Write a full 3 to 4 page rhetorical analysis paper on “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Zora
Neale Hurston or “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” by Langston Hughes. The
Works Cited page is numbered but is not included in the page requirements for the paper.
• Analyze the rhetoric in the primary source using the Rhetorical Triangle and/or
literary devices.
• Follow the structure of the sample thesis in the outline.
• Include at least two items of support in each body paragraph/chunk
• Avoid using the personal pronoun.
• Follow the MLA style for format
Rhetorical Analysis Paper Outline
I. Introduction: The introduction should be one paragraph long in short papers (i.e., all
papers for this course)
A. Context or background information
B. Thesis–Sample thesis: In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, the development of Bilbo
Baggins from homebody to hero is portrayed through imagery and symbolism. Sample
thesis: In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Bilbo Baggins develops from homebody to hero. This
is portrayed through imagery and symbolism. Use this thesis “ In”The Negro Artist and the
Racial Mountain,” Langston Hughes expresses pride in being Black and encourages
Black artists to embrace their identity. This message is conveyed through the use of
powerful metaphors, vivid imagery, and rhetorical appeals to ethos and identity.”
The thesis contains the title(s) of the primary source(s) and the main point about the
primary source(s). For this course, your thesis will have sub-points (no more than 3
rhetorical analysis elements and/or literary devices).
(Note that a forecasting statement predicts the organization of the paper, so the forecasting
statement is a thesis with sub-points. The sub-points in a thesis are addressed in the body
of the paper in the same order that the sub-points are presented in the thesis. In the
second sample thesis, the forecasting is the second sentence.)
II. First Body Paragraph/Chunk
A. Topic Sentence (transition): Sample topic sentence: In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien,
the development of Bilbo Baggins from homebody to hero is portrayed through
imagery.
B. Show how The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, the development of Bilbo Baggins from
homebody to hero is portrayed through imagery.
C. Add support using the source integration formula. For each item of evidence,
explain how the literary device is exemplified by that evidence and then how that
literary device in the evidence supports the main thesis point.
III. Second Body Paragraph/Chunk
A. Topic Sentence (transition): Sample topic sentence: In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien,
the development of Bilbo Baggins from homebody to hero is communicated through
symbolism.
B. Show how The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, the development of Bilbo Baggins from
homebody to hero is portrayed through symbolism.
C. Add support using the source integration formula. For each item of evidence,
explain how the literary device is exemplified by that evidence and then how that
literary device in the evidence supports the main thesis point.
*Add more paragraphs as necessary
IV. Conclusion
A. Creatively restate thesis
B. End on a final note
C. Hughes, Langston. “The Negro Artist and the Racial
Mountain”.
e-negro-artist-and-the-racial-mountain
D. Hurston, Zora Neale. “How it Feels to be Colored
Me”.
3/coloredmehurston3.pdf
E.
