Okafor 1

LaurenOkafor

InstructorSeifert

10March2017

ENGW105

RhetoricalAnalysis:MidtermRevision

AccordingtotheNationalCenterforEducationStatistics,5.4%ofalmosttwomillion

undergraduatedegreeswereforbiologicalandbiomedicalsciencesand9.8%wasforhealth

professionsmajors(U.S.DepartmentofEducation).Duetothewidevarietyoffieldsassociated

withthesemajorssomeindividualscontinuetopursueresearchwhileothersentermedicaland

healthprofessionsfield.Foreachoftheseareasofstudytherearespecificscholarlytextsand

academicjournalsthatcanbeassociatedwiththem.Writinglikethisincludespeerreviewed

journalsandarticleswrittenbyexpertsinthefield.Generally,theseworksinformothersofnew

researchthatcouldbenefitandprogressthedisciplineforward.Incomparingatraditional

scholarlyworkwithamorepopularmediumamagazinearticle,arhetoricalanalysiswillbe

conducted.Thetwoworksdiscussdentalanxietyandthedifferencesintheirstructure,style,and

useoflanguageareexaminedtodeterminethemosteffectivewritingstyleinaprofessional

scientificsetting.

InthestudyAssessingtheAttitudesandClinicalPracticesofOhioDentistsTreating

PatientswithDentalAnxietyfoundintheDentistryJournalconductedandwrittenbyKristen

Williamsetal,theideaofdentalanxiety(DA)ispresented.ThecharacteristicsofDAis
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discussedwithpotentialsolutionstohandlinganysymptomsapatientmaydisplay.Thegoalof

thestudywastoaddressthewaysinwhichdentistshandleaffectedpatients.

Theinformationpresentedisstructuredlikethatofalabreport.Withfivemainsections,

theabstract,background,methods,practices,andresultsoftheexperimentarealloutlined.The

structureisorderlybecauseitneedstobeabletobereplicatedandusedforfurthertesting.Asa

scientificexperiment,theauthorswantedtogetthemessageacrossalongwiththeinformationin

aconcisemanner.Theorganizedstructureisnecessarybecausereaderscanquicklyfindspecific

informationwithinthetext.Therefore,itisnotnecessarytoreadtheentirepapertounderstand

thematerial.Formoredetailedinformationondentalanxietyreaderscanjumptothe

backgroundsection,andtodetermineifthisstudyismeaningfultothereader,theabstractis

useful.Thishelpsreadersnarrowdowntheirsearchforwhattheyneedaseverythingistitled

usingsubsectionheaders.Theinclusionofawidevarietyempiricaldataalsosupportstheclaims

ofthearticleas,anestimated10%ofindividualssufferfromdentalanxietyinagiven

population,(Williams).Theuseofthisdataandreferencesgiveappealstologosasother

dentistscanverifyforthemselvesthevalidityofthegiveninformation.Italsoappealstoethosas

thedepthofinformationinthetextindicatesthattherewassignificantresearchconductedprior

towritingthisarticle,givingtheauthorslegitimacy.Withinscientifictexts,authorsneedto

addresstheparametersofeachcircumstancesothattheiraudiencecancometoeducated

deductionsaboutwhatshouldbeappliedintheirexperimentations.Theideaofreplicationis

appliedinthiscontextagainasthescholarlyarticlewaswrittenaboutanexperiment.Toconduct

researchonemustdoresearchontheirown,thereforethisarticlereferencesmanyoutside
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sourcesthatverifythegeneralinformationandfindingsthatarepresented.Thelabreport

structureandinclusionofdataisusefulandeffectiveforprovidingorganizedinformation.

Theformatofthemagazinearticletitled,HighAnxietyintheDentalOfficeby

CathleenTerhuneAlty,mirroredthatofaselfhelpguide.Withstepbystepandgenerictips

provided,contentcouldbefollowedalongbyanyreader.Thearticlebeganwithananecdote

aboutascarydentalsituationthatpatientscouldrelatetobeforedivingintosolutionstothe

anxietythatmightbebroughtonbysuchascenario.Theanecdotealludedtothepatients

perceiveddistrustofthedentistas,anotherpatientasksyoutopleasebegentle,asifyour

namebadgeproclaimsyouareTheButcher,(Alty).Theuseofarelatablestoryisamethod

thatcouldpiquetheinterestofreadersandleadthemtocontinuereadingthetips.Theadvicethat

isgivenisorganizedintosubsectionsamethodtoprovidequickaccesstoinformation.One

subsectionthatisusefulfordentistsistheoneaboutacomfortableappointment.Thissection

describesdifferentproceduresandprotocolthatcanbeutilizedbythedentistonlysuchas

anesthesiaandprescribingmedication.Throughoutthearticletherearetipsforthingspatients

candotomaketheentireexperiencebetter.Thisincludesthingslikeusingnoisecancelling

earphones,meditation,learningabouttheproceduresoitisnotamystery,andothereasily

accessibletoolstolessentheiranxiety(Alty).Theinclusionofpatientdirectedactivitiesislikea

selfhelpguidebecauseitputsthepowerbackintothepatientshandswhenaddressingthis

condition.

