached to add a flagpole and  Frederick Hart's Three Serviceman statue  did construction proceed, with the wall being unveiled in 1982 and the statue in 1984. Blair, Jeppeson and Pucci point out the tensions over the monument "designates the domestic conflict over the war itself" (277). Lin's wall questions whether the war was an event worthy of admiration, while Hart's statue resoundingly affirms it was. The complex meanings of the war and the monuments induce a range of reaction in visitors. Some who visit the memorial scream in anguish, while others cry, and others form friendships with strangers.

What accounts for these different responses, these different meanings in the text? Blair et al. argue the Memorial is "a prototype of postmodern memorializing" (264). Because it was born of debate over the meaning of the Vietnam War, and Hart's statue was added as an answer to Lin's wall, the monument carries multiple meanings. Thus, the rhetorical critic's "goal is not to locate  the  message but the multiple, frequently conflicting messages. To attempt a unified, centered reading, thus, is to miss the point" (269).

The thing that is so interesting about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is not that it has one clear meaning, but that it has so many conflicting meanings. In this way, the monument with its multiple meanings is a more complete representation of public views toward this conflicted historic period in U.S. history.

Rhetorical scholar Barry Brummet summarizes the implications of postmodernism for rhetorical criticism methods and the questions scholars ask. Postmodern rhetorical scholars operate from the assumption that truth is  intersubjective : human beings construct social reality through their symbolic actions. Meaning is not totally subjective; otherwise communication would be impossible. Nor is it totally objective and fixed by some external reality. From where does meaning come? Brummet says "people get meanings from other people through communication" (29). Meaning is not only taken from a person's experiences, but meaning is also taken from a person's communication about it with others. Brummet acknowledges the fact that there is the constraint of sensory data, using the example that one cannot simply imagine a tree and have it appear. However, he says, "experience is sensation plus  meaning . Sensation alone is  meaningless " (28). Thus, it would be senseless to ask whether a rhetor speaks  the  truth. Instead, critics should explore what truth is assumed and advanced by a rhetorical text.

Ideology & Hegemony

A question that consumes much of rhetorical scholars' interests is how some interpretations of truth become predominant in a culture and other interpretations do not, and what impact this can have on society. In the case of the oppositional titles describing the historic battle between General Custer's military and Chief Red Horse's Sioux braves, from the predominant White perspective, it has been portrayed as "the Custer Massacre," versus the less known, native people's title, "The Battle of Little Bighorn."

Rhetorical action occurs in a world whose meanings operate within ideologies. In some cases, an ideology becomes the dominant one and maintains its power through hegemony.

Ideology . In  Making Sense of Political Ideology , communication scholars Bernard L. Brock, Mark E. Huglen, James F. Klumpp, and Sharon Howell define ideology as "typical ways of thinking about the world [that] help shape human action" (39). Ideology shapes human action because it normalizes "day-to-day social, political, economic, and cultural structures" by making them appear natural and inevitable (Brock et al. 39). In short, ideology is the belief system that makes sense of a society.

Kenneth Burke offers a metaphorical description of how words operate together to constitute an ideology, and how that ideology induces people to act in certain ways: "An "ideology' is like a spirit taking up its abode in a body: it makes that body hop around in certain ways; and that same body would have hopped around in different ways had a different ideology [or set of terms] happened to inhabit it" ( Language 6 ). An ideology guides the way one evaluates (attaches meaning and valuations to) the world. Ideology consists of the shared beliefs, attitudes, and values of an audience.

Hegemony/Polysemy . Ideologies become resistant to change when they become hegemonic.  Hegemony  occurs when the predominant ideology uses non-coercive legal and political power to induce the dominated to consent to social and political control (Gramsci). Philosopher Rosemary Hennessy explains that hegemony is not a form of power that controls through overt violence, but rather subtly controls by determining what makes sense, or what could be called the "status quo": "Hegemony is the process whereby the interests of a ruling group come to dominate by establishing the common sense, that is, those values, beliefs, and knowledges that go without saying" (145-6). People participate in the status quo culture because of the sense of order it provides, even though the predominant cultural ideology may control (or strongly influence) their values, beliefs, and attitudes, many times without them even realizing it.

Although many forms of power exist, such as economic power, analyses of hegemony focus on the power of symbols. Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci argues that social control is primarily accomplished through the control of ideas. Economic structures (or control over the means of production) do not determine hegemony, but cultural and rhetorical structures establish it. People are encouraged to accept an idea as common sense, even if it conflicts with their own experiences. Even though Native Americans may question the way predominant U.S. history portrayed "Custer's last stand" and the many other battles with the White foreigners, history has been controlled by white scholars in the U.S. and so that perspective have long framed people's understanding of the westward expansion as exploration and discovery, rather than as invasion and colonization.

Scholarly debate proceeds over how much ability audience members have to resist hegemonic messages. Some scholars argue people are merely a sponge while others see audience members as free-thinking members of the society who can interpret messages in distinct ways while others argue audience members have varying abilities to read messages critically. Media studies is one area where substantial scholarly debate on this issue occurs. The debate revolves around whether mediated messages exert hegemonic control over audiences, or whether mediated messages are open to a range of audience interpretations and uses. Thus, critical/rhetorical methods are useful for studying media influences.

Hegemony in Mass Media . Those who identify media as highly hegemonic see the audience as passively receptive, and believe media have extensive power to create the audience's view of what is real. Scholar Theodor Adorno argues that commercial mass media are hegemonic insofar as they produce products that keep audiences passive and, hence, maintain the present ideological system. Within this theory of media hegemony, the audience has limited agency, is passively receptive, and commercial media have extensive power.

Media scholar John Fiske takes the opposing position. He argues texts' meanings are open to multiple interpretations by audiences, and audiences are able to create their own meanings and not just be passive recipients (Fiske,  Television ). Fiske believes people actively and creatively engage with media using a range of tactics to make the media meet their needs. Fiske believes diverse readings are possible because media messages are polysemous ( poly  meaning  many  and  sem  referring to  sign  or  symbol ), with multiple meanings attached to them (Fiske, "Television").

This discussion of polysemy again calls into question the role of the author. In this perspective, meaning is not determined by the media providers or culture industry, but is created individually by each person (Fiske, "Television"). The meaning of a text is not determined by its author, but is co-created by the author and the audience. This explains why different audience members might come away from the same rhetorical event with radically different interpretations of what the event meant.

