Theresa Macphail: Article Analysis

Writing has always been one of the most crucial aspects of a person’s daily life simply because it is everywhere. As a few examples, it is present when sending a letter, writing an email, posting on social media, publishing research documents, generating a code, etc. Yet, despite the unique goal a specific written piece might have, in general, it has the purpose of communicating something, an idea, to someone else, an audience. Therefore, how well something is written should be assessed as a matter of its effectiveness to communicate clearly its core idea.
Progressing into the idea that writing is everywhere, Theresa MacPhail, an Assistant Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology established in her article ‘The Importance of Writing Skills
in Tech-Related Fields’, that most of the science major students believe that knowing how to write is irrelevant towards their own future success. However, MacPhail’s approach towards her audience is quite effective because she uses quotes from people that are relevant to her audience interests. And by doing so, she establishes a connection that is hard to ignore between those who believe writing skills to be irrelevant, and what highly-regarded people in the industry believe. This counters the argument that writing is not require in science by demonstrating that clarity when communicating is required even for the smallest tasks. Consequently, MacPhail’s argument becomes clear and solid as she establishes her authority as an Assistant Professor, which have given her the opportunity to interact with the students she is addressing, and consolidates as she addresses influential people’s arguments, who agreed on the importance of writing in the STEM world.
MacPhail’s style throughout her article also helps her establish a better relationship with her audience.
As she addresses those STEM students who believe writing skills not to be useful, she takes a direct, yet casual approach toward the matter. She supports her claims in her own article by following her own advice: “Learning to write well – clearly, effectively, and quickly – should be an important component of every undergraduate education”. Moreover, the length of her article also helps her purpose: short and sweet. This combination of factors helps her article sound more convincing and appealing. Nevertheless, of the still possible aversion toward writing skills one might have, it becomes extremely hard to ignore the importance of writing, hence MacPhail successfully communicated her idea towards her audience.
Although MacPhail develops and strengthens her argument in a smooth manner, Mike Bunn’s statement in his article ‘How to Read Like a Writer’, “you think about how the choices the author made and the techniques that he/she used are influencing your own responses as a reader”, makes one wonder: could MacPhail could have been more effective when developing her argument? This can only be answered by specifically looking at the decisions she took in this “word-by-word” process
subsequently.
First, she engages the audience by accounting her experience as a grad student and Assistant Professor at the University of California Berkeley. Because, she informs us, the theme of her summer course was medicine, many pre-med majors signed up. And due to writing assignments being scheduled each week. students complained, claiming “We’re all science majors, so we don’t really need to know how to write.” This sort of introduction stands out to her audience because they might agree to the students view point. And because they agree to it, and might even feel identified, there is more willingness on their part to keep reading.
Secondly, she asks the rhetorical question: “How is it that students interested in careers in technology don’t understand that writing skills are a crucial part of their future success?” This makes the reader start to wonder how crucial writing skills towards a career full of successes really are, engaging them even more, after all, who does not want to be successful?
Once MacPhail has established that one’s own future success is in fact on the line, she gets a hold of her audience, picking upon their curiosity and hunger for realization. With this, MacPhail prepares her audience for the upcoming bullet-proof
evidence.