Alternatively,thestylisticapproachofmaterialinthescholarlyarticleispresentedsolely

fortheintendedaudience.TheprimaryreadersoftheDentistryJournalaredentistsastheyare

theoneswhomayencounterindividualswiththephobia.Forthisreason,thejournalincludes
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specificreferencestostudiesandtestsandtechniquesthatonlyotherdentistswouldeitherhave

accesstoorwouldberesearching.Thelanguageusagetendstobeimpersonal,highlytechnical,

andpresentsitselfinaformthatisuniquetothehardsciences.Muchofthemethodology

describedisspecifictothefieldthatwouldrequireonetohaveadecentbackgroundtofully

grasptheconceptspresented.Terminologysuchasanxiolyticsarenotdefinedforthereaderas

theyareexpectedtobefamiliarwiththefield(Williams).Skillssuchastheadministeringof

nitrousoxidetotreatpatientsarealsomentionedwithoutthestepbystepprocess,another

indicationthatthisarticleisintendedfordentists(Williams).Thedetailedinformationallows

dentiststolearnaboutandpotentiallyapplyselectedtechniquestotreatDAontheirown

patients.TechniqueutilizationrangesfrompatientdistractionwithmoviesormusictoCognitive

BehavioralTherapy,somethingthatdentistsmustlearnoutsideoftraditionaldentalschool

curricula(Williams).Dentistscanthenutilizethisinformationandapplyittotheirownpractice.

Incomparisontothescholarlyjournal,theRDHmagazine,presentDAinastyleof

writingthatcanbereceivedbybothdentistsandpatients.Altyhasmoreofanappealtopathos

thantheJournalarticleasthewayinwhichthematerialispresentedcanbeunderstoodbythe

potentialaudience.Thearticleprovidessolutionsfornotonlyhowtohandlepatientswhosuffer

fromit,butitprovidesmethodsforthosedealingwiththephobiatotackleitthemselves.While

havingtheabilitytoappealtoawiderrangeofpeople,thedirectedaudiencearedentists.

However,withtheadvicegiven,anarticlesuchasthisonecanbefoundinthestackof

magazinesinatypicaldentistwaitingroom.Meaningpatientscanpotentiallyencounterworks

suchasthisandunderstanditduetotheaccessibilityofthelanguageandwritingstyle.With

magazinereaders,thedesireistoapproachthesubjectmatterinawaythatgetstothesolutions
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quickly.Thelanguagewasnotcomplexandtheinformationwaseasilydigestible.Theuseof

languagewassubstantialandwellmeaningwithouttoomanyfillersorlanguagethatindicatea

needforadentaldegreetodecodethematerial.Itisnotedthatpatientswillnothaveasmuch

exposuretothetechnicalscientificinformationthereforeitwasprovidedusingplaintext.Dueto

thisfactAltyusedanunderstandablewritingstylethatismeaningfulbecauseoftheknown

possibilitythataffectedpatientscouldaccessthearticle.

Botharticlesutilizestructuralandrhetoricaltechniquestosuccessfullycommunicate

ideasaboutdentalanxiety.Eachofthearticlesareorganizedintosectionstostructure

information.TheDentistryJournalispurelyfactualasitincorporatesempiricalevidence,inthe

magazinetherearesomehyperbolicstatementsmadealthoughmanyoftheclaimscanbe

verified.Thisisevidencethatthejournalcanbecloselyrelatedtoscientificacademicwriting

unlikethemagazinearticle.AccordingtotheScientificWritingResourcefromDuke

UniversitysGraduateSchooleacharticleisrelatedtoscience,howeveroneisscientificwriting

andtheotherissciencewriting(Sheffield).TheDentistryJournalcontainsscientificjargonand

iswrittenforandbyscientiststhereforemakingitapieceofscientificwriting.Scientificwritings

areknownforbeingconcise,compact,andtechnicalallcharacteristicsthatthejournal

embodies(Sheffield).TheRDHmagazinearticlewaswrittenforamuchwideraudiencethathas

aninterestinscientificcontentmakingitasciencewritingwhichiswritingaboutsciencefor

thepopularmedia(Sheffield).Withthesedistinctionsinmindthepurposesofbotharticlesis

reinforced.
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Throughtheanalyzationofthetwoworks,thetextthatbestrepresentsthekindofwriting

thatisdonebysciencemajorsistheDentistryJournal.Therigidstructureoftheresearchpaper

formatisoneofthekeysignifiersofascholarlyscientifictextandprovesitseffectivenesswithin

aprofessionalsetting.Thisalongwiththeheightenedandhighlyspecificlanguagefurther

propelstheworkintosomethingthatislessaccessibletocommonpeople,butmoremeaningful

tothosewhodevotetheirtimetostudyingdifferentscientificfields.

WorksCited

Alty,CathleenTerhuneRDH,BA."HighAnxietyintheDentalOffice."RDHmag.PennWell

Corporation,22Aug.2014.Web.12Oct.2016.

Sheffield,Nathan.ScienceWritingv.ScientificWriting.ScientificWritingResource.

Duke,2012.Web.15Oct.2016.

U.S.DepartmentofEducation,NationalCenterforEducationStatistics.(2016).Digestof

EducationStatistics,2014(NCES2016006)Chapter3.

Williams,KristenA.,SarahLambaria,andSaraAskounes.AssessingtheAttitudesandClinical

PracticesofOhioDentistsTreatingPatientswithDentalAnxiety.MDPI.MDPIAG,30

Sept.2016.Web.14Oct.2016.