Rhetorical Analysis: A Placebo Treatment For Pain

In the article “A Placebo Treatment for Pain” from Time magazine, Jo Marchant discusses How placebos are a great replacement for opioid pain killers. Marchant has provided plenty of examples of studies that support her thesis. Marchant effectively establishes pathos and logos with her readers by using vivid language and plenty of statistics, however, she leaves a lot of her statistical data and studies to be questioned through her lack of use with ethos. This need a transition.
Marchant uses logos by providing sample studies and statistical data to argue her point. Her beginning paragraph grabs your attention with a supported bold statement, “Sixteen percent of American’s know someone who has died from a pain killer overdose, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation Survey; 9 percent have seen a family member or close friend die” (1). Many of her statistics and studies hit on pathos throughout the article, as well. “In 2013, pain killers caused nearly 7,000 emergency room visits and 44 deaths every day” (1). Marchant uses many examples likes this to support her argument of using placebos. She brought up

Although, Marchant is a published writer it does not go into her background and what makes her a credible author in regards to placebos. She also discusses The Kaiser Foundation and does not even give us a brief description of how they are well informed in the matter. When you read an article and may not be informed on the subject matter, to build credibility, you should be able to explain your sources background to help build the credibility and strength of your writing. She mentions several studies and statistics but there is no credibility built to back up any of her sources; it’s written as it’s assumed they are credible. She ineffectively gave credibility to her sources, which makes you question the whole