Running

Head: RHETORIC ANALYSIS

Rhetoric Analysis Nick R. Falk University of Texas at El Paso

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Introduction Football is one of Americas most popular sports, not only to be watched, but to be played as well. Although it may be the most popular sport to play, at its most basic element, it is a dangerous sport that deals with head on collisions. For years these heavy impact collisions were disregarded or dismissed, until a series of mental illnesses suffered amongst former players began to show a darker side to the sport and its injuries. Concussions are a direct consequence of these collisions, which are often left untreated, causing problems for these affected athletes in their later life. In the article Association Between Recurrent Concussion and Late-Life Cognitive Impairment In Retired Football Players by Kevin Guskiwicz, reviewed by Stephen Marshall, Julian Bailes, Michael McCrea, Robert Cantu, Christopher Randolph, and Barry Jordan, this author takes an in-depth look at how recurring head injures may develop into much more serious cognitive diseases. This paper will illustrate how the author uses the rhetoric elements of ethos, pathos, and logos to analyze the issue of head injuries in football. Audience and Purpose The purpose of this article is to increase awareness on the effects of concussions as well as help diminish the idea that recurring concussions have no effect on an athletes later life. The author uses concussion statistics to help provide reason to the article and appeals emotionally by examining the issues of players who have suffered from head injuries. This article also attempts to make the connection between the long term effects of concussions and the possible outcomes if left untreated. The intended audience for this piece is mainly those, whether theyre fellow teammates, friends, or family members, who know players that have suffered from concussions. The article intends to show the devastating outcomes that can

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occur if a player suffers from multiple concussions throughout their professional career. The next paragraph will analyze how the author uses ethos to render his argument valid. Ethos The author establishes credibility from the beginning of the article. He immediately put forth his academic credentials as well as the academic credentials of the reviewers; all of them have a form of doctorate whether it is medical or pharmaceutical. The author and reviewers are a part of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, which gives them credibility as it proves them to have knowledge of the brain in which concussions affect. In the article, the author comes off as knowledgeable in his analysis of the players syndromes. The article uses forty two references to help support their argument all of which appear to be credible. The author does mention what forms of mental diseases are becoming more prevalent in these players as they age, due to recurring traumatic brain injuries; however he does not spend enough time explaining what these mental diseases are doing to the players. In addition, the article lacks the concept of emotional appeal, as it doesnt go into depth of what the players are going through once they have been diagnosed with a mental disease. However, having established himself as a neurological doctor the effects of these mental diseases are already known, and the main interest in writing this article, is to try and form the connection between concussions and these late life mental diseases. Although the article lacks an emotional appeal, the information provided should not be disregarded as the article is clearly thought out and provides in-depth research and sources to prove the argument at hand.

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Pathos The article doesnt utilize the use of pathos in great detail. The article briefly states some diseases in which retired-players that have suffered from concussions, are suffering from now. The author utilizes the use of numbers to try and show, just how many of these retired players have been effected by mental diseases. The author also use statements like Retired players with a history of three or more concussions were at highest risk of having significant memory problems based on their own account and the observations of their spouse or caregiver.(Guskiwicz, 2005, p.721). In order to provide an emotional appeal as it demonstrates that these mental diseases not only affect the player themselves, however it also affects their family. By exclaiming that the spouses and caretakers are also noticing the effects these early head injuries are having on these retired football players lives now, the authors wish for the audience to feel sad and really understand the severity of the issue. In the end the author didnt utilize pathos as much as they could have; however, the subtle amount that was used helped showcase the severity of the situation rendering it helpful to their argument. The writers main rhetoric technique was with the use of logos, in which the following section of the paper will analyze. Logos The writers use of logos is the main argument within this article. The articles structure is based off of research conducted by the author, all complete with detailed information. According to Guskiwicz (2005) Of those retired players who have sustained a concussion during their professional career more than half reported experiencing loss of consciousness (n=817) (p.721). The use of numbers, as a supporting detail, in order to back up the authors

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argument is prevalent throughout the entirety of this paper. For instance of the 2552 completed questionnaires, 1513 reported having sustained a concussion, thats sixty percent of all retired players. Of those players who have suffered from concussions nearly twenty percent have reported their injuries to have had an effect on thinking and mental skills as theyve aged. The authors use of logos is prevalent throughout the entirety of the article. Through logic, the author wants the reader to realize that this problem is much bigger than anticipated. However the information provided within this study relies upon self-reported medical histories and health problems, which is subject to bias in the accuracy with which the problems were recalled and reported, that being stated the information provided within this article is still of interest as it does display trends in favor of the authors argument. The genre they use helps improve the writers credibility as well as strengthen the importance of the message but because of its limited access to the public, it proves difficult to deliver the message. Conclusion This rhetorical analysis detailed the writers use of ethos, pathos, and logos regarding the issue of concussions. The author established ethos through his credentials, pathos by displaying the effected spouses and family of the football players, and logos by providing statistics and allowing the reader to infer about the situation. Throughout the article, they established an inductive argument. Ultimately the piece fulfills the authors intentions as it highlights severity of concussions and the effect that they have on players in their later life. Despite the limitations, these data suggest some very interesting findings (Guskiwicz, 2005, p.723) Although there could have been some bias in the logic of the paper the author formally accomplished his goal in bridging the gap between concussions and late life mental diseases.

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References
Guskiwicz, K. (2005). Association Between Recurrent Concussion and Late-life Cognitive Impairment in Retired Professional Football Players. 57(4), 719-726.