Multiple Audiences, Multiple Aims

“Freeing a Locked-In Mind” written by Karen Schrock focuses on the previous thoughts about brain-damaged patients. This article was published in Scientific American in 2007. The obvious audience for this article would be medical professionals, and other Americans interested in science. Schrock is able to appeal to more than just the scientific audience, by using multiple aims that are discussed in Kinneavy’s aims of discourse.

A reader might believe that the first aim technique that Schrock uses would be under the referential category, but Schrock actually pulls in the reader by setting up a scenario that would more likely fit in the introduction to a novel. This could be considered literary. This first paragraph pulls in more than just the scientific reader; it also keeps the attention of a reader that would usually not read a scientific article. Schrock is able to use pathos to appeal to the audiences emotions. Once Schrock is able to draw in her audience, she is able to use ethos to convince the reader that she is knowledgeable about the subject. She is able to do this by using scientific support from doctor’s dialogue in her article. This also falls under the referential and scientific category in Kinneavy’s discourse chart.

Because Schrock’s audience is more than just the medical world, she never addresses the audience as medical experts. She is able to clearly present her information in a simple, but persuasive structure that allows all readers to understand the information that is given. One of the quotes that Schrock uses from Adrian Owens, addresses how all people felt about patients with brain damage, not just medical doctors and experts. “People have felt until now that this patient group isn’t worth investing in. The attitude has been, ‘There’s nothing that can be done.’” This quote is important because it allows to the reader to reflect on what they think about this issue, and how they felt about brain damaged patients.

I felt that Schrock used multiple techniques to persuade the reader to become interested in new treatments for brain-damaged patients. Her focus on her audience, and her use of pathos and referential material, allow Schrock to clearly present her information to more than one group of people.