Mediated messages do not occur in a vacuum, but in a particular place, at a particular time, and to particular audiences. As Communication scholar Celeste Condit explains, using a rhetorical approach to study mass media reminds the researcher that "[a]udiences are not free to make meanings at will from mass mediated texts" because "the ability of audiences to shape their own readings . . . is constrained by a variety of factors in any given rhetorical situation" including "access to oppositional codes . . . the repertoire of available texts" and the historical context (103-4).

For this reason, media scholar Stuart Hall identifies three positions from which audiences can decode (make sense of) a text: 1) dominant or preferred (hegemonic) meaning, 2) negotiated reading, and 3) oppositional (counter-hegemonic) reading (98-102).

When a reader (or viewer) takes the "connoted meaning from . . . a television newscast . . . full and straight . . . we might say that the viewer  is operating inside the dominant code " The viewer does not challenge the ideology behind the newscast or the way in which it maintains hegemonic power. For example, the viewer takes the newscast's report on the rising stock market as good news, accepting the connotative meaning that what is good for Wall Street is good for everyone. When engaging in a negotiated reading, the viewer accepts some of the hegemonic meanings, but also recognizes some exceptions (Hall 102). Here the denotational meanings are understood, but some of the connotational meanings are challenged. In this case, the viewer might take the rising stock market as good news, but might also realize that it is good news mainly for corporate executives and those with large stock holdings. In an oppositional reading, the viewer decodes the denotational and connotational meanings of a text in the way intended by the creator, but challenges it from an oppositional perspective. This viewer might understand the rising stock market as it relates to corporate cost-cutting; that is, this viewer decodes "good news" on Wall Street as bad news for the thousands who lost their jobs as production was outsourced to low-wage nations.

The media, like other rhetorical symbolic actions, influence how one sees the world. In his now classic book,  Ways of Seeing , media critic John Berger advanced a series of claims that have influenced media scholarship ever since. First, he argues that the invention of the camera drastically changed how human beings see. It "destroyed the idea that images were timeless" and challenged the viewer's belief that he (and Berger means  he ) was the center of the universe, a perspective created by paintings up until that time (18). Berger argues that in European art, from the Renaissance onward, men were the presumed viewer (64). He develops this argument in one of the book's most quoted passages:

[M]en act  and  women appear . Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object – and most particularly an object of vision: a sight. (Berger 47)

The presumed sex of the viewer is male, and even when the viewer is female, she views herself through men's eyes. Thus, when women assess their bodies, they do so not from the perspective of another woman, but from the perspective of a man. In this case, the  hegemonic ideology of patriarchy  positioned all viewers as male, such that women participated in their own subordination by always looking at themselves through men's eyes. Berger's point is that the way the body is positioned, whether in paintings or advertisements, employs a series of codes that audiences are induced to read in a particular way, even though they may not be conscious that they are decoding in this way. In other words, the male gaze is one way a hegemonic reading is induced, rather than an oppositional or negotiated read as Hall previously suggested.

At about the same time as Berger's work, media theorist Laura Mulvey published what would become one of the most cited essays in media studies. Using psychoanalytic theory, Mulvey posits that cinema not only highlights woman's to-be-looked-at-ness, but actually builds the way woman is to be looked at into the film itself. The way the camera, the audience, and the male character (with whom all spectators -- male and female -- identify) look at women reinforces the male as active and the female as passive. For Mulvey, the cinematic gaze is male. Mulvey's criticism applies to all mainstream cinema, and she believes the only way to avoid the dominance of the male gaze was through  avant garde  film that undermines the system of representation. She developed an oppositional gaze.

Mulvey's theory is criticized because she identified a single, universal gaze: she assumed there was only one White male gaze, and that no possibility for a female or non-White gaze existed. However, negotiated and oppositional reads of dominant ideology films exist, as do films that challenge the hegemony of the male gaze. Communication scholar Brenda Cooper critically analyzed  Thelma & Louise , the 1991 Academy Award winner for best original screenplay. She argues that one can find a rejection of the dominant male gaze even in mainstream Hollywood films insofar as  Thelma & Louise  encourages viewers to identify not with the males on the screen, but with the female figures who actively mocked and challenged patriarchal conventions ("Chick Flicks"). Cooper's analysis is bolstered by her earlier study of spectator responses that found men and women saw the film differently ("Relevancy"). Men tended to see the film as an example of unjustified male bashing (perhaps because they identified with the men in the film, few of whom were sympathetic) and women tended to see it as a commentary on women's marginalized social position (because they identified with the women in the film).

The goal of rhetorical criticism is not to find the meaning of a text, but rather to unpack the multiple meanings in a text. Carole Blair, Marsha S. Jeppeson, and Enrico Pucci's rhetorical study of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial illustrates the utility of doing rhetorical criticism with this goal in mind.

At the heart of rhetorical criticism is an understanding of the ability of rhetoric to act – to construct social reality. Rhetoric studies communication from the perspective that an act of communication is never just a transmission of information, but is an intervention in the world and how others see it. Symbolic action construct reality, and rhetorical criticism analyzes how that construction is accomplished and what it means.

Although a range of rhetorical approaches exists to study texts and artifacts, we have emphasized an approach that sees rhetorical method as a heuristic vocabulary that enables you to see things in a text you otherwise may not (because you did not have the language to describe what you saw). We have not outlined a step-by-step approach, but instead encourage you to invent methods appropriate to the text you study. We describe how you go about that inventional process in the next chapter.

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• Writing Tips

What Is a Rhetorical Question?

3-minute read

• 4th April 2023

Rhetorical questions can be an effective tool for writers and speakers to connect with their audience and convey their message more effectively. In this article, we’ll discuss rhetorical questions, how to use them, and some examples.

Definition of a Rhetorical Question

A rhetorical question is a question that isn’t meant to be answered. It’s asked to make a point or create an effect rather than to elicit an actual response. Here are a few examples:

·   Are you kidding me? ‒ Used to express disbelief or shock

·   Do you think I was born yesterday? ‒ Used to express suspicion or doubt

·   Why not? – Used to express willingness to try something

How to Use a Rhetorical Question

Rhetorical questions are rhetorical devices often used in writing and speech to engage the audience, emphasize a point, or provoke thought. They can be used to introduce a topic, make a statement, or open an argument.

Conversational Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions are used in everyday speech and conversations. For example:

·   Who knows? ‒ Indicates that no one knows the answer

·   Isn’t that the truth? ‒ Used to express agreement with something

Introducing a Topic

Rhetorical questions are a common strategy in essay writing to introduce a topic or persuade the reader . Here are some essay questions with rhetorical questions you could use to introduce the topic:

Essay Question: Why should we care about climate change?

