In response to Americans' losing interest in literature, Dana Gioia argues that the decline of reading in America will have a negative effect on society. In the article “Why Literature Matters,” Dana Gioia is persuading Americans that there is a need for change and it needs to be done soon. The most effective ways of building his argument are by using expertise and the emotional appeal of fear. The research and facts - expertise - that Gioia incorporated into the article are necessary to help give reasons as to why Americans need to have an increase in literature. A study in 2002 commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts explained the most concerning part of the study “[was] the declining percentage of Amercans…reading literature