E110 FA19 Class Blog

Thesis

• The thesis of this argument is to acknowledge the reality of superbugs and implement actions against the misuse of antibiotics in order to prevent a health crisis.

Audience

• The audience the author is intending to target is doctors prescribing medication, scientists, and regular civilians. The author addresses the mistakes and the problems associated with each group of people and demands that each group makes the necessary changes in preventing a health crisis. 

Logos

• The author uses many forms of factual evidence including a personal event, statistics, and constantly quotes professionals in the field. The author is extremely consistent in including factual information throughout their entire argument.

Ethos 

• The author establishes ethos through their tone, diction, and their sources of evidence. Throughout the argument the tone is harsh and serious in order to deliver the point that action is absolutely essential. The author thoroughly explains topics and through their diction, they are able to construct authority. The author uses a plethora of credible sources such as the CDC and the FDA, demonstrating that the author has taken the time to research the topic in depth therefore giving him authority.

Pathos 

• The author uses pathos in crafting his argument by including a personal story about how his dad ultimately died from being infected by a superbug. This creates pathos because the audience is able to sympathize with him and understand where the basis of his argument is coming from.

Kairos

• The author uses relevant information to prove the aspects of his arguments. He uses a survey from 2010-2011 and the story about his father happened in 2016. Using such recent events makes it relevant to the audience that this is a problem.

Morality

• This is a moral argument because the author has been directly impacted by superbugs and is demanding action in order to prevent other people from experiencing similar tragic events created by superbugs.

The thesis is that since mental health issues have been destigmatized, the openness about topics like depression and suicide has led to the creation of memes portraying these serious issues as a joke. The author is arguing this is a dangerous online trend and is destructive to our generation’s mental health. We learn the thesis after she tells us her own experience and right before she starts to talk about memes, so this way the reader can understand the role memes play on mental health and how the two relate to each other. 

The audience includes Gen Z, people who use the internet, people who struggle with mental health, and adolescents. She wants the audience to realize how dangerous the internet can be and how serious mental health issues are. She is writing to this audience because she wants the generation to be happy and healthy. She also wants people to be aware of the issue, so they stop the trend. 

The author uses logic and evidence by stating her logical argument/claim, then following it with evidence from various sources. Her sources include a university, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and a clinical therapist. Her logic and evidence are effectively organized as she has it in every paragraph and her thesis is always backed up. She also uses examples of memes to show how they are perceived, and then explains why that way is dangerous and the way they really should be perceived. For instance, she displays one meme about having bad coping mechanisms and another meme about the internet as an acceptable alternative to therapy. 

She creates her authority by first showing that she is well informed on the topic because of her past experiences, but then she shows her authority by using strong evidence to back up the serious claims she makes. She shows her own credibility when she states, “That’s right: internet memes played a role in my depressive spiral.” The author also cites reliable sources like Loughborough University, Common Sense Media studies, clinical therapist Meghan O’Flynn, and the US Department of Health & Human Services. The tone is serious and assertive and the diction consists of a strong passionate vocabulary, which makes the reader believe she knows what she is talking about, feels strongly about the topic, and can be trusted. 

She creates emotion by sharing her own experience with struggling with her mental health. She tells the reader that she thought about suicide and addresses how serious the topic is for her. She also creates emotion because she is so passionate about the topic and really urges the reader to want to do something about this issue. Talking about her struggles with contemplating suicide certainly reaches the audience on an even more personal and emotional level. 

She wrote about the topic at the perfect time because it is extremely relevant. People use social media platforms that she mentioned every single day and this issue is going on as we speak. It is effecting teenagers and as the popularity of social media and technology in society continues to grow, this will only get worse and even more serious. She makes a moral argument because she is concerned about the well-being of the generation. 

By: Maya Walker

THESIS:

The thesis of this article is located in the first paragraph. At the end of her introduction, Maya Walker includes how the internet and people’s use of memes were the main source of her depression. She would see offensive jokes made to be funny online. She would see the internet inciting pain, violence or even suicide and shared how these posts began to make her feel the same way about herself. She wrote about her personal pain and mental illness and how the internet contributed to it.

