Blog Post #5

In my opinion, rhetorical appeals and keeping in mind who your audience is, are the most important values for trying to keep your audience engaged. Rhetorical appeals are categorized into ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos represents how credible an author and the author’s sources are. Pathos symbolizes conveying a specific message to a specific audience. For instance, I would not go into an 8:00 A.M. ENC 2135 class at Florida State University and attempt to give a presentation on how long it takes for light to travel from the sun. Lastly, logos stands for the connection between the supporting evidence of an article and the thesis of the article. Without ethos, pathos, and logos an author can very often end up looking foolish and fail to make a connection to their audience. On top of this the modes by which you are connecting to your audience matters just as much as the audience itself. If I wanted to get attention for a grand opening of a new Chipotle, I would target millennials, Chipotle’s chunk of customers. The best way to reach this audience would be through a written mode of communication and using a digital medium. On the other hand, if I were trying to target an older audience about retirement plans, I would choose a written mode of communication, however, I might use a medium using print. Perhaps I would try to convey my message about retirement plans through a magazine. These aspects of literature can either aid or impede an author when trying to reach a target audience, and having the audience respect their views on the subject.