Sunday, January 6, 2013

How to Choose a College

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/opinion/sunday/bruni-how-to-choose-a-college.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0


In this article, the author begins with a personal experience, establishing ethos, by using his niece as an example. He lists the contributing factors that she has to consider for selecting a college which transitions into his main argument. His argument is that one should not necessarily pick a certain college for its reputation or because it happens to be party school. People should choose their college to expand their boundaries and discover new aspects of life in which might not be what is comfortable for them. Just like his message of pushing boundaries, the author uses informal syntax (contractions) and constantly addresses the reader by using both first person and second person points of view, “you, you’re”. Most established writers tend to write in third person, as it is traditional and formal, but he goes beyond the typical way of writing and disregards those walls. The author applies pathos the most, being very specific in his intended audience and appealing to them in a way they would understand. The intended audience is high school students who are a bit lost with the college process. He relates to them by separating himself as a parent since students already have their own parents telling them what to do. He never mentions any children of his own, but instead talks about his nieces and nephews. Also with the relaxed writing style, the audience does not feel like they are being lectured by a teacher. With his effective use of pathos, ethos, and small dosage of ethos, the author creates an article that is high school student friendly, so they will actually take away a message from his article.

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