Rhetorical Analysis of the Article

Structure

Firstly, we have to mention that the distinction between structural and stylistic peculiarities of persuasive essay writing have to be taken into consideration. It is commonly preferred to analyze the structure of the essay at first, looking for the author’s methods of achieving his/her purpose of persuading the audience.

Hence, at the beginning of the peace of writing under the name ‘Black Widows Recruited for Terrorism in Russia’, a reader can already observe the author’s attitude towards the issue or a problem. The very first sentence of the essay’s introduction provides the contrast in generalizing information, which indicates importance of this picture changing the hundreds of people’s way of thinking. Generally, the author’s task at the beginning of persuasive piece of writing was to attract the readers’ attention.

As a matter of fact, the writer has accomplished this task by choosing the technique of opening with a strong statement with slight exaggeration. Having further introduced the main thesis of the essay and having given some background information, the writer moves smoothly to the body of the piece.

In the main part of the essay the author represents his main arguments and reasons, which confirm his thesis statement. Briefly, the first body paragraph offers a distinct case of an act of terror realized by women. The author empathizes further the distortion of a perception of woman’s function in the society.

The second paragraph describes the phenomena of ‘Black Widows’, who being in a flow of revenge were committing crimes. All the proceeding paragraphs are aimed at backing the points stated above. These paragraphs have purpose to explain and give reasons for a phenomenon, woman terrorism in particular.

However, we have to point out, that the author did not use the technique of including a fully distinguished rebuttal section into the main body of the essay. Instead, the writer has directly come to conclusion, which was an appeal to certain people, in particular legislative establishments, which can work on the ways of improving the situation of ‘Black Widow Terrorism’.

Style

Factual Information

Facts are one of the most powerful means of persuasion. The author in his article has used a considerable amount of facts, which one can be checked on veracity. Introducing factual information was a reasonable way of supporting one’s point and offering the issue for further discussion;

Appeal to Authority (Quoting)

It is always highly desirable to back u your opinion with particular thoughts of experts, which are already professionals in their field and can offer a reader security and sure about the words they say or prove. For example, in the current article a reader may observe the following personalities as Speckhard and Yulia Yuzik.

Appeal to Examples

A variety of examples, which have been used in the article, are quite an effective mean of persuasion.

Audience

On the whole, the article ‘Black Widows Recruited for Terrorism in Russia’ is aimed not only at the legislation establishments, who are empowered to change the increasing processes of woman terrorism, but also at an educated general public.

The issue of woman terrorism and its reasons may be a topic of consideration for psychologists, sociologists and representatives of other social studies, who are willing to join to finding the solution to this problem.

Rhetorical Strategies

Appeal to Reason

The author has developed his arguments being guided by motives and reasons. He bases his conclusions only with reference to authoritative people and facts.

Appeal to Ethos

The latter implies credibility and reliability of the author. The writer of this particular essay is considered to apply this rhetorical strategy successfully, while using only credible sources to develop an argument. Further, the writer sets a common point through admitting beliefs of the opposite sides of an argument. Last, but not least, the author has organized his article in an easy to follow pattern.

Appeal to Emotions

Appeal to emotions is one of the key points in persuasive essay. As far as our mind is inclined to visualization and sensual perception on the whole, this technique may appear a useful tool for persuading. We can state, that the author of the article has managed to achieve expected results through appeal to audience’s emotions. The writer uses emotionally colored language, which induces the reader to react correspondingly. E.g. a cherubic teenager smirking as she waves a pistol in the air

In general, the author of the article has achieved the result in arguing over the question of woman terrorism, its reasons and appealing to the legislative bodies and all people on the whole to contribute to solving this problem.

Works Cited

1. Lunsford, Andrea “Everything’s an argument” Bedford/St. Martin’s; Fourth Edition edition. (2007): 123-134.
2. Schuster, Simon „Russia’s‚ Black Widows‘: Terrorism or Revenge?“ (2010). Web.