RHETORICAL AND VISUAL ANALYSIS
OMAR VILLARREAL
ENGLISH 1311
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
SEPTEMBER 28, 2010
RICARDO MARRUFO
Abstract
Marijuana addiction is a really big issue in our country. In the next pages, an article about this issue will be discussed. I will go over the logos, pathos, and ethos factors of the text. The visuals, medium, emotion, credibility, and other rhetorical aspects of the text will be revised and analyzed as well.
In the article ‘Marijuana Addiction Facts’ the author is unknown. It seems like it is an expert in different types of alcohol & drug related addictions. The author has a better understanding of the drug than average. I believe that this author may be a doctor or professional who is there to give you facts or if you need help getting through or understanding your addiction.
This author represents the Alcohol Abuse Drug Addiction Information Website. He also cites their sources from credible websites and agencies. For example: NIDA, NIAAA, and SAMHSA (The Alcohol Abuse Drug Addiction Information Website, 2010). The article is very credible because the author presents several sources that support the facts that are being presented.
In this article the author presents a set of facts that portray no emotional effect on the audience because the article is for informational purpose. The author’s objective is to inform an audience about the human, economic, social, and health factors of this substance, he does not show any biased opinions on the matter. This said the author does not try to evoke any emotional effect on the audience. For the nature of the article there is no need for the use of emotion to attract the audience, instead the author uses an informative tone to communicate the effects of this substance.
The author uses a black text, because this way he is sending an informative mood making the reader realize the facts and not trying to change the audience’s opinion about the substance. There is a use of illustrations that the author uses to provide the audience with a detailed example of the appearance of the substance, the paraphernalia that is used to consume the drug, and also a representation of a person consuming the substance.
The supporting evidence in this article is presented by actual facts provided by legitimate sources of scientific research and empirical knowledge. All sources are cited and the reader can have access to all of the evidence presented. The author provides a broad quantity of facts to support the informative text. Every statement made by the author is backed up by a specific source cited at the end of the article.
The author is not biased in the text or shows any different type of opinion towards the subject. He just presents the information clearly so the audience can intake the knowledge and create an opinion on their own. In this particular article the author does not pursue an argument but uses facts to inform the audience. The intention is to inform the audience and not encourage them to have a positive or negative belief about the substance.
There are no specific weaknesses but there could be different opinions about the substance. When it comes to the legalization of the substance, the author provides different statements that could lead the readers to be bias to a certain opinion but his statements are impartial. Just as the weaknesses, there are no strengths shown on the text because people can have different opinions on the subject and different perspectives after they read the material.
The visual aid is composed by three different images, it consists on the appearance of the substance that will help the audience identify the drug, a person holding a marijuana joint to show the reader the most common way of consuming the drug, and an image of paraphernalia that is also used to consume it.
The author organizes the visual examples by placing each image near the paragraph related to the image. It is easier for the reader to understand the content and have the visual aid next to it. In this article, the author uses The Alcohol Abuse Drug Information website to broadcast the information.
The scale of this article is understandable for the reader because the tone of the text is easy to read and relate to for most people and it doesn’t put a perspective out there but provides enough information for an individual to create an opinion about the matter.
The main focus of the author is on the text, he is to inform the audience about the use of marijuana, the dangers of using this drug and the effects it has on people by giving the reader statements and research results. The visual and the text complement each other perfectly because the visual is shown as the paragraph is explaining the substance; this makes it easier for the reader to follow along and intake the information and understand it. In this article, the visual aid just helps the audience to get a clear example of how the substance looks; it’s consistency, and the ways of consumption.
The images do deepen the understanding of the text by providing images that strengthen the content of the text and make the reading less complicated. The location of the visual is right by the paragraph were the text is going over the information that relates to the image. Since marijuana is a very common substance and it is discussed out in the open nowadays, lacking a visual aid wouldn’t make the text less helpful or weakens it’s content.
Conclusion
Furthermore, the article shows that the author is credible and he uses credible sources to support the facts. The author also does not use any emotion to portray the information to the audience, but he explains the text as informative. He uses some visuals to portray the information in the text; he also gives a lot of facts to present different ideas to the audience.
Resources
The Alcohol Abuse Drug Addiction Information Website. (2010). Marijuana Addiction. Retrieved from http://www.addict-help.com/marijuana.asp
