Rhetorical Analysis of Previously Written Paper

Rhetorical Analysis of Previously Written Paper

In order to succeed in life and have a well-paid job we all are expected to earn a degree from a university or a college. The higher the degree we have, the higher is the pay. The first step to success comes by earning a degree from a university or college. The requirements for every department within the college have their own set of classes a student needs to take in order to get a degree from a particular field of interest. In the coarse of getting a degree we all are required to write one or more papers that account for our major. On the demand of major requirements the purpose of writing the paper also changes. I, being a Biological Science student, was required to write several papers on several experiments and research that I have conducted for my biology classes. My goal in this paper is to rhetorically analyze one of my previously researched papers from my Biology 10 class, a class that emphasized the study of the living world. My audience was my instructor. The instructor was from a biology background that implied that the instructor was well aware of the subject of my research. To reach to the expectations of my instructor I very carefully followed her guidelines that were provided to us to formulate our research paper.

This paper includes the analysis of the rhetorical strategies (strategies used to organize and present thoughts in writing) used, how and why they were used, and also bring forward the rhetorical strategies that could have been used but were not used in the paper. These are the strategies I will be discussing in regard to style: research and academic writing. Also the strategies in regard to structure include: MLA, introduction, tone, aesthetics, and lexicon.

Being a Biological Science student I have to conduct a lot of research and experimentations in order to understand my field in-depth. One of the pieces of research that I conducted in Fall 2007 for my biology class was based on the study of Lupus. The subject of study was unfamiliar to me because of which I had to conduct a lot of research before I could understand in depth about the disease. With my research I found out that "Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which body attacks itself, harming its own healthy cells and tissues" (My paper).

Having understand what the study is based on I had to take into account the need for the write-up of the paper. The purpose of this research paper was academic, scientific writing that would present a formal write up of the research paper to present all the information based on lupus. The paper includes the types of lupus, its causes, diagnostic tools, treatment, symptoms, and also who can get affected with lupus. Such papers are generally written by biology major, as it is a scientific research, though other major students might also use the topic if taking a biology course for general education requirements.

To compile the research paper I was asked to use MLA (Modern Language Association) style of writing. The research paper that I wrote consists of a title of the research that I had conducted, a header with last name and page numbers, citations, and a work cited page. I started writing my paper with a title that gave the basic idea to the instructor as to what the subject of my paper was. The title gives an idea to the reader as to what subtopics are to be expected from the writer. For my paper I had a very to the point topic because of which I had to give each and every detail about the topic that would generally be included in all searches conducted on the Internet when someone searches for it. The purpose of my one word topic (Lupus) was to let the instructor know that I would be talking about the subject in depth. It portrays that my paper would include all the information's based on the disease 'lupus' that generally goes with it in every research paper or any person would want to know if they have to search about it on any search engine such as Google.

Once the purpose of the topic was fulfilled I introduced my introduction with a summary on the background of lupus. It becomes very important for a writer to summarize his/her ideas in the beginning of the paper in order to give a glimpse of the paper. To fulfill this requirement of writing I included the definition of lupus, and how it is caused in my introduction, not forgetting to cite the work that was taken from an outside source using the MLA style for citation. Along with the definitions, my introduction also included the areas of a human body that can be affected by the disease. Because lupus is not a common disease in the United States and not many people are aware of the details about the disease, I presented the dangers of the disease in my introduction so that later in the paper I can talk more in depth about it. The introduction also stated which ethnic groups and which sex (male/female) is encountered of having caught by the disease 'Lupus'.

Following with the basic definition of lupus I had to be very careful about what I write in rest of my paper knowing the fact that my professor is from the biology field. I intended to use appropriate medical terminology, i.e. words used in medical field of study. Lupus itself is a medical term for a disease that was the main subject for the research paper. Associated with that I had used other medical terms that accounts for the occurrence, cure, or even treatment of the disease. A scientific research paper without the usage of medical terminology becomes no other than an academic paper. Medical terminology is based on the concept of adding a word root, prefix, and a suffix to eventually form a medical term. Each medical terminology also has a scientific name for itself. For example lupus: scientific name is Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Each medical term has it's own definition to describe science-based subjects. Definitions might not have been necessary to be included in the paper, but because it tells the reader right away what a particular medical term implies to rather than having the reader search for the meaning of the term if they are unaware of it I presented the medical terms followed with their appropriate definitions as needed.

Figures were used to portray the visual symptoms of lupus and areas on body that are affected by the disease. Figures become an important strategy