809

SAMPLE #2

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Study Shines Light on Negative Campaigning & Media Coverage in 2016 Presidential Election

Researchers show Donald Trump benefitted from ‘overwhelmingly negative campaign’

Hartford, Conn. – A new study published by the American Political Science Association (APSA) discusses the use of negative campaigning by then U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and also puts forth a theory of strategic negative campaigning as it relates to newspaper media coverage. Through extensive content analysis, researchers discovered that President Donald Trump was covered more of the time in newspapers – simply because he maintained more of negative tone than did his Democratic counterpart.

The study was conducted by a team of political scientists at Trinity College and led by undergraduate student Amanda Muccio. They find empirical support for several claims:

1. The Trump campaign built an identity database through its use of negative campaigning, which was an effective strategy in obtaining publicity and media attention (specifically in newspapers).

2. Negative press releases tend to be more successful in obtaining media attention than do the positive ones.

3. The effect of negativity for garnering media attention was higher for (political) press releases that address issues that are had by the opposing party. For example, Donald Trump repeatedly attacked Hillary Clinton in press releases (i.e. on the basis of her policy positions; campaign decisions). These type of press releases earned him more attention in newspapers.

“This study clarifies the challenges and opportunities available to political candidates through negative campaigning,” said Paul Langdon, Chairman of the APSA Review Committee. “The researchers also present strong evidence of a relationship between newspaper coverage and negativity. I am convinced that these findings – especially those which disclose insight(s) about Trump’s electability – will have major implications for society.”

The study concludes with numerous recommendations for future research on the subject. Among the proposals is the following:

· Conduct rigorous evaluations of similarly democratic elections. The methodology used in this project (content analysis) can be applied to other single case studies. More, the comparative research may shed a light on political parties and media systems. Muccio and her team believe that future studies can better understand whether negative campaigning always gets more media attention.

“This report should be required reading for anyone trying to understand Trump’s victory. What does it mean if the bias of the press is not that it’s liberal… or regarding its polarization, but instead it has a bias of preference for the negative?” said Matthew Levendusky, an associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. “Muccio’s study begs the question: how has negative campaigning normalized Trump, and normalized media bias towards negativity? I’m looking forward to more research on this topic.”

The full project report can be viewed here, and an executive summary for the political community can be found here.

About the American Political Science Association (APSA) Founded in 1903, the American Political Science Association is the leading professional organization for the study of political science and serves more than 13,000 members in more than 80 countries. With a range of programs and services for individuals, departments, and institutions, APSA brings together political scientists from all fields of inquiry, regions, and occupational endeavors within and outside academe to deepen our understanding of politics, democracy, and citizenship throughout the world. For more information, visit: www.apsanet.org.

About principal investigator Amanda Muccio

Amanda Muccio is an undergraduate student at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. She is expected to graduate from the college in May 2018, with a degree in Political Science and Writing, Rhetoric and Media Studies. Her research focuses on U.S. elections, political parties, and public opinion. She can be reached at [email protected].

Unit 4: Strategy Essay

For my unit 4 project, I decided to write a press release about the hypothetical results of my grant project. I chose to do this for several reasons: one, different traditions of political science have generally given privilege to this communicative genre; two, a press release pairs valuable rhetorical objectives (i.e. it informs and also invites reader interest in a particular topic); three, it is arguably the most efficient and salient way that I can present this information. Moreover, a press release effectively serves as an endorsement of my project, which prompts public attention. With a press release, identifying the target audience is a more difficult undertaking than one might assume. This is because a well-written press release can reach a much wider or broader audience than those who actively seek out, in this situation, new political research. Therefore, my main audience would be journalists and government/political officials (i.e. candidates, campaign managers). I might add, though, that the contents of this press release may attract the interest of those outside the politics/government sphere, who simply find this project significant (i.e. individuals interested in Donald Trump’s election). Overall, the purpose of this press release is to distribute the findings of my grant study and also prompt public attention to research in the political science field. This press release will be distributed electronically – likely by email to media contacts (i.e. journalists, popular newspapers, and cable networks). The communications staff at those organizations would then spread the information from the press release in whatever way they see fit.

