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Rosemary Cruz Actual

Professor Jon Beadle

English 115

28 September 2020

Project Space

In the essays, “Bridge the Cap form High School to College” by Haley Jones; “Safe

Space or Wasted Space” by Ranzen Pangilinan; and “Online Lesson: Literal and Figurative” by

Mercedes Guevara we analyze which essay has the most effective argument and made effective

through ethos, pathos, and logos. All these essays talk about different topics from the transition

from high school to college to how technology expands your way of learning. In my opinion the

one with the most effective argument is “Safe Space or Wasted Space” by Ranzen Pangilinan

because it effectively uses the three rhetorical strategies: ethos, logos, and pathos. She effectively

supports her thesis by using data from a medical survey. She shares the importance of having a

safe place to be yourself without criticism from other people that don’t understand what it means

to be part of the LGBTQ+ community. By using this she makes sure to effectively emphasize

with her intended audience about the importance of having a Pride Center.

The first rhetorical strategy used is ethos which is used to show the audience the author's

credibility in the topic they are talking about. In the essay, “Safe Space or Wasted Space” by

Pangilinan, ​she talks about how Pride Center is important because they give the LGBTQ+

Community a safe space and how each academic institution should have one. ​In the essay the

author Pangilinan says, "The USU Pride Center at CSUN is an extremely important part of

campus because it provides a safe space for LGBT+ student"(Panigilinan 60). Pangilinan
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uses the rhetorical strategy by being credible regarding this topic and what is the importance of

the pride center for her. In the essay “Bridge Gap from High School to College” by Jones, ​she

talks about how students going through the transition from highschool to college can be difficult

for them. ​In the essay the author says, "For those who believe their path to success is

through academics, the tran-sitional process into college is one of the most difficult and

life-altering"(Jones 25). Jones uses ethos by the fact that she has already gone through the

transition from high school to college and is a reliable source for those just starting the transition.

Lastly in the Waves essay “Online Lesson: Literal and Figurative” by Guevara, she talks about

how technology does not dimension but expands our way of learning . The author says, “My

experience with a technology-based education challenged me to excel in everything I

did”(Guevara 91). Guevara uses ethos to talk about her own personal experience when it comes

to learning online, which was both a good and bad experience for her. She explains how she

procrastinate when it came to doing her work online, but learned a valuable lesson from her

mistakes. She learned to take her work more seriously and not procrastinate because it will just

make things more difficult for yourself. Because of the experience she has had with online

schooling experience she became more responsible and it shaped her way of thinking. Although

all three essays use ethos the most effective would be Pangilinan because she uses ethos to

establish her credibility when talking about the importance of the pride center at CSUN and other

educational institutions.

Another rhetorical strategy used by these authors is pathos to appeal to the reader's

emotions. ​Pangilinan ​says, " No matter who you are, you won’t be shunned for being

yourself. Here in the Pride Center, you can express yourself more so than at
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home."(Panigilinan 60). She appeals to the readers and especially those part of the LGBTQ+

community telling them they have a safe space where they can be themselves in a safe place that

may not be their home. In the essay “Bridge the Cap form High School to College'' by Jones she

says, " Several key factors contribute positively or negatively to this transitional process and set

it apart from the college experience itself"(Jones 25). Jones uses pathos to relate with the reader

and how the transition from high school to college can become difficult if you're not ready for it.

Lastly, Guevara states, “Although having a technology-based education is often questioned

by others, it was a learning experience for me like no other”(Guevara 91). Guevara uses pathos

by evoking emotions on how this experience shaped her into the person she now is and how it

shaped her way of thinking. Although all authors used pathos I believe that Guevara could have

used more to connect more with the audience because it was weak; it only talks to students that

are seniors in high school and transitioning to being freshman in college. Panagilinan uses pathos

effectively connecting with the audience of the LGBTQ+ community and others by including

both points of view but still insisting the need for a Pride center in each educational institution.

When using logos they are using data or facts to persuade the audience with reason to

what they are talking about. The essay “Safe Space or Wasted Space” ​Pangilinan ​adds to the

importance of the Pride center by citing an outside source that says, "More than 40% of les-bian,

gay, and bisexual students surveyed had seriously considered suicide in the previous year, and

nearly 30 percent had attempted it” (qtd in Sadowski). She support her believe of the

importance of this program by using data from U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention

and talking about the percentage of suided within the LGBTQ+ community becuase of

discrimination and thereby using logos. Jones uses an outside source Regina Hill and she states
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that “the college transi-tion begins with college choice, which can be impacted by factors

including loca-tion, finances, degree programs, environment, and institutional prestige.”(Hill 25).

She uses facts about the transition to college and how many factors go into the decision you pick.

Lasly, in the essay “Online Lesson: Literal and Figurative” Guevara uses an outside source

which says, “Technology is a platform in which social media and networking exists, but

this does not lessen the ability of someone to write, rather it increases the exposure to various

styles of writing.” (509). Guevara uses this fact to show the importance of technology for

educational purposes. She supports this evidence writing about how technology helps students do

work effectively by letting them be in control of how and when they do their work. Out of these

three essays ​Pangilinan uses logos the most effectively by giving data from a credible source and

using more than one source. Her source is credible because it is data from the U.S.​ Center for

Disease Control and Prevention which talked about the alarming rate of suide or thought of

suicides coming from people in the LGBTQ+ community.

All things considered the essay from Waves with the most effective argument is “Safe

Space or Wasted Space” by Ranzen Pangilinan because it was made effective through ethos,

logos, and pathos. Although all three essays did use rhetorical strategies they were not used as

effectively as the one by Pangilinan. For example, Guevara uses only one source when using

logos to prove her point that technology improves our education rather than dimension it. In

“Bridge the Gap from High School to College'' Jones does not effectively relate to the audience;

she just explains why the process will be difficult if you are not prepared for the work load or the

transition from high school to college. For these reasons I think that Pangilinan’s essay has the

most effective argument because it uses all the three rhetorical strategies; ethos, logos, and
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pathos effectively and gets straight to the point in order to prove her argument effectively to the

reader.

Cited Work

Mercedes Guevara. “Online Lessons: Literal and Figurative.” WAVES: A Collection of Student

Essays by Amy Reynolds and Amber Norwood, Editors and Corin Marie Alvarado and Joseph

Jaffray, Assistant Editors. 2nd edition, Macmillian learning, 2020, pp. 89-91

Hill, Regenia, et al. “Factors Affecting College Choice and Transfer: A Study of the

Haily Jones. “Bridge the Gap from High School to College.” WAVES: A Collection of Student

Essays by Amy Reynolds and Amber Norwood, Editors and Corin Marie Alvarado and Joseph

Jaffray, Assistant Editors. 2nd edition, Macmillian learning, 2020, pp. 25-27

"Lunsford, Andrea. “Our Semi-Literate Youth? Not So Fast.” The Norton Sampler: Short

Essays for Composition. 9th ed, edited by Thomas Cooley, W.W. Norton & Company, 2018,

508–512"

Ranzen Pangilinan. “Safe Space or wasted space?” WAVES: A Collection of Student Essays by

Amy Reynolds and Amber Norwood, Editors and Corin Marie Alvarado and Joseph Jaffray,

Assistant Editors. 2nd edition, Macmillian learning, 2020, pp. 60-62

Sadowski, Michael. “For LGBT Students, Are ‘Safe Schools’ Enough?” Educa-tion

Week, 20 Feb. 2019,

www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/10/12/for-lgbt-students-are-safe-schools-enough.html."