Rhetorical Question Introduction: Would you like to live on a dying planet?

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Essay Question: Are dress codes a good idea for school?

Rhetorical Question Introduction: Wouldn’t you like the freedom to choose what you want to wear?

Famous Examples of Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions are a powerful and effective device to use in speech and writing, which is why you can find countless examples, from past and present figures, using them. Here are a few examples:

Here, Obama is using rhetorical questions to emphasize a point to his audience about what type of nation America is. The questions demonstrate his stance on immigration in America.

Dr. King used a variety of literary devices in his writing and speeches to inspire and invoke change and action in his audience. Here, he poses the rhetorical question, “Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history?” to get his audience thinking. There’s no obvious answer here. He’s setting up his response to this seemingly unanswerable question.

Here, Sojourner Truth is speaking at the 1851 Women’s Convention to persuade the audience that women should have the right to vote like men. She’s emphasizing that she can do everything a man can do and more (childbirth), but she can’t vote like a man because she’s a woman.

Rhetorical questions are statements pretending to be a question. They’re not to be answered, as their answer should be obvious or there isn’t an obvious answer.

You can use rhetorical questions to emphasize a point, introduce a topic, or encourage your audience to think critically about an issue. If you’re looking to enhance your speaking or writing, check out our Literary Devices page to learn more.

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Writing and Rhetoric II

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A useful way to think about your project is to describe it in a three-step sentence that states your TOPIC + QUESTION + SIGNIFICANCE (or TQS):

Don’t worry if at first you can’t think of something to put as the significance in the third step. As you develop your answer, you’ll find ways to explain why your question is worth asking!

TQS sentence example:

I am working on the topic of the Apollo mission to the moon , because I want to find out why it was deemed so important in the 1960s , so that I can help my classmates understand the role of symbolic events in shaping national identity .

Note: The TQS formula is meant to prime your thinking. Use it to plan and test your question, but don’t expect to put it in your paper in exactly this form.

Adapted from Kate L. Turabian, Student’s Guide to Writing College Papers , 5th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019), pp. 14–15.

Start researching your topic more broadly to help you narrow your topic.

Think about:

• Which aspects am I most interested in?
• Is there a particular group of people to focus on?
• Is there a particular place to focus on?
• Is there a particular time period to focus on?
• What's the right scope for this particular research project? (For example, how much can I meaningfully address in this many pages?)

Background information can help with these questions before you dive in to more focused research.

• Research Guides Curated guides for a variety of topics and subject areas. Use them to find subject-specific resources.

Now use your narrowed topic to develop a research question!

Your research question should be:

• Focused on a single problem or issue
• Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
• Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
• Specific enough to answer thoroughly
• Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
• Relevant to your subject area and/or society more broadly

Adapted from Shona McCombes, "Developing strong research questions." Scribbr , March 2021.

Adapted from: George Mason University Writing Center. (2008). How to write a research question. Retrieved from http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/?p=307.

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Rhetorical Considerations and Style in Psychology Writing

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Knowing who you are writing for, why you are writing, and in what context is key to writing successfully within your psychology courses.

Audience: Your audience is person or group of people you are writing for. In psychology courses, this is often your professor or teaching assistant, although you might also be asked to write for a "general audience of psychologists" or to your classmates. Your instructor may or may not indicate who your audience is for your paper, so it is always good to ask. In articles, it is more complex—a combination of reviewers, journal editors, and readers in your area of interest.

Your audience's expectations about your writing determine:

• Formatting and style
• Tone of the piece
• The amount of technical language or jargon used
• The amount of information you assume the audience already knows

Audience expectations aren't always straightforward. For example, if you are taking a course in psycholinguistics and you are writing a critical review of research on semantic priming, your primary audience for the course is your instructor. While your instructor knows what semantic priming is, you may still be required to define it in your paper so that your instructor knows that you know what it is. Part of the instructor's expectation in this case is that you can clearly define key vocabulary concepts discussed in class in your term paper.

Purpose: While the overall purpose of your term paper or experimental report may be clear (to pass the course, to convey the results of your research) more specific purposes for writing your report are not always so. When you are prewriting and drafting, as yourself not only what your larger purpose is, but also what additional purposes you may have and want to achieve.

Context: The context is the larger writing situation in which you find yourself. Are you writing for a class? Are you writing an internal report to your advisor? Are you writing an article in preparation for submission to a journal? The context in which you are writing is another important factor that helps you determine style, format, and content of your piece.

For more information on audience, purpose, and context see the Rhetorical Situation PowerPoint resource .

Formatting and style in psychology

Your choice of format and style are dependent on the audience, purpose, and context of your piece. Most writing in psychology follows a strict format, developed by the American Psychological Association (APA) . Some instructors or journals may have their own style guidelines that deviate from APA to varying degrees. You should always ask for clarification on the correct formatting and style from your instructor, advisor, journal editor or other primary audience member.

As a social science, the style of writing is scientific. A good rule of thumb when writing in psychology is to be clear with your discussion, be concise in your writing, and minimize your use of first-person pronouns ("I think that…", "I believe that…"). See the Purdue OWL handout on Stylistic concerns in APA format for more information.

Learning style in your field can be tricky and requires time and practice. You can benefit from analyzing examples of other pieces of writing from psychology. Look at published articles or ask the instructor for examples of previous papers written for the course.

Prewriting and information collection

Depending on the type of report you are writing, you will go through various stages of prewriting. The following list provides you with some options finding material to write from and beginning to prewrite.

Prewriting note-taking and class notes : Notes from readings, class lectures, conferences and presentations, and other professional activities can help you formulate ideas. You can keep your thoughts, sources, and notes organized in a journal, text document, or on note cards before you write.

• If you are writing a critical review, keep notes on topics of interest and sources that you encounter during your class (and related coursework) that can contribute to your topic.
• If you are writing an experimental report, notes from your previous coursework can help you find sources of information. As you are planning and conducting your research, keep a notebook handy to record your thoughts and ideas.

Creating an annotated bibliography of articles and books: Annotated bibliographies can be excellent ways to summarize and organize sources you are drawing upon when writing critical reviews or experimental reports. Please see our Annotated Bibliographies handout for more information.

Additional Purdue OWL resources you may find helpful in writing for psychology

Avoiding Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a major concern of any discipline. Be sure you are clear on what constitutes plagiarism.

