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| thinkmedialabs "Audience" 09/24/11 via flickr. Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 Generic |
Who am I writing for?
As per the Project 2 guidelines, I will be writing for a hypothetical new student in the biology major. I am trying to show this new student the correct way to rhetorically analyze an article in our field. Since they are in the field of science, they would possibly be more likely to value a logical approach with evidence to back up claims.
What position might they take on this issue? How will I respond to this position?
What will they want to know?
They will want to know my process in rhetorically analyzing the article, as well as the different rhetorical strategies the author uses and how to tell whether or not they are important and the extent of their importance. They will also want to know how this relates to the field of Biology and obviously how to analyze an article like this rhetorically.
How might they react to my argument?
They might disagree with me evaluation of the article's rhetoric and the techniques I decided were most important in the article. They could also of course agree. However if I am not clear enough they could be confused, but if I do a good job they could have a complete understanding of rhetorical analysis.
How am I trying to relate to or connect with my audience?
I am trying to give the new student a clear and enlightening demonstration of rhetorical evaluation. To do this I will be using an article based on a Biological controversy. I don't want to seem high and mighty, so I should probably try to connect to by using a more conversational and easy to understand tone,
Are there specific words, ideas, or modes of presentation that will help me relate to them in this way?
I should make sure to define terms like Ethos before I just throw them out there to help them with the understanding. In addition the conversational tone (but not too conversational because that isn't a convention of the essay genre) and easy to understand words will help me relate to them. Also, an organized way of presenting the information would make them more likely to be able to connect the dots in what I am saying.
Reflection
After reading Mathias and Zayla's posts, I found that for the most part, we are all on the same track. Although it varies a bit based on the different majors how the audience is expected to respond, we all planned on using a mix of formal and informal tone to get our points across to the student we are addressing. Seeing that my peers (especially Zayla, our posts were like weirdly similar) are approaching this in the general same way as me reassures me that I am on the right track, and makes me feel more confident about this project in general.
I thought you did a great job on your analysis here. I also found our posts to be fairly similar, and the only differences were related to specific content differences. You did a good job of concisely but directly answering each question posed by the text. I debated personally whether or not I should include the actual questions from the text in my post, and after reading yours think that from now on this is probably a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked your last point in how defining ethos would really help the audience. I think this is a great way of incorporating both demands of the genre and the demands of the prompt. I could relate to that idea of not knowing exactly what the audience may believe or think, and that dealing with both sides will require a comprehensive analysis.
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