As with any essay, a rhetorical analysis has an introduction (which includes your thesis), body paragraphs (also called “developmental paragraphs”), and a conclusion. The developmental paragraphs in this case require evidence from the text because you are trying to point out how that text works. Let’s start with an example of a body paragraph for an essay based on the thesis statement that we worked with previously (p. 956).

Meacham supports his belief that the Founding Fathers intended happiness to be rooted in civic engagement by citing the work of current scholars. He quotes a biography of Jefferson by historian Garry Wills, who argues that Jefferson never intended the pursuit of happiness to be an individual and private issue, but rather, “ ‘public happiness which [. . .] is, indeed, the test and justification of any government.’ ” For further support, Meacham indicates that his stance on this issue is similar to that of historian Arthur Schlesinger Sr. Meacham does not describe Schlesinger’s credentials as a Harvard University professor of history and prolific author, perhaps assuming that his audience is familiar with this renowned figure. Thus, both of these scholarly sources provide evidence for Meacham’s position that the pursuit of happiness is really “the pursuit of individual excellence that shapes the life of a broader community.”

958

Notice that the topic sentence of the paragraph focuses on the connection between strategy and purpose. The paragraph is developed with textual evidence from the passage. In some cases, such as the last sentence, that means a direct quote from Meacham.

You’ll notice in the second sentence that we had to quote a quote. This happens pretty frequently when analyzing logos and ethos, since it often involves evaluating the writer or speaker’s use of sources. In that case, as you see here, the convention is to use single quotation marks to cite the material the writer quoted, within the double quotes you use to mark the writer’s quotation. Punctuation is placed within both the single quotes and doubles.