TARGETED AUDIENCE: 

• Teens/ tweens
• Younger people with social median
• Anyone with social media/ especially beginners

ETHOS:

• Different ways of communicating with people over the internet (tweeting, reposting, instagramming) cause people to mask their emotions so no one knows their true feelings
• Normalizing memes makes people become more inclined to joke or lie about their emotions 
• People have learned to put a face on for everyone else 
• Author uses personal stories to establish her credibility

PATHOS:

• People have begun to rely too much on the internet and have turned away from face to face contact with other human beings
• Author uses personal stories and experiences and tells how social media made everything even worse for her

LOGOS:

• The author includes examples using actual memes to help her story
• she allows the reader to feel what she means when she says they’re offensive 
• Stats → back up her side of the story with facts 

KAIROS:

• Author speaks about social media, a HUGE part of our life today
• Main way people now communicate with each other 
• many people on the fence about suicide have been pushed over because of suicide so its not an uncommon thing

Thesis: “That dream would be enough to push me out of my hospital bed and send myself flying towards achieving greater heights in academics and extracurriculars. Before coming to college, I felt like nothing was going to stop me from pursuing that dream. That is until I was introduced to the world of student loans.” This thesis does a good job of telling the audience that student loans is what he is going to be talking about for his paper. It also has a little bit of Pathos in it.

Logos: “Dr. Ryan Greysen of Yale University School of Medicine notes in his article “A History of Medical School Debt” that schooling since 1963 has been growing increasingly loan dependent as attendance costs rose, with 86% of medical students graduating with debt as of 1984 (840-841).” This shows the number aspect, by showing statistics it makes his point stronger.

Ethos: “The medical field can be divided in to two general categories:primary care and specialty care. Primary care consists of physicians who have general knowledge of most fields. Specialty care consists of the fields of medicine that focus specifically on one aspect of medicine like cardiology or oncology.” He is describing different types of medical fields, which is ethos. He is giving credibility to himself.

Pathos: “I have lived all around the world in my lifetime, but the one place I called home for most of my childhood was the hospital. From catching the Swine Flu in Singapore, to getting water parasites in Vietnam, none of my constant visits to the ER could prepare me for the bug that would afflict me for the rest of my life: the dream of being a doctor.” This does a great job of making the audience feel bad for him. It was a good idea to put it in the beginning because it opens the eyes of the audience to feel bad for him.

Thesis:

“While photojournalism may be exploitive, this exploitation is not always unethical and sometimes even necessary in creating an image that is both beautiful and impactful.”

Ethos:
Smolens utilizes ethos in her argument a multitude of times. She cites the National Press Photographers Association and their Code of Ethics in order to obtain credibility and provide a background on the rules set forth by a respected organization on this topic.

Pathos:
Smolens uses pathos in her argument frequently. By using Sebastiao Salgado’s emotionally striking photograph, she grabs the reader’s attention by grabbing ahold of their emotions. Including the photos that she used in her argument was a smart way to incorporate pathos into her argument. She also talks about the connection between viewers and the photos themselves, a point that makes the argument even more personal.

“They deliver to us beautiful, haunting, informative, truthful, horrific, meaningful, profound images, and so what we do when we view them is just as important.”

“An experience is something that personally affects your life, and so rather than just creating a great photograph that is nice to look at, he also wants it to personally touch you in some way.”

Logos:
Smolens appeals to logos a lot throughout the course of her argument. She uses a lot of resources and reliable sources to provide good information about her topic. Smolens also utilizes quotes from real photojournalists on their opinions of the ethics of photojournalism.

“Photojournalism,” suggests that “[p]hotojournalists at their best produce visual references that illuminate human activity, reveal our vices and virtues, and offer iconic representations of events and individuals in a manner that can be ‘read’ by as many as possible”

The author’s thesis is stated at the end of the first paragraph when they state, “I argue this overarching connection demonstrates the partial but hugely consequential role of climate change in causing the ongoing deadly conflict between the Syrian citizens and their government because the former faced the negative effects of climate change while the latter failed to meaningfully respond to these issues.” 

The audience is society. This piece was written with the intent of educating while persuading.

Ethos- The writer establishes a credible reputation by explaining himself thoroughly and using quite a few statistics (each with a citation) to reaffirm his points. This is the most used element in this piece.

Logos- The writer again uses a logical appeal, as seen in the multiple statistics and direct quotes from those employed at universities globally, each studying climate change. 

