Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical analysis of your journal and the articles you read using the genre frameworks provided by Swales and Linton et al. In what ways do the articles make use of the conventions of structure, reference, and language? And what can this tell us about the journal’s audience(s) and its implied “world view” (i.e. epistemology)?


The scholarly journal about Civil Engineering found through the online database generally follows the structure of Swales in most of the articles.  Swales' Genre Model begins with Establishing a Territory which can be clearly seen from the research style articles that often begin with an abstract.  The Territory is set and then the Niche is then recognized.  After the Niche is set and both sides are recognized it is the occupied through the proof of the research and the conclusion.  


The journals are written with research that is built on from previous engineers and therefore the references are clearly stated and acknowledged.  The articles are also written in an attempt to be objective in order to provide the audience with accurate research.  The audience is the fellow engineers and the future engineers interested in research the apart of academia.  The language is written with great detail but can sometimes be a bit difficult to understand because it is written specifically for its audience. 


The epistemology of the journal is that there is more and more things to learn and continue to fix.  As we begin to learn more, it opens the door to more things we can learn.

Robust Structures

This particular scholarly journal discusses the need for overly robust building structures and how this is adequately achieved.  Buildings are designed to be more than what is needed in case of an accidental failure.  This way when a failure occurs, the building can absorb the energy while keeping the relative original shape.  Essentially creating a building that is robust means that the building is over designed to a certain extent.

This journal attempts to determine at what extent the building should be robust in order to remain safe and more cost efficient.  By over designing the building, the cost will increase.  The author performed different case studies in order to find out the relative percentage of over design that should be used for a typical failure.   Buildings are not built to withstand all of nature's fury just because it is not economically feasible therefore they are only built slightly stronger than what is needed for a typical location.

Fly Ash in Asphalt

The article I read this week was about utilizing a by product of coal known as fly ash to help strengthen ashpalt.  Through the extensive research done in labs and on actual stretches of roads, the conclusion was that fly ash is a very good filler for ashpalt as well as being a recycled material.  The asphalt samples were put through a number of fatigue tests at different levels of fly ash being used and different types of fly ash as well.

I found this particularly interesting because I did this exact same experiment last year in one of my classes.  Clemson has an advanced asphalt and pavement design facility known as ARTS.  This is good to see how actual class work can indeed relate to the real world and create jobs as well.

Sustainability

This week I read an article discussing the pros and cons of the LEED ratings for sustainable buildings.  LEED is a new rating system which provides possible points for creating a sustainable building by reducing energy uses in many different ways.  The system is becoming more main stream and many universities such as Clemson are requiring any new or restored buildings to acquire atleast a LEED Silver certification.

This is helpful because it is forcing many builders and owners to become more aware about their energy use and the efficiency of their building.  It is also a bad thing because most people focus only on getting the points and not the reason behind getting the points.  It is more of a game than a lifestyle.  Once more people realize the meaning behind sustainability and then begin applying that into their construction habits will the world become a much more efficient atmosphere.

Architects and Steel

My major is Civil Engineering and the reading journal I chose is MSC, Modern Steel Construction.  The article "By God's Grace" by Anindya Dutta and John D. Meyer discusses a new Greek Orthodox complex to be built in NJ.  The combination of having a good architect and a good engineer is essential to building something impressive.  The difficulty is that the architects often create buildings that are not the easiest thing to actually build.

With this particular building, the church itself is circular and they decided to erect it using steel frames.  This is difficult because many of the steel pieces have to be prefabricated before they get to the site.  If they are not created perfectly then the building will not fit together like a puzzle.  Another problem is the large amount of field welding to be done.  With a dedicated team and attention to detail the building is able to be constructed.

Colbert on Wikipedia

I believe Colbert had a very interesting point of view on Wikipedia.  He often argues both ways in order to remain in his character.  He was able to prove how some one can deliberately post incorrect information however, he also made his point about high positioned officials often make incorrect statements. 

Nothing goes without mistakes.  Nobody is perfect, but as a reader or researcher, it is understood that you have to sort through the truth and the fake.  This happens all the time in our daily lives between what we read, hear, and see on television.

Without Leaders

Referring back to the debate on Tuesday about whether or not things can happen without being told and create a smart mob, I believe at some point, somebody has to be the one to initiate the process.  After that initial first step than the smart mob can then become self sustaining.  But, that cannot happen unless the first leader did his part.

Everything has to start somewhere and I don't think that natural instincts can be an example.  Nobody told humans that we have to breathe, but it is a natural thing to do.  That is not something that can be controlled, you do not have a choice.  Everybody meeting for a protest, has made a choice to join in or follow somebody else.  It always has to start from something or someone.

Group Projects

Working in groups is an important part of learning about others and how to deal with others in a working environment.  There are many different types of different working characteristics which can work together to form a much better group, or backfire and make a group self destruct.

It is important to learn to work with all types of personalities because throughout your career, you will encounter all of these in the real world.  Working with others also helps you to figure out which personality you are and what you can do to improve your own characteristics.

Random Humanistic Characteristics

Yesterday, when we were discussing the teacher's experiment with creating a "random" poem, I believe the students were led into creating those particular responses.  I find it difficult to believe that the teacher chose complete random names to put on the board.  Considering the class they were in and the knowledge of the students, there may have been some reasoning behind his decision.

I do believe certain things can be completely random and for no reason; however, there is a certain degree of unconscious reasoning.  This goes along with a person's perspective and their connection to another thought.  If you are thinking about Religion, or in a class about Religion, the first thing that is going to come to your mind is going to have some sort of connection to the topic.  The experiment is a good one, but I think it shows how poems and other such writing that is up for interpretation is only used to reach the reader's imagination.

Instructions

Learning to write very proper instructions is a very important tool to understand.  Without good instructions, simple tasks would take much more time and patience to complete than it normally should.  Even though most men do not like to look at or use instructions, they are needed.  With much more simple and readable instructions, they will become used much more.  I never thought the introduction of the instructions were very important only because most of the instructions I have read involve building/putting something together.  When writing instructions for an audience with little to no knowledge of the instructions' purpose, the introduction can be very helpful.

Rhetoric Continued

Yesterday we looked at Obama's speech as a form of rhetoric.  The "rhetoric situation" of the speech fit in exactly with the reading by demonstrating the 3 parts needed for the situation.  The Muslim holiday proved to be the exigence which also was connected to the intended audience.  There were also some constraints such as the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the controversy over the proposed mosque to be near ground zero.  Even though the rhetorical situation is defined as 3 separate parts.  I believe the 3 parts are all closely related and can be replaced by each other.  What is used as the constraints in this speech are actually there own exigence.  This particular speech is also somewhat taken out of context because we were not directly the intended audience, but for a President everyone is always listening.

First Post

This is the first post for English 314 section 18.  Today we discussed rhetoric and how it is everywhere.  I believe everything that is said has some sense of rhetoric and that is why it is often overlooked or even disliked.