In order to make sure the press release reached the right audience, I had to consider certain literary devices and/or rhetorical strategies. One strategy I sought to use was a neutral tone. I adopted this distinctive style or voice because it was most appropriate for my audience: journalists, and the politically-minded. The neutral tone allows for the audience to extract the information or news that is necessary for their purposes. Furthermore, the nature of the genre means being direct – as noted, a press release is for informational purposes only. For this reason, I did not offer any suggestions towards a political agenda, but instead discussed my findings. For example, I bulleted three empirical claims in my press release that were found to be true as a result of my study. These findings are rid of any biases – by including them, the press release acts as an executive summary of a scientifically-strong project to which the audience can later form opinions about. More, the press release was rid of any jargon. This way, the press release could be quickly and easily understood.

My decision to write a press release also involved a heightened awareness to organization (i.e. layout, font, level of detail). More specifically, I adapted a certain writing style – including, but not limited to, short paragraphs, bullet points, and brevity in word count – because of its effect on the audience. While the conventions of the genre do make for similar expectations across fields (press releases generally have the same organization), I used a special format for this press release because it made for easier comprehension for journalists, political officials, and academics. The large and bolded title/subtitle told the press release’s story right away. The sections regarding findings and “future avenues” were short and direct. Organization is an important feature of the genre – and rightfully so – because it ensures the audience’s efficient understanding of information.

Although it was not my original intention to do so, I later realized a press release can also serve as a powerful way of gaining more attention as a scholar. For this reason, I sought to appeal to ethos from the audience. The appeal to ethos is evident when I mention the principal investigator of the grant, “The study was conducted by a team of political scientists at Trinity College led by undergraduate student Amanda Muccio.” Later, I include two anecdotes from scholars in the political science field, who both praise my project and its results. In doing so, I build on my own credibility as a student and as a researcher. These appeals to ethos (i.e. name dropping myself and citing endorsements from established figures) support the purpose of the press release – which aims to bring attention to the study and to the field overall.

By utilizing several strategies in my press release, I hoped to: one, accurately put the findings of my grant project on display; two, draw increased public attention to the field of political science, and finally, encourage reporters, journalists, or political officials to take up this story (in whatever capacity they see fit). That being said, there are many rhetorical devices that one might employ in a press release. I chose to use a neutral tone, create a specific organization, and appeal to ethos because I was aware that my audience would require it. This is largely attributed to my politically-driven project and message – no one would necessarily “believe” the contents or findings of my study unless its publisher (the press release) was rid of biases and also completely professional, and its researcher (myself) was credible. In essence, what makes a press release stronger is its proper use of strategies – these strategies truly effect the audience.

SAMPLE #3

Lesson: Disease in Aquaculture

Objective: To teach students about how disease in aquaculture spreads and how we can study how climate change will affect diseases in aquaculture, for students from 1-5 grade.

Materials: Food dye, clear plastic cups, water, timer

Procedure:

Background: First start off by asking the children if they know what aquaculture is. Most likely they will say no, explain how it is like a farm for fish and other sea animals and plants. Explain how like farmers buy seeds to plant crops, aquaculture farmers buy eggs that will develop into fish! Be sure to show pictures of aquaculture farms. Then talk about how important aquaculture is in the world, comprising over 50% of all seafood. Then ask them what they know about global warming, and tell them about how the earth is slowly warming and that this warming is not good for the animals in the oceans. Tell them about how climate change allows diseases to change and become harder to cure. Make a comparison about how humans tend to get sick in the winter, to how fish tend to get sick when it gets warmer. Ask the class different ways that they can spread germs to one another, such as coughing and not covering your mouth or sneezing. Then talk about the different ways that fish in aquaculture farms can get sick, such as ballast water from boats that stop at different farms; animals, such as birds, that are vectors for disease, and how the water can carry disease. Ask the children what would happen if animals on land farms would get sick? Would it be good for the farm? If a farm only had sick animals, would the farm make a lot of money? Say that the same is true for aquaculture farms.

