Using the Rhetorical Triangle to Analyze Malcolm Gladwell

Inquiry: how can the rhetorical triangle be used to analyze an argument?

1. Opener: what did you think of Gladwell's article? Was your prediction about the article correct? What is his central argument?

2. Using the rhetorical triangle to analyze an argument. Groups will report out when finished!

Group 1: Speaker

• Questions to consider:
• Who is Malcolm Gladwell?
• What are his professional, personal,  and academic experiences?
• How is the writer related to the subject?
• What is the writer responding to?
• What's motivating him to write? (context)
• Where do we see Gladwell in the text?
• Is Gladwell credible? How do you know?

Group 2: Subject

• Elements to consider:
• Arrangement: order, structure, support
• Style: diction, syntax, tone, devices
• Memory: allusions, connections to experience, shared beliefs
• Delivery: genre, coherence, tone, effective voice

Group 3 Audience

• Questions to consider:
• How is the writer appealing to the intended audience?
• Label appeals: ethos, pathos, logos
• Is he likable? In what ways?
• Does he demonstrate an understanding of the needs, knowledge, values and expectations of his audience?

HW: Write a letter to the editor in response to Gladwell’s claims. How will you be persuasive? How will you provide your own claims, your own details to offer your own version of his argument, to agree with his position, to change his mind, or to take what he says in a new direction? Your letter shouldn’t be too long- a page is all you will be able to persuade the editors to publish- so you need to think how to get to your point efficiently and eloquently.