Writing Concisely: A strategy for eliminating wordiness and redundancy in your writing.

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing : Assists you in integrating sources into your paper with different techniques and avoiding plagiarism.

Proofreading your writing: Every writer needs to develop good proofreading skills.

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Rhetorical Question – Definition, Examples & Meaning

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In the study of language, a rhetorical question is recognized as a figurative inquiry employed in dialogue, not with the expectation of a response, but to highlight a point, provoke thought, or underscore a declaration. This stylistic device is not aimed at gathering information but serves to draw attention, stimulate contemplation, or reinforce an argument. This type of loaded question is a common and effective tool in the realms of literature, marketing, debates, and daily communication.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 Rhetorical question in a nutshell
• 2 Definition: Rhetorical questions
• 4 The 3 types
• 6 Benefits & problems
• 7 Rhetorical question vs. leading question

Rhetorical question in a nutshell

A rhetorical question is a stylistic device with a rhetorical question mark that seeks no response because the answer is implied or obvious.

Definition: Rhetorical questions

The word rhetorical has its origin in the Greek language as “rhetorikos,” meaning “skilled in speaking.” It is a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for stylistic and dramatic effect rather than to elicit an answer. Unlike regular questions, which seek information or clarification, rhetorical questions are used to make a point , persuade , provoke thought , or create a dramatic effect.

They are designed to encourage the listener or reader to consider the implied answer within the context of the question itself, rather than to respond verbally. They are commonly used in literature, speeches, and everyday conversation to emphasize a point, express irony, or lead the audience toward a particular conclusion. When talking about academic writing , rhetorical questions have no place in it since they are used for creative flair instead of clarity.

• You’re asking me if I want to go on an all-expenses-paid trip? Is the sky blue?

Rhetorical questions are employed across various contexts to engage audiences, provoke thought, emphasize points, or express emotions. Below you will find examples in different contexts and their functions.

Everyday life

Here are common example sentences used in daily communications.

• Do I look like I was born yesterday?
• Is money growing on trees?
• Have you ever seen me arrive late to anything?

Rhetorical questions in literature are often used to provoke thought, emphasize themes, or convey the characters’ emotions succinctly. Here are some short popular examples from various literary works.

• All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others, aren’t they?
• Was he not born of (a) woman?
• Can’t repeat the past? Why, of course, you can!

Below you’ll find several examples that could be seen in marketing and media.

• Want to save money on your car insurance?
• Why settle for less when you can have the best?
• Isn’t it time we talk about mental health?

In speeches and debates, especially of a political nature, rhetorical questions can be used to provoke an audience’s thoughts and guide them to a specific answer.

• How long will we tolerate injustice and remain silent?
• Is it not our duty to ensure every citizen has access to healthcare?
• Do we want to live in a society where education is a privilege and not a right?

Rhetorical questions with obvious answers

Most rhetorical questions asked have an obvious, implied answer.

• Is the sky blue?
• Don’t you want to win?
• Are you serious?

Rhetorical questions that have no answers

More rarely, a rhetorical question is expressed with no real answer implied. These are often used to make a strong negative point or to prompt further discussion.

• Why bother?

The 3 types

Rhetorical questions frequently appear in fiction, non-fiction, speeches, and everyday conversation. Some are so common they’re clichés. Rhetorical questions come in three flavors – anthypophora, erotesis, and epiplexis. Respectively, they argue the point, reinforce a point, or attack the question’s target.

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In the world of communication and rhetoric, rhetorical questions are powerful tools that can have profound effects on the listener or reader. Here are some of the theoretical and psychological impacts they have, along with plenty of examples.

Engagement and interest

Rhetorical questions draw the audience’s attention and engage them more deeply in the subject.

• Have you ever wondered what it means to live a good life?

This question invites the audience to reflect personally on the concept of a good life, making them more invested in the ensuing discussion.

They emphasize a point or highlight an issue, making it more memorable or striking.

• Is freedom of speech not the foundation of a democratic society?

By questioning the importance of free speech, the speaker underscores its critical role in democracy.

Provoking thought

Rhetorical questions encourage the audience to critical thinking and reflect on their beliefs or assumptions.

• What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?

This question, derived from biblical context, prompts deep contemplation about the value of material vs. spiritual wealth.

Expressing irony or sarcasm

They can convey irony or sarcasm , critiquing a situation without directly stating the criticism.

• Oh, because we all have the luxury of time, don’t we?

Used in a context where time is limited, this question sarcastically comments on the unrealistic expectations of having ample time.

Creating a persuasive argument

Rhetorical questions can strengthen a persuasive argument by leading the audience to an intended conclusion.

• Can we really afford to ignore the environmental crisis any longer?

This question implies that the cost of inaction is too high, persuading the audience towards recognizing the urgency of environmental issues.

Building connection

They can create a sense of connection and rapport by involving the audience in the conversation.

• Haven’t we all been in a situation where we wished we had spoken up?

This question resonates with common human experiences, building a bond with the audience.

Challenging assumptions

Rhetorical questions challenge the audience to reconsider their assumptions or preconceived notions.

• Do we truly believe that all men are created equal?

It prompts the audience to reflect on their personal beliefs and the societal values around equality. By questioning the sincerity of the belief in equality, it encourages individuals to consider inconsistencies between stated values and actual practices or policies and societal justice.

Expressing frustration

They can express frustration , disbelief , or incredulity about a situation or behavior.

• Are we seriously still debating this issue?

This question expresses frustration over the prolonged discussion of what the speaker perceives as an obvious or resolved matter.

Benefits & problems

Since we have already discussed possible effects, these questions can offer several benefits in communication, but they also come with potential drawbacks. Understanding both can help in effectively leveraging rhetorical questions for desired outcomes.

Below, you’ll see several advantages rhetorical questions can offer.

While there are numerous advantages, disadvantages can also arise when using rhetorical questions that may make you consider using them.

Rhetorical question vs. leading question

A leading question (also, a suggestive question) is a question that prompts or encourages the desired answer . It’s often used in legal contexts, interviews, or surveys to guide the respondent toward a specific response, sometimes subtly implying it.

The key difference lies in their intent : rhetorical questions aim to engage thought or emphasize a point without expecting a response, while leading questions seek to elicit a specific response, steering the conversation or testimony in a desired direction.

• You saw the defendant at the scene, didn’t you?
• Don’t you agree that the product works wonders?

What's a rhetorical question?

It is a question that is asked for a specific purpose rather than obtaining information.

