Tritt

Alex Tritt
Writing 2
De Piero
6-9-16
Dont Sweat It
Oh no. A million thoughts rush through my mind as my eyes follow the quickly
approaching hand. Can I wipe my palm on my pants without him noticing? Is he going to think
Im gross? Will he still want to hold my hand when he realizes its soaking wet? Anyone with
hyperhidrosis excessive sweating caused by a central nervous system dysfunction has
probably been in this situation before. While excessive sweating is a common subject of articles
in health magazines, the condition has also been studied by psychologists and physiologists
alike. Despite being written from different scientific disciplines, research-based articles focusing
on the wide range of effects that hyperhidrosis has on individuals display a striking similarity to
one another in structure, conventions, and moves that focus on presenting information clearly;
therefore, they maintain a high level of credibility that allows them to communicate their
research to an audience of well-educated scientists and physicians. Meanwhile, informal
magazine articles on the same topic differ significantly from their scholarly counterparts while
still maintaining an appropriate level of credibility for their audience; magazine articles utilize
reader-friendly conventions and moves that focus on appealing to the emotions of everyday
people in order to make them feel more comfortable with an embarrassing topic.
Scholarly articles have been written about hyperhidrosis from very different disciplines
ranging from the mind-driven psychology to the body-driven physiology but they all have one
thing in common: audience. All of the articles are trying to communicate the unexpected side

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effects of hyperhidrosis to an audience of scientific or medical professionals who have a specific

interest in the condition and its treatment. For example, Katharina Gross examined the
psychological effects that hyperhidrosis has on individuals in her article Elevated Social Stress
Levels and Depressive Symptoms in Primary Hyperhidrosis. The data in this article is presented
in a way that is almost identical to Theresa Zackrissons article Patients with hyperhidrosis have
changed grip force, coefficient of friction and safety margin, which examines the grip force of
hyperhidrotics individuals with hyperhidrosis from a physiological perspective. While
academic articles are catered toward well-educated scientists and physicians, an article from
Womens Health such as Jill Harringtons article Excessive Sweat: How to Stop Sweating is
meant to reach a much broader audience: everyday health-conscious women. The audience of a
piece of writing is important because it dictates the level of credibility and evidence that the
article requires in order to persuade the reader.
Because theyre presenting their research to other scientists and physicians, scholarly
articles must maintain a high level of credibility. To do so, they focus on the presentation of
experimental data and results through the use of numbers, percentages, and statistics. In other
words, the articles strongly appeal to the logos logic and reasoning of the audience in order to
support their hypotheses and persuade the audience of their results. For example, Gross and her
team examined the presence of depressive symptoms in all of their test subjects. She states,
60% of the hyperhidrotics scored values beyond the threshold for depression in the BDI-II,
whereas merely 10% of the controls did (5). Presenting the findings as a comparison of
percentages makes it easy for the reader to understand the results of the experiment from a
logical perspective. In addition, the reader is more likely to be persuaded if the claims are
supported with numerical and statistical evidence because the results appear credible.

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Authors and researchers also establish credibility by including citations throughout their
articles. Citations are made whenever information from a secondary source is referenced, and a
full list of references is included at the bottom of each article in order to give credit to all of those
who contributed to the experiment. This is very typical of scholarly articles; not only are the
authors giving credit where credit is due, but they are also boosting their own credibility. An
appeal to ethos is important because the reader especially a physician who is relying on the
research to be accurate will not take the article seriously if they believe that the information is
false or plagiarized.
Scholarly articles, including Gross and Zackrissons, often follow a template-like
structure referred to as IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, Analysis, Discussion) in
order to present their research logically and credibly. Both articles begin with an abstract to
summarize the objective, method, and results of the experiment. Following the abstract is the
introduction; in this section, both articles state their hypothesis, along with an operational
definition of hyperhidrosis and its various effects on individuals in order to familiarize the reader
with the condition. Next, both articles provide a detailed explanation of the procedure in order to
give the reader a step-by-step understanding of how the scientists collected their data. Following
the procedure is a section that concisely states the results of the experiment. Finally, both articles
conclude with a detailed discussion, which not only relates the results back to the hypothesis but
also gives the reader an idea of why the results are significant. This format is an effective
convention of research articles, especially when the results are being presented to other
scientists; by allowing the reader to chronologically follow the steps of the experiment and see
how the researchers obtained their results, the articles appear authoritative and credible.