Script:

Teacher: Has anyone here ever heard of aquaculture? (Wait for responses) Well aquaculture is really similar to something you all probably know! Here is a picture of aquaculture. Tell me what this reminds you of?

(Wait for someone to say farm). That’s right! Aquaculture is the process of growing plants and animals just like a normal farm! Instead of land plants and animals what do you think they grow? (Wait for someone to say water plants and animals) That’s right! Aquaculture farms grow marine plants and animals! Do you guys want to see more pictures of an aquaculture farm? Show pictures

Teacher: Just like in normal farms animals are held in pens and plants like seaweed are grown! Just like farmers use seed to grow crops, aquaculture farms use seeds to plant marine plants and even some animals! The seed in the case of animals are fertilized eggs!

How much of the fish and seaweed that people eat do you guys think come from aquaculture? (Wait for answers until someone says half) That’s right 50% of all the seafood that we eat come from aquaculture farms (The State Of World Fisheries And Aquaculture 2016).

Who here has heard about global warming? Can someone tell me what global warming is? (Wait for answer). Global warming is the process of the Earth getting warmer, due to greenhouse gases caused by humans (Dictionary.com). Does anyone know what a greenhouse gas is or what humans do to cause them? (Take answers). Greenhouse gas that humans have released in to the air, mainly carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons and methane. Humans release these gasses by burning fossil fuels like oil and coal (The Guardian 2011).

This affects our oceans in many ways! When waters are warmer some animals and plants have a harder time surviving. Just like people can’t survive at certain temperatures neither can plants and animals! Warm water also changes ocean currents and sea level rise, due to the melting of ice! The carbon dioxide in the air also gets absorbed into the ocean and causes something called ocean acidification. This makes the water more acidic and some of the animals don’t like that! Can you guys name some things that are acidic? (Wait for someone to say a lemon or an orange) Do you think it would be fun to swim in a pool of lemon juice? Probably not right? Well this is how the animals in the ocean feel!

Even though warm water isn’t really a good thing for most plants and animals in the ocean, it helps out things that make the fish and plants sick, like viruses and bacteria! Warm waters make these viruses and bacteria reproduce faster, which means that there are more of them! Sometimes when there are more viruses and bacteria they can go through a mutation, which means something in them changes and they look or act differently. Usually, these changes are good for the virus or bacteria but bad for the animals that the viruses or bacteria infects (Pulkkinen et al. 2009). Sometimes these mutations make diseases harder to cure! Just like colds and other diseases in humans tend to spread in the winter, the same happens to fish in the warm temperatures!

How do you guys spread germs to one another? (Take answers) Diseases can spread from one aquaculture farm to another just like you guys spread germs to each other! One way this happens is when there are diseases the water that gets trapped in the bottom of a boat. This is called ballast water. The diseased water in the boat gets let out when the boat stops at different locations, and sometimes these boats will visit different aquaculture farms. Another way that disease can be transferred is when birds or other animals drink diseased water and visit aquaculture farms and they transfer the germs via waste. The last way when the farmers get water from the ocean sometimes they can use water that has diseases! This water also goes back into the ocean and other aquaculture farmers may use it!

What would happen if animals and plants on a land farm got sick? Would it be good for the farm? (Take answers) The farmers wouldn’t make any money and then there would be less food for people! The same thing happens in aquaculture farms! Now we are going to play a game to show you guys how disease can spread.

First Activity: Divide the class into three groups, each representing a different aquaculture farm. Choose one student to be a bird, one student to be a boat carrying diseased ballast water and one student to be diseased water. Give each of the students in the class a small plastic cup filled with water. Pick one student to be a fish that has contracted a disease and put a heavy dosage of red food dye in their cup. Tell the students that fish who have red food in their cup have to pretend to act sick and dying (the kids will have a blast acting this out). The kids in each group will be asked to pour a little bit of their water into someone else in their “farm’s” cup every 2 minutes. The bird, the boat and the water students can swap water with anyone in any of the three farms. If the students who are playing the bird, boat and water end up having red dye in their cups they will visit the other two groups and begin to infect their “farms.” We will time how long it takes for the entire class to become infected.

