As humans, we all have our preferences and prefer one thing over another. We talk a specific way and we have our own distinct characteristics that define who we are in all aspects of our lives. This is similar to authors and their compositions and writings, who have to specifically target down the reasons behind the work they compose and their audience in order to have a larger impact. Authors make these decisions to better communicate with those who are listening, to tell a story, to educate and inform, or maybe even persuade. Rhetorical appeals are used to get these messages across to the audience to provide credibility and to be relatable. I have learned about ethos, pathos and logos, but I never understood their purpose, but I now see how they bridge the gap between the author and the audience. The author has more decisions to make when composing something than I ever knew, but it is necessary to be efficient to get the point across effectively. The platform, or mode, for example, is another choice made to identify with their distinct audience by choosing the appropriate way to communicate. Style is a very distinct characteristic that authors can be identified by, for example, Ernest Hemingway's style is lengthy, descriptive, and artistic in his language. The tone can make the difference between formal and informal depending on the subject matter and the audience. I admire the amount of dedication it takes to compose a piece from start to finish, when most of the planning is done before the writing has even begun.
Throughout chapter 1 of “The Bedford Book of Genres,” I learned that there are a variety of ways to improve one’s writing. Several writers tend to get carried away while writing that they forget who their audience is and what message they are trying to deliver. This is when one must ask themselves what their purpose of writing is, do they want to present a narrative/ tell a story, inform, or persuade. After figuring out ones purpose they must choose a genre to be able to shorten their idea and be concise. In order for this to occur one must know the basic qualities and agreed-upon rules about the genre they are composing. Once one makes those decisions they move on to the rhetorical situation which mainly explains the idea. This allows the writer to provide support on their purpose such as saying what is great about it or provide statistics, which will automatically make their writing more interesting for the audience to read, as well as, get t...
Megan, I loved that you drew the connection that ethos, pathos, and logos "bridge the gap between the author and audience. I have never appreciated the amount of work it takes to create a perfect paper, I know see how this chapter helps you build and plan one's paper to make it "perfect."
ReplyDeleteI really agree with what you said about ethos pathos and logos bridging the gap between the author and the audience. These three writing styles definitely make it easier to sort of make that connection with the author that is so necessary in order to either enjoy or retain information form a piece of writing.
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