Assignment part 1

Genre 1: Oster, E. (2007, March). Flip your thinking on AIDS in Africa [Video file]. Retrieved
from http://www.ted.com/talks/emily_oster_flips_our_thinking_on_aids_in_africa# t-15592

1. Rhetorical Situation: Audience and Purpose

a) Who are the intended audience(s) and discourse community(ies)?
a. The intended audience is those interested in learning more about the HIV/AIDS
epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa as stated by Emily Oster, the discourse
community that this genre belongs to is the academic community.
b) What does the audience already know and what do they want to know?
a. The audience may know very little about the issue or may know quite a bit about
HIV/AIDS.
c) How much time will the audience spend with each genre?
a. The audience will spend approximately 15 minutes on this particular genre.
d) What is the purpose (inform, persuade and/or entertain)?
a. The purpose of this genre is to inform the audience about the true facts of the
HIV/AIDS epidemic occurring.
e) How formal/informal is the language and what affect does this have on the audience
and/or purpose?
a. The language used is very formal since it is taking place in an academic setting.
f) What specialized vocabulary is used and what does this tell you about the intended
audience?
a. Some specialized language being used involves specific knowledge of countries
in Sub-Saharan Africa.
g) What other language features do you notice (text, type, font, color, visuals, etc.)?
a. Emily Oster is using a powerpoint to present her information, which contains
bright colors to attract the attention of the audience.
2. Rhetorical Issues: Ethos, Pathos and Logos
a) How does this genre establish (or attempt to establish) its credibility with the audience?
a. To begin, Oster has a Doctorate from Harvard University her Doctoral thesis took
on famed economist Amartya Sen and his claim that 100 million women were
statistically missing from the developing world, which establishes her credibility
about the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa.
b) What emotions is the genre attempting to evoke from its audience?

a. Oster attempts to draw out sympathy from the audience by explaining how many
people are suffering/affected by this issue.
c) What types of evidence are used to support claims? Is it valid/reliable? If there is no
evidence, what is used to help support the information presented and is it effective?
a. The evidence used is mostly hers, which she has been researching the statistics of
Sub-Saharan Africa versus those of larger developed countries, throughout her
academic career.
3. Structure and Delivery
) How is the information organized to convey its message?
a. The information is in the form of a speech, with a supporting PowerPoint
)

presentation.
Are there limitations placed on the information because of the genre? Does it have
more freedom to express what it needs to because of the genre?
a. Since it is a speech, Oster is allowed to emphasize specific information using her

voice and body language.

How does the structure facilitate its purpose?
a. The structure is in chronological order giving older information first then
continuing to more recent facts.

Genre 2: McNeil, D. (2014, May 10). A Simple Theory, and a Proposal, on H.I.V. in Africa. The
New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/health/a-simple-theoryand-a-proposal-on-hiv-in-africa.html
1. Rhetorical Situation: Audience and Purpose
a) Who are the intended audience(s) and discourse community(ies)?
a. The intended audience is not clearly defined; those interested in the issue would
be targeted. This belongs to the civic discourse community.
b) What does the audience already know and what do they want to know?
b. The audience may or may not know very much about the issue, but this article
gives background to the issue and the possible scenarios contributing to the issue.
) How much time will the audience spend with each genre?
a. The audience will spend an average of 15 minutes reading through the article
(depending on how fast the audience is) and approximately 3 minutes to watch the
included video.
d) What is the purpose (inform, persuade and/or entertain)?
a. The purpose of this article is to inform the reader of the risks involved with
women spending time in the unclean rivers in Africa.
e) How formal/informal is the language and what affect does this have on the audience
and/or purpose?
a. The language is very formal since it is a news article published in The New York
Times.
f) What specialized vocabulary is used and what does this tell you about the intended
audience?
a. No specialized vocabulary is used; this article is written in a way that everyone
can understand the information being presented.
g) What other language features do you notice (text, type, font, color, visuals, etc.)?
a. The font is consistent throughout and includes a picture of Sub-Saharan African
Women standing in the unclean rivers, which helps to depict the scenario being
described.
2. Rhetorical Issues: Ethos, Pathos and Logos
a) How does this genre establish (or attempt to establish) its credibility with the
audience?
a) The author plays a key role in establishing credibility since he He has won
several awards: For a series on places or industries in the world that have
successfully kept infections and death from AIDS to an absolute minimum, for

a series on patent monopolies on AIDS drugs in Africa, for a series on AIDS in

one South African town, for a series on six diseases on the brink of eradication
and for a series on third world cancer victims dying without morphine. All of
which help to support his evidence as being factual.
b) What emotions is the genre attempting to evoke from its audience?
b) The genre evokes sympathy; it relies on showing poor African women
struggling to wash clothes and dishes in this unclean and unsafe environment.
c) What types of evidence are used to support claims? Is it valid/reliable? If there is no
evidence, what is used to help support the information presented and is it effective?
c) The evidence provided would be his history and personal experiences and
visits to Africa. He also mentions the findings of an epidemiologist and a
renowned South African AIDS researcher which adds support to the genre.
3. Structure and Delivery
a) How is the information organized to convey its message?
d) You are first introduced to the main problem and why these women are in this
situation then you are given more detailed information as to why this is
contributing to these women contracting HIV/AIDS.
b) Are there limitations placed on the information because of the genre? Does it have
more freedom to express what it needs to because of the genre?
e) The genre includes both a visual/video and text, which helps to deliver the
information in a variety of ways.
c) How does the structure facilitate its purpose?
f) It allows the audience to be introduced to the topic, followed by detailed
information/research about the topic, which explains the whole scenario.

Assignment part 2
Genre 1 and Genre 2 have a similar purpose, which is to inform. Yet, the audience differs
since Genre 1 focuses more on an audience with previous knowledge: So I want to talk to you
today about AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. And this is a pretty well-educated audience, so I
imagine you all know about AIDS (Oster, 2007), while Genre 2 is geared toward an audience
with no prior knowledge and explains everything mentioned: The disease, also known as

bilharzia and snail fever, is caused by parasitic worms picked up in infested river water. It is
marked by fragile sores in the far reaches of the vaginal canal that may serve as entry points for
H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS (McNeil, 2014). Genre 2 is more effective because it is able
to be understood by more people and has text and a video in order to reinforce the information
being presented, which helps to better convey the message.
Genre 1 more effectively appeals to Ethos since Oster has done the research on the
subject, rather than citing other researchers, such as McNeil does in Genre 2. The Logos for both
Genre 1 and Genre 2 are equally strong, both having strong support for the claims made. Genre 1
better appeals to Pathos since Oster is able to emphasize the strong points in her argument; such
as the suffering these people are experiencing. Genre 1 more effectively appeals to Ethos, Logos,
and Pathos since Oster is able to use her voice, body language, and research to strengthen her
argument.
Genre 1 and Genre 2 generally have the same method of delivery, logically presenting
background on the topic then continuing on to provide more information and how it related to the
HIV/AIDS epidemic. Genre 1 uses the aid of visuals that have vivid colors and easy to read
graphs, which helps to more effectively deliver the information presented. While both Genre 1
and Genre 2 are ordered in an effective way, Genre 2 better delivers the information since it is
put in a more understandable format, which can be presented to a larger audience, due to the lack
of complex language present in Genre 1.