John M. Barry and His Use of Rhetorical Strategies

Knowledge, the key to progress, has proven to be a human being’s most powerful and significant weapon. We gain knowledge when we put our brain to work at the problems we need to solve in life. It doesn’t matter what we are trying to accomplish, whether it be creating a new technology or learning how to put together a puzzle, the matter of fact is that both request great examination and research to resolve and learn. Scientific research is a technique used to investigate phenomena, correct previous understanding, and acquire new knowledge. Knowledge could lead us to a possible cure for cancer, an alternative for fossil fuels, and the creation of a revolutionary technology. Nevertheless, all these benefits are a reason why John M. Barry writes about scientific research with admiration, curiosity, and passion in which he blends a use of rhetorical strategies in order to give off an overall perspective of the necessity and mystery within scientific research. Foremost, John M. Barry creates the sense of importance by describing unknown yet highly desired information that all scientists wish to obtain from scientific research, through the strategy of abstract diction where connotation is implemented at its best. The word â€Å"wilderness† is referred to in the passage various times and its dictionary meaning is not what’s really being discussed here. The wilderness John is referring to is the place where scientists must begin in every study in order to resolve or prove something. This is a place or in other words a moment where scientists have to take action and start guessing what is needed to do. The answer is never in the face of the scientist, and before you find it you must know where to look and how to look. Obviously, using the word wilderness creates the idea that the knowledge scientists are looking for is hard and hidden and it is a successful form of emotional appeal to characterize scientific research as secreted yet vital. Following, through a successful form of a logical appeal the writer draws an analogy that further embodies the obscurity of finding knowledge and the importance of scientific research. The author shoots to compare apples to apples when he puts side by side a shovel to the experiments performed during scientific research. When a successful comparison is given between two subjects it creates an understanding to the reader of what the overall intended purpose is for both. Both subjects compared here are meant to find an answer, or in the case of scientific research, knowledge. However, you must know what correct tool or experiment will find the answer. It’s not easy, so a scientist must really put a lot of thought into what must be done and how it must be done to find the information and key data they need. In other words, the author explains how the success towards finding new knowledge is hidden deep within and can only be found if we understand step by step how we’re going to reach that data. Therefore, when the answer is not in the face of the questioner it takes hard effort to find but when found its benefits are unmeasured. Preceding, John M. Barry is sure not to exclude the use of an ethical appeal in which he presents a carefully and edited argument to create the strong message that scientific research is important to succeed. In the beginning of the passage, it opens by explaining what certainty and uncertainty is. Then it clarifies what it takes to be a scientist, what a scientist must do, what happens if a scientist succeeds in their work, and why a scientist may fail. The main focus of these points is based on scientific research which proves its importance in his point of view and how it can make or break a scientist. John makes it clear that scientific research is essential and is not as easy as following step by step. It takes time, dedication, and most of all determination. When someone is determined they will do whatever it takes, especially thinking out of the box, to accomplish their goal. Overall, the essay was presented in a logical and comprehensible way that allowed the reader to understand how essential yet possibly hard it can be to use scientific research. Closing, the writer is successful in making his opinion and perspective towards scientific research through the use of logos, pathos, and ethos. The overall analysis brought me to the conclusion that the John M. Barry portray scientific research as the chief ingredient to putting together answers and information. Yet still, doesn’t deny the complexity of scientific research and that’s its not straightforward as a scientist wishes it could be. Nevertheless, the benefits scientific research has brought along we see them everyday because of our overall advancement as a world. Didn’t I say knowledge is our most powerful weapon? Well observe, for it has destroyed the slow and premature society humans once used to live in and created a beautiful, diverse, and intelligent culture today.