Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies in "Scandal Upends Toshiba's Lauded Reputation"

This blog post goes through step by step and analyzes what devices my article uses to appeal to the audience, based on information from The Students Guide to First-Year Writing.

Rozendall, Rafael. "Stairs." 10/03/15 via NewRafael.com. 

The items under Appeals to Credibility that I thought my article employed were, references to credible sources, tone, visual arrangement, and appeals to values or beliefs shared by the audience.

First, the article has a video of the CEO of Toshiba discussing the scandal, which is clearly a reliable source, and adds an immense amount of credibility to the article. The author uses this because they want to give information from a source first hand, so that the audience can recognize their words and the article is correct. Second, tone and visual arrangement were very professional, fitting the theme and proper genre of the article. The professional language and standard layout helped the article appear more credible. Finally, the article appeals to values shared by the audience, as it emphasizes the importance of honor and reputation. Through this, the audience can relate to the article.

Overall, these techniques make the article relatable and informational, while appearing professional and organized. The message is much more effective because of the varied forms that the article uses to communicate, while maintaining its relatable but credible tone. The author does not have any biases.

The devices that the article uses under Appeals to Emotion are a level of formality, and sound effects.

The article is fairly formal in its discussion of the Toshiba scandal. It addresses the issue directly, and goes in depth on the intricacies of the resignation of the CEO and what caused this. Again, there is a video in the article which utilizes audio/sound effects as another way to communicate information.

The video is extremely helpful in conveying credibility, as you can hear about the issue from the man himself, the CEO of Toshiba, proving immediately that the article is truthful. Again, this direct information shows that the author does not have any biases. The emotional reaction the author is trying to create is fairly nonexistent, as the appeal to emotion devices are not that prevalent throughout the article. Because of this these devices do little to add to or detract from the article.

Finally, under appeals to logic, the article uses interviews or expert opinions, and effective organization.

Once again, the video included in the article is utilized to appeal to Logic, as well as the other two branches discussed earlier. Because it is an interview of the leading expert on the resignation of the CEO of Toshiba, the CEO himself, it is an incredibly powerful source to add to credibility. Also, the article is very well organized. It opens with the video to show that the following information is true, then discusses the thesis, related to the reputation of Toshiba, then explains the details of the controversy. The author wants a response of understanding, which is exactly what the article causes. As the primary purpose of the article is to be informative, in order to communicate the validity of the thesis, this informational focus and organization is very effective and credible.



After reading Bailey and Austin's articles, I realized that mine is again fairly unique. Many of the articles emphasize all three aspects of persuasion, where as my article focuses mostly on an appeal to ethics. It does have aspect of logic and emotion, but the controversy in general deals more with ethics than anything else. Also, I found that some of these devices end up having no effect on the credibility of the author, and instead are just tools of argument and persuasiveness.