DHMO Rhetorical Analysis Activity

 
Step 1: Open the following website: https://www.dhmo.org/   

Step 2: Spend five to ten minutes exploring the site and writing down your observations. Consider the language choices on the page, but also pay attention to color choices, graphics and visuals, formatting, links, and anything else with rhetorical implications.  

Step 3: Working in collaboration with a peer, answer the following questions:

  • Who is the organization behind this site, and what is the organization’s purpose?
  • What rhetorical techniques stand out to you most?
  • What appeals to credibility do you identify?
  • What appeals to logic do you note?
  • What appeals to emption do you recognize?
  • Based on what you have seen on the site, do you believe DHMO should be banned? Why or why not?

Step 4: Discuss your responses to the questions with the whole class.

  • What did you learn?
  • How might you apply these skills when evaluating websites? When doing research online? When learning about hazardous materials and environmental issues? When making your own arguments?  
     
     
    This activity is inspired by the website dhmo.org, copyright © by Tom Way. 

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