What that something is you will have to identify for your reader—and perhaps you have already done so (if you wrote a summary about the essay you choose to analyze for this assignment).

What that something is you will have to identify for your reader—and perhaps you have already done so (if you wrote a summary about the essay you choose to analyze for this assignment).
How does the author construct his or her ethos, and what is the character of that ethos?
What appeals address the audience’s emotions, values, or experiences (pathos), and what assumptions about those emotions, values, experiences lie behind the appeals?
What evidence and claims does the author make, and how would you describe the quality of that evidence?
What exigence does the essay appear to address?