Sami Matuszak
Writing 116
Blaskiewicz
5/13/15
Rhetorical Rationale
For the final project of creating a website dealing with your group’s chosen
apocalypse, which was a zombie virus for us, I had the pleasure of dealing with the science
aspect of the virus, and the creation of the vaccine that would stop the human population
from dying off. When I was doing my research I focused on many science journals and
articles dealing with rabies for my sources. I noticed that most of them were actually papers
written in APA format, and they all used scientific jargon that makes it hard to understand
unless you are familiar with it. Also the sources I used were limited and had constraints to
what they were trying say for their main point; they could only really use words and explain
what they found with little help from graphs, or brain scans (mostly MRIs).
What I did for my page on our website was try to incorporate some the scientific
jargon into everything I wrote so it seemed like I was actually a professional in the field of a
zombie virus, that is a mutated form of rabies. Although I had less constraints than the
sources I found. I incorporated videos, pictures, and even a vaccine simulator along with the
brain scans that I found. Basically I tried to make my page on the website seem as scientific
as possible to make it seem like the real deal when someone reads it. I also put in dates and
times that things were written down on my page to make it seem like a journal of a scientist
that was describing the events that were happening while they were occurring. I also used
framing on my page because I have it split into two column. On the right side I have the
events that happened dealing with the zombie virus in sequential order, whereas on the left I
have the bonus stuff that I added to my page to make it less boring to the audience like the
videos, vaccine simulator, and also the case study on the rabies infected brain. Since I have it
set up this way, I believe it gives the audience a feel that the stuff in the right column is more
important and serious, where the stuff on the left is added information that is there to still
provide you with new knowledge, but in different way that just reading.
I created situated ethos by becoming a scientist for our project, so for all technical
purposes when being asked about our project and anything that has to do relating to the
zombie virus I am a PhD that is an expert in this field. This makes people more likely to
believe what I’m saying because I have had the schooling and experience dealing with this
topic, so therefore I should know what I’m talking about. Being a PhD also infers that I have
done copious amount of research on this topic so I am well informed in great detail on all that
is already known. I have invented ethos by the fact that I am the only scientist that knows
history and development of both the zombie virus and the vaccine that was created on our
website which means that the audience, which is the people that visit our website, have no
other sources to go off of, therefore they are almost forced to accept what I’m saying is the
truth. Also the tone in which I convey all the information I present on the website contributes
to my invented ethos. My tone throughout the page is very specific and to-the-point, it uses
scientific jargon which although can make it difficult for some people to read, also makes
them more likely to believe in what I am writing because it reinforces the idea that I am an
expert in this field.
There is not much pathos in my page of the website because mine is more scientific.
With my page I am not trying to draw anytime of emotion from the audience, I am simply
trying to inform them on the history and science behind the zombie virus. The audience
doesn’t choose to believe what I’m writing because they relate to it or find it funny, they
believe it because it is presented as fact with evidence to back it up.
There is use of logos on my page though. I stuck to the general principle of
deductive reasoning. I did this (really our whole site does this) by starting off with the
general information; there is a zombie apocalypse happening. After this has been
established I go into multiple different specific ideas that deal with the zombie
apocalypse. The first is the history of how it came about and what actually caused the
zombies to arise; this was that it started by a goat that had escaped from an animal-testing
lab and was found and put into a petting zoo where it then proceeded to bite and infect
patient zero with the zombie virus. The next piece of evidence I went into was a small
case study that just showed a brain that has contracted the rabies virus and how the
patient responded to different stimuli. The next big idea under the zombie spectrum is the
development of the vaccine to prohibit the virus from spreading more. I made this part
very reliable/believable because it is in the format of a journal of a scientist that is
documenting what was happening as each event is occurring, like an actual scientist
would do in a similar situation. I also have other things other than writing to support my
general idea, the first one is a video from the discovery channel that talks about many
different aspects of the zombie apocalypse but what I got out of the video was the parts
where they talk about the brain of a zombie, and where they talk about how the virus
comes to be. I have another video that shows how viruses spread worldwide and become
a pandemic through major airports and other ways of travel. The last evidence on my
page that supports the overall zombie theme is a link to a vaccine simulator.
Basically my page focuses on ethos and logos to get my point across, mostly
excluding the use of pathos. The reason for this being that my site is very fact based
and scientific, which means there is no use for trying to relate to the audience’s
emotions because the topic that I discuss is not up for debate, it’s about actual
(fictional) events that occurred. I do use ethos and logos though because I make
myself more credible by being a doctor and an expert in the field that the audience is
reading about; and I use deductive reasoning because I start off with the main topic
of the zombie virus and then have multiple different supporting evidences to back
that topic up. I think that my page looks good and comes off as a scientific page
which enforces the idea that everything I wrote is “true”.