Low Carb Diet Ethos Pathos Logos

To rhetorically analyze something, the analyzer must be completely aware of everything that they read and process it as they do so. They have to notice how the text works and be able to acknowledge how it uses different tactics to effectively convey certain points. Ethos, pathos, logos, and much more… it can seem overwhelming at first, but once it is broken down into smaller pieces, it is easier to understand and tackle. After looking through several sources, there are two pieces that I am going to compare and pick apart and additionally compare to the actual Atkin’s website. One source is a newspaper article titled A Call for a Low-Carb Diet and the second is an essay published in a newspaper called Low-Carb Diet: Lose the Bun, Not the Burger

Ever since Dr. Robert Atkins helped to popularize the low-carb lifestyle with his own version of the low-carb diet, the possible consequences and health risks have been argued with the supposed benefits. The article is able to use these facts and statistics as a driving force and since it shows several credible sources it is able to directly contribute to ethos, which adds a greater sense of credibility to the overall article itself. The website’s explanatory section approaches the topic much like the first article I analyzed. Like the first article, it focuses on using logos to explain how the diet works and why it is successful for many. As logos is used, it increases the credibility and trustworthiness found in the piece. The website is different, though, from both of the articles. It allows the reader to click on different tabs with different information and even has an option for people who are on the diet and/or interested in trying it to join groups and have discussions. One tab on the website also allows the readers to read success stories so that they may be able to find someone with a similar story to themselves and therefore allows a bond to form between them and the person sharing their success story. In turn, this

Because it is more personal, the facts of what the author went through won’t necessarily apply to everyone, so it isn’t as accurate or concrete. One detail that the author points out about their experience is that they didn’t follow the diet as strictly as is usually suggested. Factors to consider are not only your diet but the activity level of the individual and any medical conditions and other influences that may change the outcome of someone’s experience with low-carbing, which the article doesn’t really acknowledge, much less mention. When stepping back and taking a look at both of the articles and their similarities and differences, it is important to note when each piece was published. The essay Low-Carb Diet: Lose the Bun, Not the Burger (and Heavy on the Mayo) was published in 2000 and the article A Call for a Low-Carb Diet was published in 2016. Those 16 years make for a considerably hefty gap, but both advocate for the diet and only the more professional and recent article is the one that contains mainly statistics while the essay focuses on giving a testimony. Considering the differences, these two pieces are not bad to analyze side by side, but it would be more accurate and beneficial to both the person analyzing and the audience if they are