Nicholas Carr Rhetorical Techniques

Everyone has their strengths and everyone has their weaknesses. In the sport of soccer for example, everyone on the team can spend the same amount of time practicing the same skill or move but this does not mean each player does not complete the move as successfully as the other. Similarly, this is also the case when it comes to authors and their use of rhetorical strategies, diction, and the Aristotelian appeals. Some authors use these writing strategies more successfully than others. In the argument regarding the Internet, technology, and social media and how it is effecting humans, three authors make different claims that will be examined in this essay. Author Nicholas Carr, argues that the Internet is resulting in a decrease in the cognitive …show more content…
All of these terms are used to obtain their targeted audience’s attention, as well as persuade them to think or act a certain way. Logos is most technical and informative out of all of the Aristotelian appeals and it refers to the data, statistics, logic, and numerical values that are used within the literary work (“Introduction to Rhetorical Strategies”). For most arguments or essay’s, authors typically incorporate statistics or data into their literary works to strengthen their argument. However, in Nicholas Carr’s, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, statistics and data are nonexistent. Carr’s lack of numerical evidence ultimately weakens his entire argument, especially since his audience is targeted towards educated individuals, who normally look for data and statistics to back up claims. Although, Carr included many examples to support his main ideas, the examples did not compensate for the lack of data, statistics, or any other relevant numerical values. Clive Thompson also failed to incorporate the use of logos in his argumentative essay. Similarly to Carr, Thompson used examples in his essay, however he failed to include any form of data or numbers. Without the use of logos, authors, Nicholas Carr and Clive Thompson both dramatically decreased the persuasiveness of their …show more content…
Ethos is defined as the credibility, character or personality of the speaker or author or someone else connected to the argument (“Introduction to Rhetorical Strategies”). The use of ethos in an essay, especially an argumentative or persuasive essay, strengthens the author’s creditability, proving that the claims they are making are coming from a credible source. Neither Thompson, Carr, or Boyd share their credentials or relevant qualifications to strengthen their claims, weakening their entire argument. By sharing just a small piece of information about themselves and what makes them a credible source so that the reader believes what they are reading is true, all of the authors arguments could have been strengthened significantly. Despite the author’s lack of ethos, all of the authors use outside sources for support, but only Boyd and Carr successfully share the outside sources creditability. Clive Thompson, for example, is arguing in his essay that humans and the Internet are most successful if they work together, and he attempts to strengthen his argument with a quote from sci-fi author, William Gibson. Even though Thompson includes an interesting and relevant quote to solidify his claims, the only creditability that he reveals regarding the person that he is quoting, is that he is a sci-fi author. Being a published author does make William Gibson somewhat of a credible source, however this