Pathos- The title of the piece directly appeals to the reader’s emotions. Talking about the societal conflict allows the reader to easily place themselves into the shoes of the people who are struggling. 

The author is pursuing a factual argument instead of an emotional one, even though this could have been done effectively either way.

• Thesis: “It is up to festival officials to change the rhetoric and focus on absolute drug eradication within contemporary music festivals to a more hands-on, harm-reduction approach.”
  • Clear and concise
  • ends the intro paragraph 
• Ethos 
  • Takes commanding lead right away by demonstrating good knowledge and following it with facts and evidence 
    • strong vocabulary 
    • Constantly throughout paper is quoting valid sources that only make her argument stronger and more credible 
• Pathos 
  • Author makes the story almost personal in a sense mentioning specific victims of illicit drug use at music festivals 
    • Very specifically talks about certain drugs in detail
    • makes reader almost feel some of her anger and frustration towards festivals directors 
      • Makes it personal and explains how she has seen this first hand 
• Logos 
  • Strong argument that very thoroughly breaks down how festivals are and how logically they should change in the interest of keeping people safe
    • Has very powerful facts that are always immediately backed up quotes and or evidence 
    • Is good at playing the devils advocate at times like when mentioning why festival directors feel certain ways about taking certain actions 

• Kairos 
  • Her argument is at a perfect time. As the government is having a huge battle of whether marijuana should be legalized along with other drugs. 
  • Her argument is also very valid and timely because contemporary  music festivals are extremely popular right now and growing at exponential rates. With new festivals emerging annually the United States alone hosts several hundred every year where illicit drug use is at taking place

Thesis:

• “The root of this unrecognized internal turmoil was an acclimation to suicidal tendencies, one of the core values in today’s memes. That’s right: internet memes played a role in my depressive spiral.”
• “That is why broadening awareness to the seriousness of mental health issues online is vital to bringing about a healthier and happier Gen Z.”

Audience:

• Gen Z
• Adolescents
• People who use social media
• People who joke about mental health

Logos:

• In a recent study, 21% of teenagers reported feeling more popular when using social media, mainly because of the engagement they receive when something they feel comes off as “relatable”
  • Using this fact to further prove her points

Ethos:

• “That is why broadening awareness to the seriousness of mental health issues online is vital to bringing about a healthier and happier Gen Z”
  • Using words like “vital” show the importance of the issue and makes the writer sound like they really know what they are talking about
• “That’s right: internet memes played a role in my depressive spiral.”
  • Writer made this statement sound like a fact and worded it with certainty, builds authority

Pathos:

• The internet should not be one’s sole source of emotional support, and the idea that it even could be is wildly ludicrous and incredibly dangerous for suffering teenagers
  • Calls attention to the issue through terms like “suffering teens”. The average person would be affected in some way by the term.

Kairos:

• “Generation Z is the “most likely of all generations to report poor mental health” (American Psychological Association, 2018), and I would contend that the way we talk about mental health online might just be to blame for that.”
  • Writer states that Gen Z reports the most poor mental health. Memes regarding mental health won’t help fix this issue, which is very prevalent right now. The writer chose to write about this topic because it is very current and important in today’s day and age.

Ethos/Authority:

• Mentions credible sources, for example, Loughborough University, Common Sense Media studies, clinical therapist Meghan O’Flynn, US Department of Health & Human Services
• Uses quotes + citations
• Talks about her own experience with mental illness

Pathos/Emotion:

• She used emotion to make the audience care about her point by talking from her personal struggle with depression and suicide
• This article was on a serious topic so it automatically catches the attention/ emotion. She used studies that showed that gen z is being most affected and that something needs to be done 
• Only used recent studies/ reputable sources that backed up her argument, she used the examples in an honest way to back up what she argues with facts 
• Inserted memes to add a visual aspect/ real examples that got a lot of online attention
• Used quotes to show how serious the subject was  

Logos/Reason:

• Used credible quotes to show how the memes can harm people, example: “Direct and indirect exposure to suicidal behavior has been shown to precede an increase in suicidal behavior in persons at risk for suicide, especially in adolescents and young adults” (US Department of Health & Human Services)
• Backs up what she says with studies, credible people 
• Added real memes/ tweets to back up what she was saying 
• Gave an example of the origin of internet memes about mental illness

