English 202c Rhetorical Analysis To: Stephen M.

Fonash From: Joseph Dotzel Subject: Analysis of EPA Science Fair Booklet Date: 1/28/14

The purpose of this memo is to give my impressions and judge the effectiveness of the Science Fair Fun Booklet by the EPA Published in December of 2000. The main purposes of the booklet are to present information to students and teachers about science fair projects, as well as push the EPAs goal of environmental protection. Design of Booklet The design of the booklet is very straightforward and user friendly. The booklet is setup into four basic sections. The first section introduces the audience to the booklet as well as the mission statement of the EPA. The second section talks about the basic steps involved with creating an experiment and the way to present that experiment for a science fair. The third section is filled with good examples of experiments. Finally, the last section is made of additional information that is useful to the reader. Overall it accomplishes most of the goals that the EPA puts forth. It introduces the EPA and gives good information about science fair projects, but it could be improved upon. One of the few problems with the design of the booklet is that the first part is unnecessarily split into two parts, a note for students and teachers and an introduction. The problem with this is that both of these parts accomplish the same goal of introducing the reader to the booklet. The EPA could have easily combined the two or even got rid the Note to section. Another problem with this booklet is that although the booklet is partially about environmental protection, they seem to be very wasteful in its design. There are multiple pages within this booklet which contain basically no information on them. Pages 3 and 16 are good examples of this. Both pages contain almost nothing but clip art, and the small amount of information that is there could have easily been fit on another page. You could argue that the EPA was trying to keep the attention of the students with picture and color, but this wasteful design goes against the mission goal of the EPA. In addition to the waste of paper, the same problem exists with the color scheme for this booklet. While it is bright and eye-catching it has full color pages which probably waste a lot of ink. Overall it was just ironic that some of the only information on the wasteful 16th page was that it contains at least 30 percent postconsumer fiber. Content of Booklet The content of the book, much like the design, is very adequate. The first section has enough information to explain the purpose of the booklet and the EPA, without being long winded or getting too caught up with the message of environmental protection. They state the mission statement of the program on page 5 without letting it interfere with the purpose of the booklet. While the second section of the booklet works well, the section feels as though it is lacking a certain something. The main purpose of this booklet is to inform 6th - 8th grade students of the

proper steps involved with creating a science fair project, however the instructions it gives are very basic and do not go into any detail. This may be because this booklet is not for a specific science fair, so they lack the finer specifications for the project. Despite this, 6th 8th graders require more fine direction at this point in their education, so providing more information in this section could go a long way to increasing the usability of the booklet. Finally I can find little problem with the last two sections of this booklet. The third section gives eight examples of good science fair projects with the subject of environmental protection, a large amount compared to the limited information given in the last section. The final section provides a sufficient glossary and many additional resources to help in further researching science fair projects. Audience The audience the EPA intends to target in this booklet is stated on the second page as middle school students and teachers. What these different audiences get out of the booklet will, by necessity be different. The children are getting a source of information about science fair projects and environmental protections. The teachers on the other hand are getting a teaching tool they can use to teach their students. As a resource for the teachers, this booklet could do a better job. It does not give any real information on how a teacher should go about teaching the children about environmental protection or science fair projects. Instead, the booklet appears to be a resource solely for the children to assist in their learning. The colors and design of the booklet back this up. The colors and use of clip art are clearly designed for children and will hold no appeal for the teachers. On the bright side the booklet does offer a list of supplementary resources that could further help the teacher with the job of teaching the students. As a resource for the children the booklet does a much better job. The colors and design would appeal more to the students. It helps keep and draw their attention to the pertinent information available to them. The booklet also provides a glossary for the students, showing that they understand that the booklet may contain words that the students may not understand. The one area where it could use some improvement is in the main content of the booklet. It does a good job of introducing the concept of a science fair project to the students, but as was stated in content section, the information provided may be lacking. Conclusion Although the EPA Science Fair Fun booklet is a good general guide to environmentally based science fair projects, there is room for significant improvement. By streamlining the introduction and design, providing a more complete set of instructions, and refocusing on the intended audience, the booklets usability could be greatly increased.