Second activity: The same game will be played however, this time we will factor in climate change. Talk to the students about how climate change will make diseases spread faster and be harder to cure. In this round of the game there will be and extra role called the fish doctor. The fish doctor will be able to replace your “infected” water cup with a new clean cup. However, the fish doctor can only see one fish every two minutes, and can only see students who have RED food coloring in their cups. The goal of the doctor is to show that new diseases are harder to treat due to climate change. It is not included in the first activity so that the children can understand the basic concept of the lesson before we make it more intricate. Two students will be selected to be the diseased fish. One student will have red food coloring added to their cup and one will have green food coloring. The red food coloring represents a normal disease that can be cured by the fish doctor while the green food coloring represents a dangerous disease that doesn’t have a cure yet! This new green disease is introduced to show that climate change will bring on more virulent diseases. Students with green food coloring cannot visit the doctor. The round will continue as the other round did, except to show how disease spreads faster the kids will exchange water with each other every minute instead of every two minutes. .

After the activities ask the students if they were surprised how fast the diseases spread from “farm” to “farm.” Ask the students what they think are good ways to prevent spreading diseases. Talk to them about biosecurity, have clean tools (like washing your hands) and about reporting new diseases to the government.

Homework: Have the students draw a picture of aquaculture and one thing they would do stop the outbreak of disease.

Activity and homework script:

Teacher: So how the game works I need 4 volunteers (pick children). You are going to be the boat, you are going to be the bird, and you are going to be the water! Now you are going to be the disease. (Hand out all children clear cups filled with water). Now (insert name here) is the disease and to show that we are going to put red food dye in his/her water. (Put red food dye in his/her water). Now class everyone divide into three groups, each group is going to be a different aquaculture farm! You can even name your farm! (Divide class into three groups and make sure the boat, bird and water are in separate groups, let the disease chose what farm they are going to be in). Now every two minutes you guys will pick a partner and put a little bit of your water into your partners cup and then your partner will do the same. If you get infected with the disease pretend to act sick! You can only be partners with someone in your farm. Unless you are the boat, bird or water then you can choose anyone in the class! We are going to time how long it takes for everyone to be infected!

Now for round 2, I need 5 new volunteers (pick children). One new role is the fish doctor! The fish doctor can give anyone infected with the red food dye and new clean cup of water and cure them! They can do this every two minutes! The other new role is the green disease. Now, like we talked about in class, climate change makes diseases spread faster and makes them harder to cure. If you get infected with the green disease you cannot go to the fish doctor! If you are the boat, bird, ballast water or either disease you cannot go to the doctor. The rest of the game works the same way except, this round will be faster and you guys will swap water every minute because climate changes help diseases spread faster! Now divided into three new groups and we will start the game again (run game similar to the fist time).

After activity: Now are you guys surprised about how fast the diseases spread? What do you think are good ways to stop this? How do you guys stop spreading germs to one another? (Take answers). We can make sure that our boats and waters are clean by taking water samples, and then treating the water with antibiotics and other things that help get rid of diseases. We also can put nets and other protections up to keep infected animals out of aquaculture farms! Now for homework I want you guys to draw a picture of an aquaculture farm and write three sentences about how you would stop the spread of disease in aquaculture farms.

Instructions for the activity: Round 1: 1. Pick 4 students from the class to be the Red disease, the boat with the ballast water, the bird and the water system. The boat, bird and water system will be allowed to intermingle between the 3 groups, which we will discuss in the next step.

2. Divide the remaining members of the class into 3 separate groups; each group will represent a different aquaculture farm.

