Analytical Paper Outline

Analytical Paper Outline

1. Introduction
   1. Background info: Barack Obama, a Democrat, was the 44^th president of the USA. His presidency began on January 20^th, 2009 after his victory over the Republican candidate, Mr. John McCain.
   2. Background info: Barack Obama served as the state senate of the Illinois state.
   3. Background info: He rose to national prominence in 2004, when he gave his keynote speech at the Democratic National, and he gave an acceptance speech in 2008, which is being analyzed in this essay.
   4. Thesis statement: To convince his audience that he was determined to fulfill his promises, President Obama gave his acceptance speech and he used several rhetorical devices in order to advance this purpose.

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2. Body Paragraph 1

Topic sentence: Barack Obama used repetition of words and phrases to make his speech beautiful.

Passage: “It’s a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect. It’s a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road” (Obama, 2008).

Interpretation: The president used repetition of the phrase “it’s a promise that says.” This is used to strengthen the audience’s memory. It is possible to associate the lines which are repeated with anything which is vaguely related to it. The style of repeating particular words and phrases is referred to as anaphora, and it makes a lasting impact in the audience and has great emotional appeal. (Nordquist, 2019).

• Body Paragraph 2

Topic/transition sentence: Also, Barack Obama used similes and metaphors.

Passage: “They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values” (Obama, 2008).

Interpretation: The president meant that there is a disastrous result of an anticipated gain in our greedy nature of insisting on the things which are bigger than what we have. These help the audience to create, out of a speech, a mental picture which helps them understand the topic vividly.

1. Body Paragraph 3
   1. Topic/transition sentence: Additionally, the president used epistrophe to convey his message during the delivery of this speech.

Passage: “…but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper” (Obama, 2008).

Interpretation: This rhetorical device where the president repeated the word “keeper” to make the speech memorable due to cadence and rhythm creating an emphasis and creates a great emotional appeal (Nordquist, 2019).

1. Body Paragraph 4
   1. Topic/transition sentence: Lastly, Barack Obama used rhetorical questions to

Passage: “How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people’s benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement? (Obama, 2008)

Interpretation: The president used rhetorical questions in order to grab the attention of his audience. He used them to emphasize a point and to make the audience think harder than usual.

1. Conclusion
   1. Restatement of thesis: President Obama gave a beautiful acceptance speech and he ensured that he drove the point home by applying rhetorical devices and he became more convincing to his audience making fulfilling his purpose.
   2. So what? Address the wider implications of your interpretation:
      1. Rhetorical devices in speech can be used to emphasize the message in speech
      2. It is important to use rhetorical devices to create a memorable impact in the audience.
      3. It is more convincing to use rhetorical devices in a speech than when they are not.