A Rhetorical Analysis Of Joe Smith's Ideas

Joe Smith went on TED talks and presented a speech called “How To Use Paper Towels” on April 2012. He explains how to save trees by using only one paper towel every time someone washes their hands. Smith says, people can do this by using a method called “Shake and Fold.” All they have to do is shake their hands and then fold the paper towel and dry their hands. If this continues to happen people can save 571,250,000 pounds if paper towels. Smith explains the shake and fold method through a couple of examples by using his own ideas and logic and repetition through words to be able to convey a deeper meaning from it. Joe Smith is a logical method man who was able to state out facts from his speech. Facts are convincing an audience by the use

The arrangement of Smith’s ideas was able to create a bigger impact onto the audience because he was able to give logic to give people a bigger perspective to what could happen with the paper towels. The information was able to show the audience on what they could do and then go on to what could happen. The author used simple sentences in his speech, the effectiveness of this is that it is short and simple and it goes straight to the point. There are some run-on sentences in Smith’s speech, for example, he was explaining why he shakes his hands 12 times, because there are 12 tribes, 12 months, 12 zodiac signs, or because it is the biggest number with one syllable. Smith was able to use syntax but he was also able to give a nice tone throughout his

For example, he assumes that everyone uses more than one piece of paper towels or even uses a paper towel. Not everyone takes two or more paper towels and not everyone uses a paper towel. Even though he has some weak points, he had his strong points. He would be able to give a strong impact onto the audience by quoting “If we could reduce the usage of paper towels, one paper towel per person per day, 571,230,000 pounds of paper not used...” (Smith 2). He was able to convince the audience members that if you use one paper towel each day or at least each time you wash your hands you will be able to save about 571,230,000 pounds of paper