bLoG fIve

Well to remind everybody what my argument essay topic was, it was arguing against the top-ten percent rule here in Texas. The top-ten percent rules guarantees any High School senior graduating within the top-ten percent from a public high school acceptance to any public University no matter the students' GPA, SAT or ACT scores. I argued that the top-ten percent rule was unfair to students that graduated just outside of the top-ten percent by making it virtually impossible for them to get into top-ranked public universities like the University of Texas at Austin. I also argued that the rule was unfair to out of state students because they are not qualified for the top-ten percent rule.

I will be redirecting my argument from students at TCU to Parents of students in the Texas Public School system. I turned my essay into a magazine ad. It could also be used as a flyer or even easily turned into a commercial. The add it completely black and the wording is white. There are two pictures and both of them are in black and white. The only color on the ad is the word 'no' which is in red. I decided to make the ad 'talk' to the reader by referring to their child. Thus, the words 'your child' appear on the ad multiple times. By referring to the reader's child, the ad contains lots of pathos. The pictures will hopefully make the reader put themselves and their child in the situations pictured to greater play on their emotions. There is not any logos in the ad and very little ethos, if any, either. I also use the reader's ignorance towards the subject to my advantage in the ad. I have found through my research that many parents that have not had children effected by the top-ten percent rule are unaware it exists. Knowing this, my ad could convince any parent that the top-ten percent rule could prevent their child from attending a public university. Most people will then be quick to make a judgement on it and neglect to further research the truth behind the rule. Though this may sound like the ad takes advantage of people, if you think about it, every single form of advertisement relies on the basis of human ignorance, quick judgement and unwillingness to seek the truth.

Throughout this semester, I have learned that the rhetoric process is one that is easily changeable simply depending on what the writing is trying to say and to what audience is preferred. For example, in the final essay, my argument featured much more logos and ethos when trying to convince the class of my position however, when trying to convince parents of my stance I found it easiest to use pathos. I have also learned that being able to connect the reader with the writer and the subject is the key to producing a quality essay.