3. Give each student a clear cup filled with water.

4. Put a vast amount of red food coloring into the kid who represents the red disease.

5. Have each of the kids including the one carrying the red disease pour a little bit of their water into each others cups. If the children are not the boat, bird or water system they need to only exchange with other kids in their “farm,” however the boat, bird and water supply can swap water with anyone in any farm.

6. Repeat the water swapping process every two minutes until everyone is infected and note how long it took.

Round 2.

1. Pick 6 students who weren’t selected for a special role in Round 1. Assign the same roles in the first activity. Assign the additional role of the green disease, which represents a new strand of a virulent disease that is brought on the by the effects of climate change, and has no cure. There is also the role of the fish doctor, who can swap out anyone’s water infected with the red disease, with clean water. One fish can visit the fish doctor every two minutes, however, the fish doctor cannot cure anyone affected by the virulent green disease.

2. The rest of the activity continues as the first one did, with the exception that the water swapping occurs every minute instead of every two minutes.

Strategy essay:

The purpose of this activity is to teach elementary school students about aquaculture farms and how disease can spread so quickly and how this affects the farm. By the end of the activity the students should understand: what an aquaculture farm is, various methods for how disease spread, and that climate change is making it harder for scientists to cure diseases. Through the use of the activity the students will see how fast diseases can spread during an outbreak, how different vectors for disease can spread disease from farm to farm, and how climate changes can make disease more virulent. The goal of this lesson is to educate students about how aquaculture is an important industry in the world, how it is sustainable and helps wild fish populations rebuild, and lastly to show that disease in aquaculture is a serious problem. To accomplish these goals, I make appeals to logos, use visuals, and student participation.

The most prevalent strategy that I use in the beginning of my lesson plan is appeals to logos, to help the children make connections about aquaculture with concepts that are familiar to them. The purpose of this strategy is to help the students easily understand a foreign concept, by comparing it to something that they are already familiar with. I do this by using many examples of things that children are familiar with such as, actual farms. Because aquaculture farms are very similar in concept to land farms, it is a good way for students to understand what exactly aquaculture is. I also make a comparison to how farmers plant seeds to grow plants and how aquaculture farmers get eggs to fertilize and grow fish and other seas creatures. When talking about how climate change impacts how diseases in aquaculture work, I relate how humans tend to get sick during the winter to how fish tend to get more diseases when its warm out, due to climate change. I also relate how diseases spread from one farm to another by asking the students how they spread germs from one person to another. Being able to relate real life examples to the world of aquaculture will help the students get a much better grasp on the subject. It forces them to make connections between things that they know about and things that they have experience to something that they probably have never heard of before. This makes it much easier to understand. When I ask the children what they think will happen if a farm on land only has sick animals, they can draw a connection to how disease in aquaculture will affect the fish in the farm. The use of comparisons is an easy way to communicate a new idea to someone. If someone could make a comparison between two things it will be easier for them to understand and visualize how this new concept operates.

The use of visuals is also a prevalent strategy in the lesson plan, as they serve to connect ideas and concepts to something that the students can actually visualize. The visualization of these concepts, will help to students to better understand the concept of aquaculture By using visuals such as pictures of actual aquaculture farms, the students can really get a feel for what an aquaculture farm is and how it operates. The use of food dye as a visual for disease ensures that the children will easily grasp how quickly disease can spread in aquaculture. The red dye will symbolize something negative and the children will not want to come into contact with it. This instates an association that diseases are bad and that they should be avoided. Having the children act sick when infected, it not only adds a layer of fun for the students but it shows how detrimental disease can be. By adding in a second food dye, we show how climate change interacts with disease in aquaculture. The green food dye is much more serious because the students cannot go to the fish doctor to cure it. Because they won’t be able to cure the green dye diease, the students will think that this disease, brought on by climate change is even worse. An even more negative conception will be perceived. When the children see how quickly their classmates are becoming infected it will show them just how quickly and easily disease will spread. This exercise should demonstrate to the children that diseases due to climate change are a bigger threat to aquaculture compared to the diseases that are currently infecting fish. In the homework assignment, I ask the children to draw an aquaculture farm. This drawing will show us what knowledge the children have retained from this lesson and the visuals that we used along with it. These visual effects are the best way to show these concepts as the students will get to see the spread of disease in the classroom and this activity will serve as a model to show what happens in the real world.

