The Link Between Drinks: Rhetorical Strategies in Tara Haelle’s
“Alcohol can rewire the teenage brain.” It is no secret that teenagers experiment with alcohol, so why are the repercussions still kept hushed? Science writer and educator Tara Haelle works to reveal just a portion of the consequences that come from binge drinking during the teenage years in “Alcohol can rewire the teenage brain.” Haelle is attempting to convey the risk that adolescents are at when they participate in the harmful act of binge drinking. Haelle works to use documentary data and several types of appeals to persuade the readers against allowing or participating in binge drinking. Throughout the article, Haelle uses facts about teenagers who binge drink in order to prove her point of how dangerous this activity can be. Binge drinking is the act of consuming considerably large amounts of alcohol within a short period of time. The amount of alcohol to be considered as binging changes depending on age and gender. Haelle uses data to prove this by stating that: “A
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She was also able to make an impact through appealing to different parts of a person's emotions and logic. The author could better persuade her readers by appealing to both sides of the case. For example, she could have pulled in more reasoning of why teenagers drink and why it is seen as okay for adults. Her strong focus on her main point of how dangerous binge drinking is could cause a person who believes that underage alcohol consumption is not at bad as it seems to ignore what is being said. These different classes of appeals allow the mind to fully become involved with what is being said and connect on a deeper level than writing that has no appeal. Haelle’s work is making progress to expose the truth behind underage drinking and the lifelong effects that could come from