Rhetorical Terms
The chosen group of people you write for.
Audience
This common academic genre requires a writer to objectively condense a source's main ideas into a shorter format without adding personal opinion.
Summary
How the author builds trust, demonstrates character, or shows expertise so the audience believes them.
Ethos
When multiple words in a sentence begin with the same letter.
Alliteration
This crucial sentence typically goes in your introductory paragraph.
Thesis Statement
The surrounding circumstances and context of a piece of rhetoric, including audience, purpose, and genre.
Rhetorical Situation
Often published in newspapers or online blogs, this public-facing genre expresses a strong, biased stance on a current event to persuade a general audience.
Op-Ed or Opinion Article
How the author uses language, imagery, or tone to evoke specific feelings—like anger, sympathy, hope, or fear.
Pathos
An indirect reference meant to bring something to mind.
Allusion
This part of the essay should not present the reader with any new ideas or information.
Conclusion
What you want your writing to achieve. The point of a text.
Purpose
An episodic audio show
Podcast
How the author uses evidence, facts, statistics, clear reasoning, or structured arguments to make sense.
Logos
Describing something by literally calling it something else.
Metaphor
This sentence expresses the main idea of a paragraph.
Topic Sentence
The defining features of a genre
Genre Conventions
Uses visual layout, bullet points, and charts to present academic research rapidly at conferences.
Conference Poster or Poster Presentation
An argument that sounds logical but contains a flaw in its reasoning is known as one of these.
Logical Fallacy
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
Anaphora
This is when you review your essay carefully to find and correct mistakes in grammar, style, and spelling.
Revision
Having different modes of communication in one text
Multimodality
A formal research or review text written by experts in a field, published in a periodic scholarly publication.
Journal Article
a careful examination of a text, speech, image, or performance to figure out how the communicator tries to persuade, inform, or move an audience
Rhetorical Analysis
Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Hyperbole
These words and/or phrases signal the relationships between ideas and make them clear to the reader.
Transitional Words or Phrases