National Geographic Rhetorical Analysis

The National Geographic Society is a well known and highly respected organization that has funded thousands of projects and expeditions over the past 100 years. This society consists of numerous scientists and supporters from across the globe. Their main goal, as stated on the website, is to "inspire people to care about the planet". Although the audience of this site could be seen as mainly the scientific community, people of all ages and cultures can be drawn to a sight such as this. Anyone with the capacity and eagerness to learn could be thought of as a potential audience. This explains why the magazine along with the shows are such a popular media in many countries.
The main purpose of National Geographic's website is to inform the public along with the scientific community. As seen on the home page, they strive to make their website compelling, engaging, and informative. This is evident in the many striking images they post everyday on page one. These photos, along with well written headlines, engage the browser and help to draw them into the website. Although the homepage has many links, it is designed in a way so that the browser can easily find the subject they are looking for.
The tone of this website seems to be an open-minded, exploratory and informative one. The authors of this site not only want the reader to be engaged in the articles on the site, but want them to be open-minded and think scientifically in their everyday lives.
The authors of this website use rhetorical appeals very effectively on the home page to complement the ethos, pathos, and logos found there. Many of these articles strike at the heart of our ethos as a culture, informing us of the many struggles and hardships we face. Not only is our cultural ethos reflected here, but the website also exhibits pathos by connecting with our basic human instinct of wanting to understand the world around us. By taking a scientific approach to the website, logos is clearly evident in the scientific data found throughout the website. All in all, this site seems to have found a strong connection between the three rhetorical appeals.

Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue"

I found this essay to be mainly about Tan's struggles to cope with the English language as a Chinese-American writer. I thought it was interesting how much her mother's ability to speak affected hers as a young student. I think this shows how a students learning and testing abilities depends on the environment they grew up in. Tan's experience with a mother who spoke "limited" English may have also helped her to become a more creative and determined writer.

This Should Be Interesting

I have only recently become aware of blogs and what they are really about. Blogs, in my opinion, are basically a free billboard which any person can access at any time. It provides a forum for open communication and gives the writer a chance to express themselves freely. I think that these blogs will definitely help our class to better share our ideas in and out of the classroom. I also hope that it will help me develop my writing and communication skills. I noticed that most of my classmates, as well as myself, have never done the blogging thing. This is probably because blogging has just recently become a popular form of communication on the internet. Despite our overall lack of experience as bloggers, I am sure interesting ideas and conversations will develop in future posts.

A Dingo Ate My Baby

Watch out for dingos, they will eat your baby.