So Much for the Information Age by Ted Gup: Rhetorical Analysis

Essay 1: Rhetorical Analysis “So Much for the Information Age” by Ted Gup is a passionate piece that shows how powerful rhetorical devices can help persuade a certain message. The article bashes students and their teachers; however, the author is convincing as to what he is saying is true. To influence the reader to agree with him, Ted Gup uses a specific development technique, logos, ethos, diction, a distinct tone of voice, and creative sentence structure. In order to make the passage flow, as well as keep the reader interested, Gup constructs his article in a particular manner. To begin the article, the author introduces the problem, while also embellishing how smart the students are. Ted Gup states most of his students “graduated in the top 10 percent of their high-school classes” but not one had heard the word “rendition” (Gup 498). Doing this grabs the attention of the reader. Continuing on in the article, Gup fascinates the reader with the statistics of all the things his college students did not know. Before completely blaming the students, Gup mentions that the problem could have stemmed from the teachers. Furthermore into the piece, Gup describes how he prompts students to fix this problem. After presenting the generation as one “of the celebrated information age,” the author immediately disproves this description with examples to prove otherwise (Gup 499). To close the paper, Ted Gup quotes an American scholar, sharing the fear of democracy extinction, then offers a way to restore hope. Throughout the article, Gup persuades the audience through logical appeal by the use of reasoning. Most importantly, the author backs up his claims with evidence and rational ideas. By providing the data of the studies Ted conducts in his seminar, the reader is unable to argue with the facts. While Ted Gup presents the current generation as one that is “as isolated as the remote tribes of New Guinea,” he supports this statement by explaining all the ways this