Appeals to Credibility or Character
Which items on the bulleted list of strategies on page 182 can you recognize in your text?
How and why would the author use these strategies?
The author is attempting to establish credibility, so that their opinion on the matter will be seen as valid by the audience.
How do these strategies affect the audience’s perception of the author’s credibility and character?
They likely have the effect of establishing the author's knowledge of the topic. By citing sources and establishing their method, the audience accepts the author's word.
How does the use of these strategies impact the effectiveness of the text’s overall message?
The author's character is established, so the message should be accepted by the audience.
Does the author seem to have any biases or assumptions that might impact his or her credibility?
Appeals to Emotion
Which items on the bulleted list of strategies on pages 182-3 can you recognize in your text?
Language used to describe the bottom of the valley, such as, "shuffling and convulsing", and, "glassy and corpse-like." The use of such language isn't so much inspiring disgust as it is humor.
What emotional response is the author attempting to create?
The use of humor also helps to describe the emotions people usually experience in regards to 'creepy' robots or CGI. The makes the author seem empathetic to the audience, even though he'll go on to argue against the uncanny valley.
What is the actual result?
The small amount of humor doesn't do much for the author's argument, but does help in connecting with the audience. It would help set up the audience for more in depth arguments later in the text.
Are these emotions effective or ineffective for this particular audience and rhetorical situation?
Popular Mechanics, while scientific in content, is still a magazine read for entertainment. The article does need some humor to help engage the audience. I would say it's effective.
How do these emotional appeals affect the credibility of the author or the logic of the text?
Humor won't improve the logic of the text, but can help engage the audience. The author does great on logic throughout the text, so the humor towards the beginning helps.
Appeals to Logic
Which items on the bulleted list of appeals on page 183 can you recognize in your text?
Expert opinions, organization of ideas, statistics, and referencing studies/research.
What response is the author attempting to create by employing these strategies?
The authors primary strategy is to appeal to logic, which makes sense seeing as how it's a scientific publication. While there is personal experience to assist, the bulk of the argument is in the data and research.
What is the actual result?
The author succeeds in conveying the article logically, which is good since it's a scientific article.
Are these strategies effective or ineffective for this particular audience and rhetorical situation?
This strategy is perfect for the publication. The best way to convey a point to an audience of a scientific publication is with a scientific approach. It would be the best method out of the three to do so.
Which items on the list of logical fallacies on pages 185-6 can you recognize in your text?
What effect does the use of these logical fallacies have on the reader?
The fallacy is probably unnoticed by the bulk of readers. If the fallacy is noticed, it could hurt the character of the author.
I enjoy reading popular science and popular mechanics magazine article regularly and I concur with your statement that humor help the general reader interested in the topic to connect further with the author's point of view. In a since he becomes your friend to gain your trust to later invite you to join him in his perspective.
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