Analyzing my Audience

Scoble, Robert. "Audience Listens at Startup School."29/10/2011 via flickr. CC0 Creative Commons. 

In this blog post I will be analyzing my audience that I will be writing my rhetorical analysis for. Most of the information is quite specifically laid out in the rubric, but it also changes with the argument given in my article along with my major and the major of the students I will be writing for.

Who am I writing for?

In the case of my rhetorical analysis, the audience would be college freshman hoping to graduate with a major in physiology. I am analyzing the speech given by President Obama and relating to the new students how this rhetorical analysis can help them build their own rhetorical analysis. I am showing how he presented the news and how he expressed his opinion on the issue.

What position might they take on this issue? How will I need to respond to this position?

As physiology majors, depending upon religious views, etc., I would generally think they would be for in favor of funding stem cell research. If they see the same potential in medicine that I do and how much good the results of the research could have on the overall health of the population, they would be in favor of the research.

Knowing that my audience are most likely future researchers or some kind of doctors, I can make sure to show that they feel satisfied by reading the article while making them think about the whole issue as well. You want to use facts that will appeal to maybe future jobs for these freshman that might not be around now. Knowing the potential of stem cell research and the vast applications it could have can make way for new specialities and different types of procedures. Who knows, it could even lead the way into more research opportunities to maximize the opportunities of the stem cells.

It is also to point out that as future doctors or medical practitioners, it is important to know how to law restricts medical practices and even where jobs today can be leading. To keep them engaged in the argument, I can remind the freshmen that it is important to keep up with the current events surrounding medical issues relating to their future jobs.

What will they want to know?

They will want to know what sort of strategies are used in rhetorical analysis within the physiology or about medical issues and what sort of strategies are the most successful in completing their goal. I plan on explaining how, even though President Obama is not a doctor, that his strong use of ethics helps the audience believe him to be a credible source and better understand and agree with the ideas he is getting across. They will want to know whether Obama presented a good argument and whether or not he upheld his credibly within the speech. His reputation is much of his credibly, but a speech relating to something more scientific can be messed up and give the audience the impression that he is not the right person to make such an announcement.

How might they react to my argument?

I am assuming many will agree in my evaluation of the essay and will see how reassuring the audience or your credibility not only by your medical license but by your ethical values, people will be more persuaded by your argument. Medical related rhetorical analysis are not always aiming at medical professionals, but the average patients and people being impacted by new practices or new research topics.

How am I trying to relate to or connect with my audience?

I will probably relate back to the idea that I am a freshman as well. People tend to relate better to their equals rather than someone who needs to continue to remind their readers of their superiority. Also as someone who wants to become a doctor myself, I will give the best information on the topic I have since I, first of all want to be the one to understand the rhetorical analysis and get the most from it that I can.

Are there specific words, ideas, or modes of presentation that will help me relate to them in this way?

Just as President Obama did, I cannot drag ideas out too long, but get to my point and make it. There needs to be short and concise paragraphs so that it does not become an eyesore to the reader. They are college freshman you cannot assume they will already have a lot interest in the topic already. I will also have to make sure that they feel I am someone they can trust with learning this information. I can do this by using correct grammar, hyperlinks to sites talking more about stem cell research just in case they don't have a lot of background knowledge on the topic.

Reflection:

After reading through Mira's blog, I realize that I need to focus more on the rhetorical strategies used by the author rather than the argument in general. It is more of a template to analyze rather than really diving into the issue. I feel I have a good ideal of who my audience is, but like any audience, everyone has slightly different ideals and values and a bit of guess work in required to find out what the majority of the people will be thinking who are reading my article.

After reading through Chloe's blog, I feel that my argument is really coming off of the ethics behind the action rather than the actual research itself. It is the stem cells and where they are coming from that people are concerned about rather than the results that they can hold. That means that the counter argument should not solely fall back on factual data, rather than an ethical stance on the author that maybe it is not so bad that this research is taking place because of who the speaker is rather than the issue itself. As a man of faith himself, Obama shows that he is focusing on the big picture of saving lives in the future rather than just trying to save the life of the fetus that might not make it, or how the benefits of the research can outweigh the questionability of using stem cells for a bigger purpose.