Rhetorical Essay

Rhetorical Essay
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Rhetorical Essay
In a visual analysis, the various elements of a text which communicate mainly through visuals are broken down. The objective is to gain an understanding of the way these dissimilar constituents communicate a message and achieve a certain goal (Wells 12). Thesis statement: the selected website clearly uses pathos, logos and ethos to convince the audience that the business – Seasons Apartments – is likeable and that it is good for students to seek off-campus housing there. The website uses pathos, ethos, and logos effectively through the choice of wording and imagery used.
Audience
According to Pepper, Brizee and Angeli (3), this rhetorical situation seeks to answer the question: who really is the audience of that website? Put simply, which people may visit this website? In the case of the selected website  HYPERLINK "/" / those who may visit it include people who have internet access. Nonetheless, considering the type of website and its creator, which is The Seasons Apartment, there are some audiences who have a higher likelihood of ending up in this website than other audiences. These include the students who attend PIMA Community College and The University of Arizona; they are the target audience. Text on the webpage clearly says: Off-campus apartments/housing for students who attend PIMA Community College and The University of Arizona (Seasons). This is very effective for the intended audience, who are basically students in these 2 institutions of higher learning. Some people have sight problems and may be unable to read well texts with very small fonts. In this website, the text has accommodations for persons with such vision problems since the wording is large enough and even people with low vision could read. The words are in white and are written against a darker background in order to enhance readability.
Ethos: Ethical appeal or appeal from credibility is applied as a persuasive strategy in the website. The creator of the website has ethos or trustworthiness considering the style by which the message has been expressed by Seasons Apartments in this website. Since people believe that Seasons Apartments has goodwill and good reputation, they tend to believe what it says in this website; hence there is ethical appeal. The use of beautiful images convey ethos and enhances the website’s ethical appeal. The Seasons Apartments website makes use of bright colors, inspiring text, images of swimming pool area, relaxation areas of the facility, and an outdoor setting to suggest that students can have exquisite off-campus housing at Seasons Apartments in Tucson.
Purpose
This rhetorical situation seeks to answer the question: what is the website’s purpose? That is, why can somebody visit this website? The purpose is essentially what somebody is trying to convince the target audience to do, to think, or to feel (Pepper, Brizee & Angeli 2). With regard to the selected website, it has motivational purpose since it advertises the company’s services to persuade the audience to do something; that is, to persuade students studying at PIMA Community College and The University of Arizona to seek their off-campu...