The use of student involvement in the lesson will help the students to remember and care about the lesson, by being invested in it. Through student participation, the students will get imagine what it is like to be a fish infected by a disease and they will get to see how easily disease vectors, like ballast water, animals like birds, and water spread disease from farm to farm. By participating in this activity the students will get a feel for how disease in aquaculture can be quiet detrimental and how it will only get worse with the effects of climate change. By asking students questions and having them brainstorm ways to combat disease in aquaculture we will challenge the students and test what they have learned so far. Young students love to show what they know, and they love to imagine scenarios in which they can help. This inclusion in the lesson plan will encourage the children to get interested in the topic and want to participate. The addition of a homework assignment will help the kids to recall and reproduce the knowledge that they have learned in class, in a fun and creative way. They both visually produce a picture of an aquaculture farm and mentally brainstorm how they can fight disease in aquaculture. Having the students recall what they have learned and having them draw it out will help the students to further care about the topic by adding the fun element of drawing. The writing part of the assignment will challenge students to connect what they learned with and use their own ideas creatively. All these strategies will reinforce what I talk about in the lesson plan and hopefully get the children to care about the lesson.

All the strategies implemented in my lesson plan help the students to connect their idea of aquaculture with things that they know. The use of visuals and student participation get the students invested in the lesson. Overall these strategies make fore a good lesson plan because they encourage the students to actively.

Works cited

Agriculture Aquaculture Water System Farm [image].. Retrieved from https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-aquaculture-farm-image15283549

Climate Change. (n.d.). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/climate-change

Contributing to food security and nutrition for all. (2016). The State of World Fisheries

and Aquaculture 2016.. [online] Available at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5555e.pdf [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017].

Farmland search [image]. (2017) Retrieved from

http://www.farmlandsearch.com/pics/forsale-forsale-8361665.jpg

Japanese Scallops in Vancouver Island [image].. Retrieved from

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/aquaculture/

Khaled bin Sultan. Off bottom Sea-weed Farming [image].. Retrieved from

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/466685580111905337/

Pavlos Rekas. Fish Pens off the Coast of Greece [image].. Retrieved from

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/april/aquaculture-fish-waste-040711.html

Pulkkinen, K., Suomalainen, L.R., Read, A.F., Ebert, D., Rintamäki, P. and Valtonen,

E.T., 2010. Intensive fish farming and the evolution of pathogen virulence: the case of columnaris disease in Finland. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 277(1681), pp.593-600.

Salmon Farm Sea Cage [image].. Retrieved from

https://salmonfarmingstandrews.wordpress.com/

What are the main man-made greenhouse gases? (2011, February 21). Retrieved April

11, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/feb/04/man-made-greenhouse-gases

SAMPLE #4

https://moodleprior.trincoll.edu/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=91853#p159266

My public writing document is a podcast on the symbolic nature of clothing for How Stuff Works’s show, Stuff You Should Know. This show covers topics ranging from how silly putty is made to how internships work. Because of its broad range of topic coverage, Stuff You Should Know is an appropriate means of distribution for a topic on clothing’s communicative nature. My previous assignments focused on how ideals of masculinity are projected through men’s clothing in the United States. Because the audience of Stuff You Should Know is likely mostly Americans interested in learning about everyday objects, I chose to broaden the focus of the podcast to what clothing means. I chose the podcast because of its accessible nature and convenience for multitasking. Listeners can stream and download podcasts to listen to wherever they are while they do pretty much anything. From driving to work, to cleaning a room, to simply lying down, the podcast educates listeners. Podcasts also can get listeners to think about topics in a new and different way than they perhaps had before. The purpose of this podcast is to educate listeners on the symbolic nature of clothing through a host-guest dialogue, appeals to ethos, and the use of familiar everyday examples of symbolic clothing.

