TO: Dr. Julie Watts

FROM: Robert Bialecki

SUBJECT: Rhetorical Analysis

DATE: November 10, 2009

Content/Language

The main ideas are the boldfaced headings found throughout the brochure. These main ideas are

communicated well, since the headings are as clear and concise as possible. The brochure’s

content is useful. All of the necessary content is included. The audience does have the necessary

prior knowledge to understand the content. Anything the audience may be unclear about is

clarified in the brochure. For example, they include what the acronym SAE means. There doesn’t

seem to be any other content they should include. They’ve included all of the critical

information. The brochure does not contain any unnecessary content. For the most part, the

language conforms to convention. However, there are some errors:

The bulleted items under “Who We Are” should have periods at the end, since they’re

complete sentences.

In the non-bulleted sentence under “Sponsorship Benefits,” the word “Arkansaw” should

be spelled “Arkansas” (unless that’s actually how the name of the raceway is spelled).

Under the “Ways to Support Baja” heading, the period at the end should probably be

changed to a colon.

In the first bulleted item under “We Need Your Help,” there should be a comma after

“students,” since it’s a compound sentence.

Overall, the brochure’s content maintains consistency. The bulleted lists maintain a consistent

tense under each heading. However, I noticed that under “Contact Information,” the treasurer is

the only one without a phone number listed (perhaps he didn’t want that included?).

Organization

Given the rhetorical situation, the content is organized in a way that emphasizes and supports the

main points. The title panel and contact information are where they should be. When the

audience opens the title flap, the first thing they will see is the “We Need Your Help” section,

which is the main point and purpose of the brochure. The readers are given useful cues about the

organization of the brochure. The brochure makes use of boldfaced, underlined headings,

bulleted lists, a text box, and graphics. The layout contributes to the audience’s understanding.

The text and graphics are arranged in a way that the audience can identify the main point and the

supporting main points.

Visuals

The visuals enhance the brochure. They fill the white space that would otherwise cause a

distraction from the text. The visuals also contribute to the main points. For example, without the

images of the vehicles, I would have assumed they were a bit smaller. There is one visual that

they didn’t include but probably should. I would recommend an image of one of the vehicles on

a race track. Neither of the images of the vehicles that they included shows the vehicles in

motion. This would be useful, since the vehicles aren’t built just for display purposes. I would

also consider making the clock tower graphic on the title panel smaller. With the way it is now, it

seems to put more emphasis on UW-Stout and less on the organization itself. Since the clock

tower graphic doesn’t pertain to the organization, they might even consider removing it

altogether. Given the type of document, the visuals do conform to convention. The text on the

logo is easy to read. The visuals aren’t labeled, but they don’t need to be.

Design

The brochure’s design makes it easier to use. The layout of the text and graphics is somewhat

appealing. For the most part, the design features are appropriate for the rhetorical situation. The

font is appropriate in terms of style and size. The white space could be used more effectively.

The left margin on both spreads is noticeably larger than the right margin. If you fold the spreads

into a brochure, the text on the left panels appears scrunched to the right. There is also too much

white space in the middle panel of the inside spread. To correct this, I would recommend moving

the text to either the top or the bottom of the panel and using another graphic to fill in the white

space. I would also recommend using a background color for the brochure but nothing too bold

or too bright. I would suggest beige. I think they should redesign the right panel on the inside

spread. The box around the boldfaced items draws too much attention to itself. I suggest

removing the box but leaving the text inside the way it is. Also, for that panel, I would remove

all of the bullets and turn the two sentences below the text box into one block of text. Lastly, I

recommend that they center-align the headings above the lines throughout the brochure.

Tone

The tone of the brochure is both friendly and business-like. This tone is appropriate for the

audience and purpose, since the goal of the brochure is to acquire sponsors, funds, and materials.

The tone is used consistently throughout the brochure, and in this case, it should be.