My Rhetorical Action Plan

My Rhetorical Action Plan

In this blog post, I am going to provide concise and specific details to answer the questions from "Developing a Rhetorical Action Plan" in Writing Public Lives.

Audience

The audience already knows that childhood obesity is becoming a huge issue in America due to fast food. They know this because the news emphasizes it. Michelle Obama even created a plan to reduce it. I think that my audience might believe that every child goes through a chubby stage before puberty. However, this is not the case for everyone. Therefore, they need to be informed more on the topic.

I believe that a lot of Americans teach their children to clean their plates and leave no food. This value was created because back in the Great Depression, food was scarce. Therefore, whenever food was available, people during that time period were told to finish whatever they had. Now that food is more readily available, they teach their younger generations to eat up because you never know when there won't be food available. This notion leads to childhood obesity because every child has a different energy need, and if their plate has too much food on it, they will gain weight.

I think research of statistics, personal stories, obesity rates, and pictures will help my argument's persuasiveness. In order to do this, I plan to create a QRG because this mean has some opinion, but it is mostly information. It also makes use of the spacing of the paper with subtitles and images which will keep the audience engaged.

As I mentioned above, I think subtitles and images of graphs and obese children would work best in this public argument. The subtitles will break apart the text and allow the reader to be guided more easily. Images of graphs will provide statistics and trends that will hopefully shock my audience. The images of obese children will open their eyes because a lot of people do not realize the comparison of an obese child to a healthy-weight child.

I want my audience to feel compelled to reduce childhood obesity. By providing an argument that will connect to my audience on a personal level, I think that I will be able to motivate them to change the rates of childhood obesity. I think this because their children and grandchildren are at risk. Childhood obesity brings along many struggles in life socially, mentally, and physically. Therefore, my audience will feel compelled to make a difference.

Genre

I will use a QRG as my form of writing. The QRG functions to inform, persuade, and to give some bias on an issue. I chose it because I want to express my sentiments toward the topic. However, I also want to inform my readers, too. Examples of QRGs that are about nutrition can be found here and here.

The setting of my genre could be in a newspaper, journal, blog post, or video. I think this would be the best setting because it will appeal to my audience. Also, these settings could allow it to be more widespread and not only for my selected audience. A huge variety of people skim through these settings. I think that they might be drawn in if I use enough visuals.

I will definitely use ethos, pathos, and logos to appeal to my readers. I will use ethos because I am a Nutritional Science major. I have been passionate about nutrition for about ten years now. I once was an obese child, but I taught myself the proper ways to lose weight and keep it off. Therefore, I can provide insight into being an obese child. I will use pathos because I want my reader to feel bad for these obese kids because they do not always have the upper-hand in deciding whether or not they want to be obese. Sometimes it is the parents at fault. Lastly, I will use logos by providing a lot of information and statistics about childhood obesity.

Altman, Gerd. "Business Idea Planning Business Plan Business." 3/29/15 via pixabay. CC0 Public Domain License.

I will use pictures of obese children to startle my audience, and images of graphs that have giant spikes. These images will shock my audience. Not only will it capture their attention, but it will make them understand my topic better.

I want to write something informal and conversational. I want my audience to feel comfortable in listening to what I have to say because I think they need to be comfortable with this topic. This could be classified as a sensitive topic for many people because many people do not want to admit that their child is obese. The word "obese" has been made into a negative word, an insult, because many people use it to make fun of people. I want the audience to know that I was also uninformed once, but I want to help them understand the severity of this topic!

I could also use a Research Paper as my genre for writing. A research paper functions to inform and persuade the audience. Examples of research papers can be found here and here.

I could see this second genre being used in schools, journals, or databases. I think I could see children learning the most from it and utilizing it in order to help them with their own writing.

I will mostly use logos because I think that research papers mostly contain information and facts. However, I will use real life examples that will hopefully appeal a bit to pathos. Lastly, I will use some ethos while I discuss certain studies and credible sources.

On my cover page, I will find a picture that relates to childhood obesity. Research papers do not contain images within them typically.

I would use a formal style because that's how research papers tend to be written. However, I would like to be casual in how I write because I do not want the audience to be intimidated by me. Therefore, I will find a middle ground for that.

Positive Reactions

• Decline in Childhood Obesity
• Decrease in Happy Meal purchases
• Increase in homecooked meals

Negative Rebuttals

• Continue to feed Child Unhealthy Foods because part of culture
• Inform parents/grandparents that culturally unhealthy food can still be eaten in moderation
• Reject modifications about culture cuisine
• Even though people have been around for a long time
• Ignore my entire public argument
• It is their own children's lives at risk. It would do anyone good just to listen.