Because the information from this project is communicated orally, I elected to have a dialogue between a podcast host and a guest speaker anthropologist to keep listeners engaged and to help them keep track of what’s being said. The host asks questions the listeners might be thinking which keeps the audience engaged because the show covers topics listeners would be interested in. Take this interaction for example:

Host: So you’re saying that clothing as a means of communication depends on one’s time and culture?

Anthropologist: Yes, that’s correct. The average modern American’s interpretation of a silk article of clothing could be very different from an individual from another cultural background’s interpretation of silk.

Host: So that leads me to my next question. What are some examples of clothing’s symbolic nature in the United States?

After the anthropologist gives the host a vague example of how clothing’s meaning is culturally and periodically contingent, the audience might be curious in a concrete example of clothing’s symbolism. Knowing this, I chose to have the host ask for a concrete example to keep the audience interested and help move them towards the podcast’s purpose- to educate listeners on the symbolic nature of clothing. Because podcasts aren’t as conducive to replaying what’s being said as a written document is to a reader, the question and answer format also helps the audience keep track of what the anthropologist is talking about. Additionally, having two speakers gives the listener changes in voice to keep them engaged instead of listening to one voice droning on. Having a dialogue between a podcast host and a guest anthropologist allows the show to cover topics listeners are most interested in, keeps listeners on track, and keeps listeners engaged with the show.

The podcast makes use of an appeal to ethos by having a guest anthropologist who establishes her credentials and experience early on in the show to improve the credibility of the information on clothing’s symbolic nature. I have the host state the credentials of the show’s guest in the opening sequence. The host says, “To find out more about what your clothes say about you, I’m going to talk to Professor Meghan Marsh of the Trinity College anthropology department.” This tells listeners that the guest speaker is highly educated because she is a professor and she’s a very good one because she qualifies to teach at an elite institution. A listener would value the word of a professor trained in the anthropological discipline over a podcast host that’s merely speculating on what clothing means. In the introduction of the show, I also wrote the host to state that the guest anthropologist has been a professor for fifteen years. This signals to the audience that she has plenty of experience and knowledge in anthropology and therefore, her word on clothing’s symbolic nature is trustworthy. By purposefully choosing to tell listeners in the beginning of the podcast that the guest speaker is a professor, teaches at a respected, elite institution, and that she’s taught for fifteen years, I established the guest’s authority on the subject matter. This appeal to ethos to improves the overall credibility and quality of the podcast’s information on the symbolic nature of clothing in the minds of listeners.

In this podcast, I chose to discuss the symbolic nature of clothing through familiar examples to keep listeners engaged and help them gain a better understanding of the abstract concept. The particular examples I chose such as gendered pink and blue clothing were specifically picked for this podcast’s listeners. The audience of Stuff You Should Know are likely mostly Americans, therefore listeners would be most engaged and best understand the subject matter if it was presented to them through examples from their own cultural background. By likely having experience in American culture, listeners would be aware with the notion of pink as a feminine color and blue as a masculine color. Because my goal of this podcast is to get listeners to think about clothing as a means of communication, I chose a familiar clothing symbolism and turned it on its head in the podcast. I discussed how pink actually was once considered a male color. I also discussed how gendering clothing for children has even been a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. By using examples that the listeners would be familiar with of clothing’s symbolism, I am able to keep my audience’s attention and to get them to think about clothing in a way they perhaps never had consciously thought of before- as a means of communication.

The goal of this public writing document is to educate a broader audience than those within the anthropological community on the functions of clothing outside of protection, namely clothing’s symbolic nature. By utilizing a podcast on Stuff You Should Know to achieve this purpose, I am able to reach people outside the discipline who are interested in thinking about everyday things (like clothing) in a different way than they would have before. If this podcast were to actually be published, more people would be able to consciously recognize what they’re communicating to others by the way they dress and have an increased awareness of the extent culture influences their actions.