Summer sales jobs lucrative, but tricky

http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/news/summer-sales-jobs-lucrative-but-tricky-1.352782

Word count: 377

1.      Argument:   Utah College students should be educated about a company‘s policies before they sign up for a summer sales job.

2.      Audience:   The audience is Utah college students considering a summer job doing door-to-door sales.  Many are returned missionaries who have experience knocking doors already.

3.      Goal:   To make students aware that all the promises a company makes may not be as straightforward as they seem.

4.      How:

·        Ethos:   By using first-hand accounts from students who have had experience selling for the companies that regularly recruit Utah college students, ethos is established.  The audience will tend to listen to their peers as they feel like they are in similar situations and will have similar experiences if they go work for the same companies.

·        Logos:  There are many statistics in the article.  Providing the numbers will be particularly convincing to the academic nature of the audience.  They are interested in how much they can earn doing a sales job, and the numbers provide them with that information.  

·        Accurate:   The article presents the pros and cons of summer sales accurately.  The audience is able to see both sides and make a more informed decision. 

·        Relevant:  Most Utah college students have seen advertisements like the ones mentioned in the article.  Even more students have heard stories about how much money can be made doing summer sales.  Because the audience is poor, making lots of money over the summer appeals to them, and because they are educated, they want to be able to know the ins and outs of summer sales. 

5.      Effective or Not:   I think the article is very effective.  Students who are considering summer sales as a way to make a lot of money for school will want to learn all the pros and cons.  The way the information is presented in this article is very convincing.  The audience will trust the summer-sales veterans as their peers, and they will be further convinced by the numbers provided.  The fact that the article’s major stance is to inform will appeal to the audience because it gives them the feeling that someone isn’t trying to convince them of something.  This approach allows students to form their own opinions which I think they will appreciate.  

Toy Story 3

Word Count:  383

1.      Argument: Toy Story 3 is a fun, exciting movie.

2.      Audience:  The audience is primarily American families.  These families have probably seen the first two Toy Story movies and are eagerly anticipating the third.   

3.      Goal: To get people to come see Toy Story 3.

4.      How:

-          Ethos:  The Toy Story movies have established themselves well in the past, so that in and of itself is great ethos.  People know the story and have loved the other 2 Toy Story movies, so they will be likely to see this one too.  Also, at the very beginning and again in the middle of the trailer, Disney and Pixar are identified as having made the movie.  The audience also trusts both of these names, as they have made many highly loved movies in recent years.

-          Pathos:  The sad song and the montage in the beginning that shows Andy growing up sparks bittersweet feelings in the audience.  Most have seen the first two Toy Story movies and already feel attached to the characters and how much they love Andy and being played with.  Feelings of excitement are introduced in the second half of the trailer as the toys are moved to the day-care facility.   The children are crazy, and it culminates in the little girl putting her tongue all over Buzz’s helmet. The audience will think it’s funny and familiar to see the characters personalities coming out – like when Buzz gets reset to the Spanish setting.

-          Relevant:  This 3^rd movie shows what’s happening to the toys as their owner grows up and leaves to college.  This is relevant to the audience because everyone grows up and outgrows their toys at some point.  They  can relate to the story very well.

-          Accurate: Because the audience has probably seen the first 2 movies, they will be able to see very quickly that the trailer for Toy Story 3 seems to fit right in and presents an accurate representation of what they would expect from the 3^rd movie.

5.      Effective or not:  I think the trailer is very effective.  This trailer made the story clear, it appealed to familiar emotions of growing up, it was funny, it was exciting, and it was made by companies that Americans know and trust to make awesome movies.

Aims of a BYU Education

http://www.law2.byu.edu/law_school/foundingdocumentsnew/pdf%20documents/aimsofbyueducation.pdf

Word Count : 284

1.      Argument: A BYU education should be spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, character building, and should lead to lifelong service and learning.

2.      Audience:  The audience is primarily BYU students, faculty and administrators.  A secondary audience may be people interested in becoming students at BYU.

3.      Goal: To set up a concrete set of goals that teachers can work toward providing and students can work toward achieving while at BYU.

4.      How:

-          Ethos:  This is the strongest appeal used.  Scriptures and quotes from Brigham Young and other Prophets are used to enforce the Aims.  BYU students and faculty will both respect and listen to the Prophets and the scriptures.   Also, this is an official document of BYU, and the university has credibility on its own.

-          Logos:  The goals are logical, and the way the document is set up allows the points to be made in a logical order and develops a flow of arguments.

-          Sufficient:  The goals are explained in enough detail, but they are also listed in a simple way that makes them easier to remember.

-          Reasonable:  The audience is generally fairly educated and will agree with the academic aims.  They are also primarily LDS and will agree with the spiritually strengthening and lifelong service aims.

5.      Effective or not:  I think that the Aims of a BYU education are effective in setting up a framework for the educational experience at BYU.  I think that it could be emphasized more in some ways than having it in an obscure place on BYU’s website however.  I don’t think that many students or faculty read it very often, but the fact that it is very simple makes it easy to remember.