Why do authors and public speakers use rhetorical questions?

To better illustrate, emphasize, and reiterate the (persuasive) points they want to make. Rhetorical questions can also invite further, unguided thought — even if they’re unanswerable. Open-ended queries make good starting points for free-flowing seminars and rhetorical debates.

Is a rhetorical question ever inappropriate?

Occasionally, it can be. Poorly timed, targeted, or phrased rhetorical questions often appear to talk down to the reader — or appear to tell them what they should think. Accidental, pathetic humor (bathos) may result from questions that are too obscure or niche to be relatable or mistakenly express a truly unpopular opinion.

What is a rhetorical question example?

“How should I know?” is a question that shows frustration, while expecting no answer.

How do you know if a question is rhetorical?

Rhetorical means that it is made for style or effect, meaning a rhetorical question is used for mere effect, rather than an answer or information.

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October 16, 2018

How To: Ask a Rhetorical Question

Sometimes we ask questions, because we’re looking for information. We want a direct answer:

"What’s for dinner?"

"Meatloaf."

A rhetorical question is one a speaker asks, not looking for information, but to set up her own response:

"What’s happened to dinner time in America? What does that mean for our health?"

As you see, a rhetorical question can open up a topic, challenge you to examine new ideas, or re-examine old ones.

Almost every speaker will use a rhetorical question at some point in a presentation. Let’s make sure you’re doing it for maximum impact.

Step 1. Know why you’re using a rhetorical question.

There are a variety of reasons you might ask a rhetorical question:

• To get a laugh
• To get agreement
• To challenge an idea or show it to be absurd

But most speakers we work with use rhetorical questions for a different purpose: Whether they realize it or not, they’re trying to shift the audience from passive receiver to active participant .

When speakers ask rhetorical questions for this purpose, they’re asking you to stop sitting there like a lump. They want to engage your mind, get you to consider what you think before they provide the answer.

Step 2. Come up with a decent question.

If engaging the audience is your purpose, how you frame the question is important.

Consider an open-ended question instead of a yes/no. For example, is you present a business problem in a presentation, you’ll find that "What should we do next?"  will get the audience thinking more than " Should we move forward?"

Rethink using questions with obvious answers. Speakers seeking to appeal to audience interest will ask questions such as " Do you want to make more money?"  We wonder who they expect to say " no ." These questions encourage the skeptics in the audience to roll their eyes and make the speaker seem less than genuine or out of touch. Questions with obvious answers don’t inspire thought but do risk annoying.

Keep the question short—and avoid answering the question in the process of asking it. For example, instead of asking " What should we do if we believe our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, aunts, grandmothers and other female friends and acquaintances are equal, deserve equal opportunity, and deserve equal pay ?" go with something simple: " What should we do if we believe women are equal ?"

Step 3. Pause after you ask it.

If you’re asking a rhetorical question to provoke thought, don’t blow this next critical step: Pause for a beat, let the question sink in, give the audience a chance to ponder it and answer it for themselves.

Then, provide your answer. 

When you rush to answer a rhetorical question, you're undermining the very effect you hope to achieve--engagement.

And you’re disrespecting the audience: " I asked you to consider this, but I’m just using a cheap rhetorical trick to get you more involved in my presentation. Let's get on to the important point--what I think!"

Every presentation needs variety to hold audience attention—and a rhetorical question is a great way to bring variety in more ways than one. You 1) make the audience active and 2) vary your delivery rate and timing when you pause after posing the question.

Step 4. Don’t overdo.

If a rhetorical question can mix things up and bring some much-needed variation to your delivery, it’s important not to abuse the device.

Because when you start to pepper the audience with questions and go overboard, the rhetorical question loses its oomph. We love this passage we found on a writing blog that illustrates just what we mean:

Do rhetorical questions add value to your content? Or are you doubting yourself about them? Do you not feel like the question belongs? Are you writing a piece where the rhetorical question would sound really odd? Are you being repetitious with them to pad out the word count rather than adding information to your piece? Are you coming off as degrading or terse, repeating the same information or obvious information in a new way to make it sound like you’re saying something entirely new?

Or rather, are you trying to be overly conversational in a way that actually is off-putting to a reader? Do you feel like you’re pestering your reader with questions like an interviewer or a car salesman who assumes they know their audience intimately, when they really don’t? Are you trying to be cute and colloquial — and failing?

Am I making my point yet?

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Can I Use Rhetorical Questions in an Essay (Quick Answer)

by  Antony W

November 1, 2021

A rhetorical question is a powerful literary technique that lets you make a point or add a dramatic effect in an essay.

Unlike a standard question, being rhetoric doesn’t evoke direct response. Rather, it tends to be persuasive in form, and it helps an author shape the way his or her target readers look at an issue or think about a topic.

Given the diversity and flair they add in writing, and the extent to which the engage readers to consider and hypothesize what they just read, can you really use rhetorical questions in an essay or should you avoid them completely?

Can I Use Rhetorical Questions in an Essay?  

It’s not advisable to use rhetorical questions in an essay. While they are perfect for helping you come to grip with the essay topic in question, they’re not useful for the person reading the essay. 

You could include them in the essay as indirect questions, but the best approach is to rephrase the questions into statements or not use them at all. 

To understand why teachers hate rhetorical questions in essays, it’s important to look at the difference between creative and essay writing.

As you can see from the table above, rhetoric questions seek to spark excitement and suspense, which is the exact opposite of what academic writing is all about.

To take this even further, below are reasons why you shouldn’t use rhetorical question in academic writing.

1. Rhetorical Questions Add Unnecessary Words to an Essay 

You don’t have much writing real estate when writing an essay. With a tight word count limit, rhetorical equations are an obvious waste of resources.

Again, questions don’t tell a story, describe your claim, or defend your argument in an essay. And rightly so, they tend to leave readers with more questions than answers. 

2. Rhetorical Questions Introduce Redundancy 

You might think for the moment that rhetorical questions are good for introducing a point. But isn’t it better to get to the point?

Besides, we don’t think that essay readers, from college admissions committee to professors who have dozens of argumentative essays to review even have the patience to read questions you present.

The issue here is rhetorical questions introduce redundancy in the essay, taking up the space that you have otherwise used to explain an idea or an issue better.

Instead of filling the essay with questions, which may leave the reader unsure, go straight to the point and make your ideas clear . 

3. Rhetorical Questions Accost Readers 

Academic writing isn’t your place to ask questions because they change the tone and perspective of an essay just as quickly.

