Chapter 3 Blog Reading

This section of "Everything’s an Argument" focuses on Ethos is writing and how they can affect the reader. The section I read was called "Claiming Authority," and in this section the main issue was authority of a writer. This text talked about certain authorities that writers should have when they are talking on a specific subject. Having these authorities not only make the writing more trustworthy but also the writer. To be able to claim authority on something you’re writing its good to have certain level of knowledge and experience. If you choose to write about cheese and how to make it, it would help if you were a manager of a cheese manufacturing company. Therefore, your readers will trust your knowledge and believe in what you are saying. It is good to identify your position and how it relates to your claim, it could be as suttle as putting a "Dr." before your name or being very specific of your credentials. The most important part about claiming authority is to actual know about what your claiming, even when you don’t make a huge effort to assert it, authority can be conveyed by using small signals that readers will notice.

A certain section that grabbed my attention was the example of using experience as a type of authority in your claim. In the reading there was a short expert from an essay written by a woman who had undergone mastectomies and was sharing her gut wrenching experience. Terry Tempest Williams is an activist who attacks those who poisoned the Utah desert with nuclear radiation. However, Terry is not a radiologist, a nuclear expert by all means but Terry has experienced Breast Cancer, and it is known that some cancers are caused by too much radiation can lead to cancer. Therefore, she has some authority to talk about radiation and its effects on women that can lead to Breast Cancer.


An example that would work for me is my knowledge in soccer. I could write about soccer and state that I've been playing since I was four years old. That information would give authority to my claims on soccer, because not only would I have knowledge on the sport like rules and positions but I would have personal experience being that I have played for more than a decade.