Analysis Of The Use Of The Rhetorical Appeals And Strategies In Selected Articles

Rhetorical analysis is a form of writing where the author uses effective methods like Rhetorical Strategies. In a rhetorical analysis, writers use a combination of strategies such as compare and contrast, description, exemplification, definition, narration, and classification. Accompanying these strategies, a writer would also use the rhetorical appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos to persuade readers.

The title of this journal is “Big Data & Analytics: Tackling Business Challenges in Banking Industry. " A group of authors wrote this article under the affiliates of Somal HK from the Department of Business Administration at Bishop's University, Quebec, Canada. The genre of this article is an academic journal. This article was published in the "Business and Economics Journal. " This article is limited to the banking industry but also includes economists, the finance sector and people in the field of analytics. The authors are using this article to inform their audience on how the role of Big Data is propelling banks to develop their banking methods and how this technology will help them stay relevant in the industry. Based on this analysis, I will explain how the authors use appeals like ‘Pathos’ as well as strategies like ‘Cause and Effect’, ‘Exemplification’, ‘Process’, ‘Definition’ and ‘Compare and Contrast’.

Pathos is a form of appeal that a writer uses to evoke emotion from his audience. Some of those emotions include fear, sympathy, sorrow, joy. This form of appeal is developed by using meaningful language, tone, emotion evoking examples and anecdotes. In this article, “Big Data & Analytics: Tackling Business Challenges in Banking Industry, ” the authors use an example of how Big Data can cause a breach to privacy wherein they illustrate an example on a retail company that knew a girl was pregnant much before her father did. This example invokes fear towards a reader as companies are using customer’s shopping habits and online browsing activity to intrude their personal space. The authors use a real-life example where they point out that ‘AOL’ a leading online service provider, had released anonymous search logs, for academic purposes. However, the users were easily identified by their searches. Here the authors are warning readers by letting them know that anything typed is being tracked by data mining companies thereby putting readers to distress by making them uncomfortable. Process is one of the many strategies that authors use to explain the reader a step-by-step explanation of how to do something. It is mostly used in practical genres as a guide and manual to make/use a product, cook a delicious dish or give directions on how to fix a problem. In this article, the writers use this strategy to bridge the gap between available talent and what the actual requirement for the industry. The authors state, “By improving labor market clarity, building the right type of talent and having the government act as a key enabler, can successfully overcome the talent gap. ” This statement gives an explanation on how the authors use a process to create a solution for an industry that is facing a crisis in churning out new talent to meet required demands.

Another popular strategy used in writing articles is Exemplification. This strategy uses examples to support, add interest, persuade or clarify a point. This strategy can be a format by itself or it can supplement other rhetorical modes. The authors use this strategy and give an example on how banks can learn from retailers and reduce their customer acquisition costs. The authors start by defining the problem how banks lose up to 15% in marketing and sales and give a solid example by using a big retailer’s market research technique in saving costs. The authors state, “For example, if a person made a number of transactions at Whole Foods and liked the Food Network, the company could send a credit card with a special promotion for Whole foods or the Food Network. ” The authors use this example so that banks can trace a customer’s correlating purchase history, customer profile data and customer behavior on social media sites and identify the best suitable promotions to entice and make them long term customers.

Cause and effect is a logical system that organizes evidence to show how something happened. Causes help a writer think about why something happened; effects help a writer think about what might or could happen. In the article, the authors state, “Big data enables the banks to use data and get actionable insights leading to increased customer lifetime value. Hence adopting big data analytics can not only help the bank contain costs, boost profits and compete locally and globally, but also help resolve typical business challenges. ” This statement gives readers a perspective on how Big Data benefits businesses. In addition, it also lays out the results of adopting to Big Data technology and the endless possibilities one could achieve with it. In conclusion, the authors use this strategy in understanding the connection between reasons and results.

A definition strategy is used to take concepts and move them beyond a dictionary. The definitions establish the way in which people communicate ideas. They set parameters for a given discourse, which is why they are so important. The context in a definition affects the meaning and usage of words. In this article, the authors use this strategy to define a tool that helps reduce data warehouse costs using Hadoop technology. The authors introduce EDW (Enterprise Data Warehouse), a system that is critical in generating operational reports for banks. This tool helps in scaling any volume of data by combining, analyzing and integrating which was lacking in traditional systems. This concept helps readers by showing how a Big data system can prepare, discover and deal with different types of data. Compare and contrast explore the ways things are similar and the ways they are different. Comparisons are innately made all the time and they appear in different kinds of writings. The goal of comparison and contrast is to show that one item is superior to another, based on a set of evaluations included as part of the writing.

The purpose of conducting the comparison or contrast is not to state the obvious but rather to illuminate subtle differences or unexpected similarities. The authors compare how banks back in the day collected huge amounts of data but were unable to use that data to predict customer needs thereby missing out on lost opportunities. But now that has changed as the banking industry knows the effects of Big Data and how this can change the dynamics in competing against rival banks. The authors use this strategy to compare banks in the past and present.