They are passive in form. In other words, using them in academic writing means you’re asking your readers to do the thinking and reflection for you

When you change from answering readers’ most important questions on an issue to questioning them instead, you accost them. Readers don’t appreciate when you aggressively demand something from them.

4. Rhetorical Questions Make Lousy Assumption that a Reader Knows 

While you’re welcome to use rhetorical questions in improving your creative writing , you shouldn’t do in academic writing.

Often with rhetorical questions, writers tend to assume that the audience already know the answer, which may not exactly be the case.

Since we don’t know if a reader knows the answer to a question, it’s best to express the question as a statement or else you risk being misunderstood.

Think about it:

Your instructor gave you an essay assignment because they want to see how you answer the question. In other words, they’re looking for answers, evidence, and arguments to your claim (position). They neither want to be entertained nor left in suspense.

How to Ask Rhetorical Question in an Essay?  

While we generally don’t recommend using rhetoric questions in an essay, there’s one exception to this rule. You can use rhetorical questions:

In the Title of an Essay 

It’s tempting to use rhetorical questions in an essay because they draw in the attention of the reader.

However, they can’t be effective in the body section of the essay, and we’ve already told you why. 

So if you feel the urge to use rhetorical questions, use it as a title for the essay.

In the Introduction of an Essay 

You may use it in the introduction provided you answer the question in the argument.

Notice here that you have to answer the question, not leave the reader to answer it for you.

An effective way to implement this literary device would be to ask the question in the opening paragraph and then use the thesis statement to answer the question before you get to the body part of the essay .

In Argumentative Essays 

Rhetorical questions can be good for persuading a reader to think or act in a certain way. As such, you may use them in writing argumentative essays .

If used correctly, such a question can often strengthen the magnitude of a claim and solidify your position.

However, you really shouldn’t include this kind of writing in your argument or persuasive essay unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Even if you feel like the rhetorical question would sound a lot more readable or convincing, it would be best to rephrase them in complete statements.

Get Essay Writing Help 

With all that said, feel free to get in touch with  Help for Assessment writers  if you need assistance with your essay writing.

About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

• [email protected]

How to Write a Rhetorical Question in an Essay

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Rhetorical questions are an essential part of essay writing and mastering them can significantly improve the quality of your work. A rhetorical question is one that does not require an answer, but rather is used to emphasize a point or create a thought-provoking response from the reader. They are often used to convey a sense of emotion and provide insight into a deeper message.

In this guide, we will discuss the basics of rhetorical questions and how they can be used to strengthen an argument in an essay. We will look at the different types of rhetorical questions and how to use them effectively. We will also cover guidelines for writing rhetorical questions and offer tips on proofreading. By the end of the article, you will have a comprehensive understanding of how to write effective rhetorical questions in your essays .

A rhetorical question is composed of two elements: the question itself and the context in which it is asked. The question should be phrased in such a way to spark a reaction from the readers. It may be a question that is answered in the essay or simply used as a method of emphasizing a point. The context in which it is asked should be appropriate for the given situation, such as a debate or discussion.

When crafting a rhetorical question, it helps to consider the audience. The question should be relevant to the topic being discussed and the tone should be adjusted to fit the situation. Additionally, the grammar should be accurate and the syntax should be clear. With these elements in place, the question should solidify the writer’s point and add depth to the essay.

Finally, it is important to proofread any rhetorical questions you include in your essay. A poorly placed question can distract from the overall argument and take away from the essay’s effectiveness. Read through your paper to make sure that the question is clear and concise, and that its meaning is not misinterpreted by your reader.

Rhetorical questions can be a powerful tool when used correctly in an essay. As long as you keep in mind the guidelines discussed above, you can successfully add rhetorical questions to your writing in a way that enhances the overall argument.

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What is a Rhetorical Question?

A rhetorical question is a type of question that doesn’t require an answer—in fact, it can be a powerful tool to enhance your writing. Unlike other types of questions, rhetorical questions are made to generate discussion on a particular topic or to evoke an emotional response from the reader. By utilizing rhetorical questions in your essay, you can create a more engaging and effective piece of writing.

Difference between Rhetorical Questions and Other Questions

Rhetorical questions differ from other types of questions in a few important ways. For example, when you ask an open-ended question such as “What is the best way to approach this problem?” you are expecting an answer. With a rhetorical question, however, you are not expecting a direct answer, and the purpose of the question is simply to make a point. Another difference between rhetorical questions and other types of questions is their structure. Rhetorical questions often take the form of a declarative statement, which sets them apart from the more familiar types of questions.

The Power of Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions can be a powerful tool for an essay writer since they can evoke an emotional response from the reader and foster a deeper level of engagement with the material. They also serve to spark further discussion on the topic and can help to better illustrate the writer’s point. By using rhetorical questions in your essay, you can ensure that your writing will be both engaging and effective.

Examples of Rhetorical Questions

A rhetorical question is a figure of speech where the question typically does not expect an answer, but instead serves as a device to create emphasis and provoke thought. Knowing how to skillfully use rhetorical questions in your writing can be a powerful tool and help you create more engaging content. Let’s take a look at some examples of rhetorical questions to better understand how they work.

One classic example of a rhetorical question is “C’mon, what do you think?” This conveys an implied message that the person you are asking should already know the answer or at least think critically about their opinion. It can be used when trying to make a point, or end a discussion.

Another example of a rhetorical question is “Why bother?” This is often used to express a feeling of apathy or suggest that something isn’t worth considering. It can have a persuasive effect as readers may be prompted to consider why they should even bother with something.

Finally, an example of a rhetorical question used for comic relief might be “Do I really need to explain this?” This is often used to show exasperation at a lack of understanding and can be useful for lightening the mood.

When constructing a rhetorical question, there are a few key elements to keep in mind. First, the question should be phrased in a way that does not expect an answer. Second, it should be relevant to the conversation or situation at hand. Finally, the rhetorical question should provide emphasis or clarity to what is being said.

By understanding how to effectively use rhetorical questions, you can add depth and power to your writing. We hope these examples have helped you better understand how to use rhetorical questions in your own writing.

Why Rhetorical Questions Are Important For Essay Writing

A rhetorical question is an important writing skill to have in your arsenal, particularly when it comes to essay writing . So why are rhetorical questions so important when crafting an essay? To put simply, they allow you to ask a question without requiring an answer. This can be a powerful tool to convey a point that you are attempting to make in your essay. By deliberately refraining from providing an answer, the reader is left with a thought-provoking question that will likely stay with them long after they’ve finished your essay.

