Ghebre 1

Matthew Ghebre
Wilson
Writing 2
5 December 2015
WP2 Final Portfolio
How easily are you persuaded? Students may not realize it but professors have methods
to convince students to believe information through texts and lectures. Certain language and
techniques are used when providing students with the evidence through figures, tables, and
images. These methods are known as rhetoric, for they are the means of persuading an audience.
Persuasion is divided into the three parts of a rhetorical situation logos, pathos, and ethos.
Logos targets the logical part of the audiences mind by presenting the facts of the matter.
Pathos puts emphasis on the audiences emotion by presenting an image that the audience can
relate to, which leads to an emotional response. Ethos targets the credibility of the rhetoric and
gives the audience an idea on the accuracy of the information. The use of ethos through texts and
lectures is considered most important by the UCSB Earth Science discipline.
This academic discipline is its own group called a discourse community composed of
experts and initiates. As experts, professors and scientists are expected to provide the initiates
with a strong fundamental understanding of earth science and geological principles. Their
purpose is stated on the departments website within the mission statement. The mission
statement begins with the department stating that they conduct field studies in diverse regions
ranging from the tallest mountain peaks of the Himalayas to the vast uncovered depths of the
ocean. This statement is used to support the disciplines ethos, because by saying that they have
direct experience with what they teach, students are more likely to believe what they are learning

Ghebre 2
is true. The language and how it is used is the main use of rhetoric through texts. Through more
texts based on geological catastrophes we will see other ways ethos is used as a rhetoric device
by the Earth Science discipline.
As a part of the UCSB Earth Science discipline, the Geological Catastrophes class
consists of initiates that use the textbook, Natural Hazards, by Edward Keller. The textbook uses
genre conventions that translate to rhetorical conventions. These conventions are defined by how
and what way information is used. The chapter, Earthquakes begins with a description of the
2011 Tohoku Earthquake and outlines how it applies to the five fundamental concepts of hazards.
Keller relates to a specific example of a past earthquake to gain credibility for the information
later in the chapter by claiming At the end of this chapter you will learn about the precursor
events leading up to the 2011 quake, as well as the scientific data that led to preliminary
forecasting... (Keller 53). Throughout the chapter there are numerous real life photographs and
figures that accompany the text. These pictures and figures increase the texts ethos because the
readers can see actual occurrences of what the text is describing. While the textbook is used by
initiates of the Earth Science discipline, academic journal articles are used by the experts within
the discipline.
Academic journal articles are peer reviewed articles for particular academic disciplines.
These articles are made for experts within disciplines because they usually contain jargon that
initiates with less likely understand. An example of this is can be taken from the introduction of
the academic journal, Do Earthquakes Shake Stock Markets? The introduction states that, The
majority of economic studies evaluate short- and long- run impact of natural disasters on
macroeconomic indicators, primarily gross domestic product and its annual growth typically
using panel vector auto regressions or growth regressions (Ferreira, Karali 1). This statement

Ghebre 3
contains jargon that even myself as an initiate cannot understand. However, I can understand the
impact of persuasion on the sentence. The statement is supported by six different legitimate
sources that are listed under the references section at the end of the article. Because the
references are trusted sources, the readers in the discourse community are expected to believe the
information to be true. The accuracy of the information is supported by the rhetorical use of
increasing the articles integrity. This rhetorical convention is not only presented through texts
but also through professors actions in classrooms.
I observed the professor of the Geological Catastrophes class, Matt Jackson during one of
his lectures. Throughout his lecture, Professor Jackson showed videos through websites relating
to the lectures topic. Since the topic of that days lecture was about different types of volcanoes
and their associated features, he showed a video of a volcanic eruption on Mount Unzen in Japan
and then showed a video of the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980. These videos increase the
ethos of what Professor Jackson is teaching because these videos are live footage of events that
happened in the past. The audience is given a true visual representation of what the professor is
telling them, therefore persuading them to believe the evidence is factual. When persuading his
students, Professor Jackson consistently speaks in a casual tone, attending to students with
questions by saying, whats up or yo. He uses this specific language because he does not
want his students to feel as if he is an authoritative expert, but rather a knowledge instructor.
Unlike an expert, Professor Jackson does not use jargon but instead uses vocabulary in which he
explains the definitions. He decides to use defined vocabulary rather than jargon so that students
will understand the given information and accept it to be true. His choice of language and overall
actions in the classroom contain the rhetorical use of ethos that cannot be found in texts.

Ghebre 4
It is evident that ethos is the main rhetorical device used by the UCSB Earth Science
discipline, rather than logos and pathos. Logos is present through graphs and tables that provide
data and statistics, while explanations of catastrophes that emotionally affect the audience
appeals to pathos. However, their main use is to appeal to the ethos of texts and lectures.
Through the texts and classroom actions of the professor, there is the social action of
understanding how events have happened in the past to predict how similar events will affect
people in the future. This social action is based on the the discourse community accepting the
information on past occurrences to be credible. Credibility is considered most important by the
Earth Science discipline; therefore, they mainly use rhetoric based on ethos.

Ghebre 5

Works Cited
Ferreira, Susana, and Berna Karali. "Do Earthquakes Shake Stock Markets?." Plos ONE 10.7
(2015): 1-19. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
Keller, Edward A., and Duane E. DeVecchio. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards,
Disasters, and Catastrophes. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2015. Print.