The first chapter in the Bedford Book of Genres involves the varying genres and how they are employed depending on the goal of the author in addition to the audience they are trying to reach. However what interested me in the chapter is how it incorporates rhetorical appeals: logos, ethos, and pathos. For the typical five paragraph essay written throughout school much of the time the writer attempts to employ all three types to build their paper. Yet, when branching out to various genres it is more likely for the writer to simply focus on one of the rhetorical appeals then using the three of them. Which is understandable in part because in both ads and editorials there is a limit to how much the creator can put in to it due to time or length requirements. The question this raises for me however is whether or not it is worth it for the author to only include one rhetorical strategy instead of multiple. For there is always a chance that someone may not be affected by the evidence provided either cause they don’t understand it or its not relevant to them. However that same person may be moved by a play on their emotions or values since that impacts the reader on a more instinctual level. While not always the case it opens the idea that perhaps two are indeed better then one since it has greater chance to impact a wider audience. But one rhetorical appeal fully laid out is better than two half-baked giving yet another factor, in addition to the early remarked, to take into consideration in addition to the audience and the genre as the Bedford Book of Genres advises.
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