Rhetorical questions should be used sparingly and judiciously, as overusing them can lead to confusion or give the impression that you haven’t done enough research on the topic at hand. When used effectively, however, they can be a great tool for ensuring that your readers are paying attention to the points you are making and engaging with the material in a meaningful way. One of the key advantages of rhetorical questions is that they can help ensure your essay is memorable and stays with the reader long after they’ve finished reading.

In this sense, a rhetorical question has the power to contribute significantly to your essay’s overall impact. They can also be used as an effective tool to transition between topics, helping to introduce a new idea while adding a sense of mystery and intrigue. Finally, they can be used to further reinforce solutions or arguments in your essay, helping to drive home the point you are trying to make.

As such, it is important to understand the purpose of rhetorical questions and the various ways you can use them to enhance your essay. When used effectively, rhetorical questions can add a great deal of depth and meaning to your essay, and help ensure that your readers stay engaged with your work.

Guidelines for Writing Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions can be a powerful tool when used correctly in an essay. They are designed to draw the reader in and encourage them to think about the topic in new ways. When writing a rhetorical question, there are several guidelines that you should consider in order to make sure that you are conveying your message in the most effective way possible.

First, you should think carefully about the context of your question. Make sure that your question fits in with the rest of the essay’s theme and purpose. Additionally, think about the audience you are writing for and tailor your question so that it speaks to their specific interests and concerns.

Next, when crafting the question itself, make sure to use language that is direct and concise. Avoid using unnecessary words or overly complex sentence structures. Your goal should be to create a clear and direct message that is easy for the reader to comprehend.

You should also strive to craft your rhetorical question in a way that offers the reader an opportunity to think more deeply about the issue. Ask a question that challenges the reader on an intellectual level, encouraging them to view the topic from a new perspective.

Finally, pay careful attention to the structure of your question. Consider whether you should use a positive or negative statement, as this will have a significant impact on how your question is received. Additionally, think about the best way to phrase your question as it relates to the tone of your essay.

By taking the time to consider these guidelines, you can make sure that you are creating effective rhetorical questions that will engage your readers and keep them interested in the topic. If you take the time to craft each one carefully and make sure that it fits in with the overall concept of your essay, then you will be able to create an essay that is sure to leave a lasting impression on your readers.

Structures for Writing Rhetorical Questions

Learning how to effectively write rhetorical questions can make your writing more effective, persuasive, and engaging. Before you begin constructing your own rhetorical questions, it’s important to understand the structures used when crafting them.

Rhetorical questions come in many different forms and have various purposes, so knowing which structure is best suited for your purpose can help get your message across more clearly. Here are some of the most common structures for writing rhetorical questions:

• Meaningful Phrase: A meaningful phrase is a concise way to communicate an idea or an opinion. For example: “What’s the point?”
• Inverted Sentence Structure: This structure involves inverting the normal sentence structure to create a question. For example: “Shouldn’t we be asking why?”
• Parallelism: Parallelism is a technique that involves repeating words, phrases, or sentences in a specific pattern. This can help convey the point of the question more clearly. For example: “What have we done and what are we doing? What will we do?”
• Compound Question: A compound question consists of two or more questions linked together with a conjunction. This can be used to emphasize the importance of the question or to draw attention to multiple aspects of the topic. For example: “Do we really understand the consequences of our actions, and are we prepared to face them?”
• Implied Question: An implied question involves using a statement to imply a question. This structure can be useful if you want to create a certain tone or evoke a particular emotion. For example: “We can’t ignore the fact that this issue has far-reaching effects.”

When crafting rhetorical questions, it’s important to pay attention to the structure of the question in order to ensure that it communicates the desired message. By familiarizing yourself with these common structures, you can create powerful and effective rhetorical questions that will have a lasting impact on your readers.

Techniques for Writing an Effective Rhetorical Question

A rhetorical question is a powerful tool for an essay writer, as it can help to spark the reader’s interest, make them think critically about a topic, and draw their attention to certain details within your essay. To maximize the effectiveness of a rhetorical question, there are several writing techniques that you should keep in mind.

• Be brief: Your rhetorical question should be short and to the point, so that your readers can quickly grasp its meaning. Strive to capture the essence of the thought in just a few words.
• Use assertive language: When writing a rhetorical question, strive to use language that is assertive and authoritative, so that your reader will take the question seriously and take pause to consider its implications.
• Choose the right tone: The tone of your rhetorical question will also be important. Consider the context of the essay and how different tones may affect its impact. Likewise, use carefully chosen words to ensure that the intended meaning is conveyed clearly.
• Be specific: To really drive home the point of your rhetorical question, make sure that it is specific to the topic at hand. A good rhetorical question should be focused enough to make a statement about the topic, yet open-ended enough to raise questions that the reader can explore on their own.
• Keep it relevant: The rhetorical question should be relevant to the essay’s content and should not be seen as an unrelated or unnecessary addition. It should be used to further emphasize a point or to explore an issue more deeply.

By utilizing these techniques and considering their impact, you can write effective rhetorical questions that will contribute to the success of your essay . As with any writing skill, practice makes perfect, so don’t be afraid to experiment with different formats and tone until you feel confident in your ability to craft a powerful rhetorical question.

Dos and Don’ts: Tips for Writing Rhetorical Questions in Your Essay

Writing a rhetorical question in your essay can be a powerful way to engage readers and make an impact on your audience. However, if done incorrectly, these questions can be ineffective and even confusing. To ensure you get the most out of your rhetorical questions, here are some dos and don’ts to follow when incorporating them into your writing.

• Do: Make sure the rhetorical question challenges your reader to think about the topic at hand.
• Don’t: Use rhetorical questions as a crutch instead of offering a well-thought out argument or point of view.
• Do: Write your rhetorical questions in a concise, direct manner.
• Don’t: Waffle with words and clutter your rhetorical questions with excessive modifiers.
• Do: Ask a question that can’t actually be answered, serving to engage the reader instead.
• Don’t: Set up a false dichotomy by asking a rhetorical question that simplifies a complex issue.
• Do: Understand that rhetorical questions can be both positive or negative in nature.
• Don’t: Assume your readers will always interpret your rhetorical questions in the way you intend.
• Do: Frame your rhetorical questions in a way that encourages reflection and thought.
• Don’t: Use rhetorical questions as a tool for manipulation or to push a certain agenda.

