Nonfiction Essay

824 Words2 Pages

Nonfiction is seen everywhere and people see and read it everyday. Whether that be watching the morning news, or reading an article in the newspaper. Nonfiction contains concepts like rhetorical modes and appeals, a purpose, an audience, and a voice.
Three essential concepts associated with this nonfiction article include, a purpose, the audience, and the voice of the author. The purpose of this piece is to inform. The purpose of informing is shown when the author wrote, “Whether you’re considering a big university, a small college, or something in between, you need to carefully look at all options, and determine what’s most important to you.”The author is trying to inform the audience about the different types of colleges. This piece will …show more content…

Speaking of audience, the audience of this piece is students in high school who are just starting to look for where they want to go to college. The author makes it very clear that this is the audience when they stated that, “As you begin your college search, one of the first decisions you need to make — and one that helps narrow your list — is what size college you want to attend.” The author directly refers to people who are beginning to look for the right college for them. These people are high schoolers and they are the audience for this piece. The final concept to be discussed is the voice of the author. In this article the author is very casual and positive when writing to the audience. The author’s word choice include words like, “ Itching to break free of the high school fishbowl” and “robust social life at most small colleges.” An author who would act professional would not use words like these, but use more …show more content…

The author mainly uses logos in this article. Since this article’s purpose is to inform the audience, it would only make sense for there to be some logos. As said before, these facts and statistics are used for comparing and contrasting. Some other facts include lists of what the each type of college includes and what the readers will be seeing if they end up to go to this college. Another fact reads that, “Courses at small colleges are usually taught by professors, not teaching assistants. The professors may even know your name and areas of interest.” statements like these will make the audience have a more well-rounded idea on the topic of college, which can help them make a better decision. Another rhetorical appeal is ethos, which shows the reader how credible the source is and if they can be believed or not. In this case the author is a little bit credible but the readers shouldn’t believe them one hundred percent. The link that shows where the article came from shows that the article came from an organization that focuses on the futures of kids and helping them find a college that is best for them. But other than that, the reader knows nothing else about the source. The reader doesn’t know if this person actually went and experienced college. The author would have a lot more appeal and people would believe them more if the author added things like, quotes

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