Kairos/Occasion:

• This topic is a current issue/ gave examples and evidence on how it is affecting teenagers/ young adults 
• Used relevant social media apps that the audience could relate to 
•  With the increase of technology/ social media, this issue can only get more relevant

Structure:

•  Organized the essay in a clear and concise way, had evidence to back up her argument(not just her thoughts on it)
• Each paragraph flowed with the one before, gave evidence and explained the quotes she put in 
• Introduction paragraph gave a personal aspect to the argument making it more personal and relatable 

Persona:

• The author gives a personal aspect to the argument, this shows that the argument she is giving is relevant to teenagers and young adults

Tone /Diction: 

• Serious tone 
• Used words that trigger serious, emotional responses 
• Didn’t try to make light of the situation, kept the serious tone throughout the entire essay

Audience: 

• teenagers/ young adults
• Generation z 
• The author reaches them by using relevant social media and things that her audience can relate to 
• The author wants to bring light to the serious effects that the dark memes have on vulnerable people 

• Identify the thesis and its location. Why is it there? The thesis is at the end of the first paragraph, “The root of this unrecognized internal turmoil was an acclimation to suicidal tendencies, one of the core values in today’s memes. That’s right: internet memes played a role in my depressive spiral.”

• Who are they citing as evidence? American Psychological Association, Loughborough University, Common Sense Media, social media applications, American Behavioral Scientist,  NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness, and other credible sources

Thesis: 

The thesis is included in the end of her opening paragraph by saying, “While photojournalism may be exploitive, this exploitation is not always unethical and sometimes even necessary in creating an image that is both beautiful and impactful” (Smolen).

Put more simply, Smolen is setting up her main point of the article which focuses on the fine line between photojournalism and photographic art and to what extent photojournalism can be considered unethical.

Audience: 

This audience is any people of the public who are exposed to the news since photojournalism and elements of it are constantly circulating around modern news. 

Ethos: 

Smolen provides several appeals to ethos. She sites information from the National Press Photographers Association and more specifically their code of ethics which is the foundation of rules for photojournalism as a whole. 

• “the primary goal of visual journalism is to provide ’faithful and comprehensive depiction of the subject at hand,’ and to report on significant events and varied viewpoints (Code of Ethics)”

She also sites a New York Times article that discusses famous photojournalist Sebastio Salgado who has been known for pushing the envelope when it comes to photojournalism.

• “Michael Kimmelman of the New York Times reveals, ‘Of course his photographs are exploitative. Most good photojournalism is.’”

Logos:

Smolen also develops different appeals to logos throughout her piece. She develops the point that back in the day when people and events all over the world were not connected so easily, photojournalism did not have to be as harsh or gruesome in order to get its point across since these photos were from such far away places that people were never exposed to. 

• “Kimmelman writes, ‘but it is another thing to try to do so now, when the number of images that flash across television and computer screens diminishes the value of any single image you may see.’ Therefore, since the number of media that we see every day has increased greatly over the years, photographers now struggle to make a picture have a lasting effect.”

She also discusses the ideas of Paolo Pellegrin who wanted to challenge the public’s way of viewing images by not providing captions and he simply wanted the photographs to tell their own story. Since he wanted the photos to tell a story, he took a revolutionary approach by making the photos artistic.

• “His impression of vagueness is enforced by his decision to keep the captions separate from the images. This careful and directed execution of his work causes it to be considered more so art rather than documentary photojournalism, since documentary photographs are not meant to be edited or manipulated in any way so as to not detract from the “truth” of the image.”

Pathos:

Smolen captures appeals to pathos by almost targeting the readers. She discusses how in today’s world the public is so unaffected by images because they are constantly circulating around us and it makes readers actually think about that idea. 

• “This is where photojournalism and photographic art overlap, and it is important that they do so, since, like Kimmelman said, images are starting to have less and less effect on people, and therefore, elements of beauty are essential to hold our attention.”

She also mentions how we view the suffering of others in photos with pathos, making us realize the way we feel when seeing these photos.“If we cannot help them, should we not at least acknowledge, and maybe even reflect and show compassion? Having their struggles recorded in photographs helps people to remember them and their experiences.”