Overall, using rhetorical questions in your writing can be a very effective way to engage readers in thoughtful discussion. As long as you consider the intention of your questions, avoid logical fallacies, and keep them concise, your rhetorical questions should make a powerful impact on your audience.

Editing/Proofreading: The Importance of Checking for Unintended Meaning

When it comes to writing a rhetorical question, you must be careful that the words you use do not create an unintended meaning. As rhetorical questions are meant to evoke thought in the reader, it is important to make sure the meaning you intend is conveyed and that any ambiguity is removed in the editing and proofreading process.

Editing and proofreading are key processes to ensuring your rhetorical question conveys the precise message or sentiment that you want it to. A simple misread or misspelling can turn a powerful piece of writing into something completely misconstrued. It is important to review your work several times to ensure that your rhetorical question does not inadvertently provide a different message than what you had intended.

When editing and proofreading your rhetorical questions, pay attention to the wording you use. Make sure that each term is in its correct form and that all words are spelled correctly. Also watch out for any words or phrases that may have multiple meanings that could lead to confusion or misinterpretation. This is why it’s important to read through the question several times and get input from a colleague or second set of eyes for feedback.

In addition to checking for clarity, you should also make sure that your rhetorical question flows naturally and reads well. Pay close attention to the sentence structure and how the words are arranged. Are there any awkward pauses or lengthy phrases that might confuse your readers? You may want to consider restructuring some of your sentences to improve the flow and clarity of the rhetorical question.

Editing and proofreading your rhetorical questions is an important step in the writing process. By taking the time to ensure that your question conveys the message you want and reads clearly, you’ll be able to effectively communicate with your readers and create a powerful impact.

Applications of Rhetorical Questions

A rhetorical question can be an incredibly powerful tool in any type of written communication, beyond just essays. In fact, rhetorical questions can do even more to engage readers and draw attention to certain points that you are making.

Rhetorical questions can be used to emphasize a point, engage readers in some self-reflection, or to simply draw the reader’s attention to something of importance. As such, it is important to be aware of the potential applications and how to use them effectively.

One way to use a rhetorical question to your advantage is to emphasize a key point that you are trying to make. For example, if you are arguing for a particular stance on an issue, you could ask a rhetorical question to draw attention to that point and challenge your readers to think about it. Another effective way to use rhetorical questions is to get your readers to consider their own situation and values. This can help to engage them more with the discussion by asking them to reflect on the material they have read.

When incorporating rhetorical questions into non-essay writing, it is important to keep the following in mind:

• Be selective with the questions you ask – make sure that they are relevant to the topic at hand.
• Keep your questions succinct and avoid using too many words.
• Make sure your questions are clear and easy to understand.
• Maintain a consistent tone throughout your writing.

By following these guidelines, you can harness the power of a rhetorical question to effectively communicate your message and engage your readers. Using rhetorical questions in this way can help to bring your writing to life and create impactful and memorable content.

Writing an effective rhetorical question can be a powerful tool for essay writers. In this guide, we have explored what is a rhetorical question, what are its purposes, and how to write one that truly has an impact on the reader. We’ve discussed common structures, techniques, and guidelines to consider when constructing a rhetorical question.

To conclude, here are the key points to remember when incorporating rhetorical questions into your writing:

• A rhetorical question should always serve a purpose within the essay or written piece.
• Choose the right structure and format for the rhetorical question.
• Employ specific techniques to make the rhetorical question compelling.
• Proofread the question to ensure accuracy and clarity.

If you follow the tips outlined in this guide , you will be able to write a rhetorical question that makes an impact and convinces your readers. So go ahead, give it a try!

Frequently Asked Questions about How to Write a Rhetorical Question in an Essay

• Q: What is a rhetorical question? A: A rhetorical question is a form of question that doesn’t require, or expect, an answer. It is usually used to make a point, create emphasis or draw attention to a certain piece of information.
• Q: What makes a rhetorical question different than other kinds of questions? A: Unlike other types of questions such as closed and open-ended questions, a rhetorical question does not require, nor expect, an answer. It requires the person reading it to reflect, rather than provide an answer.
• Q: What are some examples of rhetorical questions? A: Examples of rhetorical questions include “”How can I be expected to solve this problem?”” or “”What do they expect us to do?””.
• Q: What is the purpose of a rhetorical question in an essay? A: A rhetorical question can be a powerful tool for an essay writer as it invites readers to think critically about the topic being discussed and reflect upon the implications of the argument presented by the essay writer.
• Q: What elements should be included when constructing a rhetorical question? A: When constructing a rhetorical question, ensure that the question contains enough detail to provide context and leave room for interpretation. Additionally, make sure you relate the rhetorical question to your intended outcome.
• Q: Are there different structures and formats to consider when writing a rhetorical question? A: Yes, there are different approaches to writing a rhetorical question, such as questions with ellipses or exclamation mark at the end. Generally, the structure of the sentence should guide you on how best to express the rhetorical question.
• Q: What writing techniques can help enhance the quality of the rhetorical question and contribute to the essay’s effectiveness? A: Using vivid language, concrete examples and references can help to enhance the quality of the rhetorical question and make the essay more effective.
• Q: What Dos and Dont’s should readers be aware of when using rhetorical questions in their essays? A: Do keep your audience in mind when crafting your rhetorical question, ensure the question is relevant to the topic being discussed and pay attention to how it is being used. Don’t forget to proofread to check for errors and ambiguous phrasing.
• Q: Are there any potential applications of rhetorical questions beyond essays? A: Yes, rhetorical questions can also be used in oral presentations, creative writing and even in marketing campaigns.
• Q: What resources are available to help readers further expand upon what they have learnt in the post? A: There are a variety of blog posts, academic articles and books that can help readers gain a deeper understanding of the power and potential of rhetorical questions.

Nick Radlinsky

Nick Radlinsky is a devoted educator, marketing specialist, and management expert with more than 15 years of experience in the education sector. After obtaining his business degree in 2016, Nick embarked on a quest to achieve his PhD, driven by his commitment to enhancing education for students worldwide. His vast experience, starting in 2008, has established him as a reputable authority in the field.

Nick's article, featured in Routledge's " Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe: Development through Internationalization ," highlights his sharp insights and unwavering dedication to advancing the educational landscape. Inspired by his personal motto, "Make education better," Nick's mission is to streamline students' lives and foster efficient learning. His inventive ideas and leadership have contributed to the transformation of numerous educational experiences, distinguishing him as a true innovator in his field.

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