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Authors of scholarly articles also establish their credibility by making certain moves in
their articles. Moves are conscious audience-based decisions made by writers that serve a
specific purpose. For example, Gross and Zackrisson both use the Trust Me, Im a Doctor
move, meaning that each article concludes with a suggestion of how to treat the various side
effects of hyperhidrosis. Zackrisson explains, a lower dose of botulinum toxin should be used in
clinical hyperhidrosis treatments because it has less of an effect on the grip force of an
individual (283). This move is catered toward a specific audience medical professionals
because the average person certainly isnt capable of treating hyperhidrosis with botulinum toxin
on their own. The audience should be able to respond to the exigence. In other words, the
audience should be able to help address the problem, Carroll explains in her article Steps
toward Rhetorical Analysis (49). The open-ended suggestions of the academic articles invite
other scientists to do just that. It also demonstrates that the authors have enough medical and
scientific knowledge in order to realistically apply their results, which boosts their credibility in
the eyes of the reader.
Although Harringtons article focuses on the same topic as the research-based articles
hyperhidrosis there are certain conventions that set Harringtons article apart from her
scholarly counterparts because her primary goal is to appeal to the emotions of everyday people.
As Mike Bunn explains in his article How to Read Like a Writer, techniques that are effective
for one genre may not work well in another (77). Unlike the scholarly articles, for example,
Harringtons article avoids numbers and statistics because that would likely bore her audience of
everyday people. In addition, Harringtons article doesnt require that level of credibility;
numerical evidence isnt needed to persuade her audience of her message. Instead, she focuses
on emotional and visual appeals. For example, a picture of a shirt with pit stains is underneath

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the title. This not only grabs the readers attention, but is also an example of visual rhetoric the
use of the image appeals to the pathos of the reader because it can trigger the all-too-familiar
feelings of shame and embarrassment that are a result of excessive sweating.
However, Harrington still maintains an appropriate level of credibility by using a
conversational tone. Facts and numbers arent the only way to appear credible; in fact, not
[using] too many statistics or overly technical language also contributes to the ethos because
sounding too intellectual can come across as pompous or stuffy (Carroll 55). Harrington chats
with the reader: Although it's one thing to sweat while you're running, doing yoga, or having
sex, it's quite another to do it all over your boss' M&Ms jar. This informal and conversational
tone, along with the addition of friendly humor, is meant to make the reader feel more
comfortable reading about a potentially uncomfortable topic. To reinforce the casual tone of the
article, Harrington uses the Parenthesis Pro move. For example, after using the word suffer
to refer to individuals with hyperhidrosis, Harrington includes, (And we do mean suffer. Dr.
Glaser recalls one patient who had a tailor put terry cloth pockets in all her pants and skirts so
she could dry her palms before shaking hands.) This relaxed and friendly attitude is also
reinforced with the Ha-Ha-Hyperbole move. Throughout the article, Harrington uses
hyperbolic or exaggerated phrases to describe what excessive sweating can be like for
individuals. For example, she refers to sweat as a tropical storm and a car wash (Harrington).
The purpose of this move is to make light of the situation; by trying to make the reader smile or
laugh, shes attempting to bring humor to a topic that may have brought them nothing but
embarrassment and shame for so long.
While no in-text citations are made in the article, Harrington also maintains credibility by
including quotes from esteemed medical professionals in order to support the information that

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shes providing. With her Show Me Your PhD move, she explains that some women avoid
antiperspirants after hearing rumors that ingredients in antiperspirants cause cancer
(Harrington). Harrington refutes this common misconception by providing direct quotes from an
esteemed oncologist who falsified the rumors; by doing so, she boosts her credibility while
assuring women that using antiperspirants is a perfectly safe and effective way to control
excessive sweating.
Although academic and non-academic sources approach the topic of hyperhidrosis
differently, they are equally credible in their respective fields. While her article in Womens
Health doesnt provide any concrete scientific research, Harrington offers a gentle tone and
simple remedies to help control a condition that many people are too embarrassed to admit that
they suffer from. On the other hand, the research-based articles attempt to offer more substantial
treatments to those suffering from hyperhidrosis. While these articles are cold and impersonal,
they provide numerical data that credibly supports their hypotheses. In order to maintain a high
level of credibility, the research-based articles approach the topic of hyperhidrosis very similarly;
both articles are nearly identical in format, conventions, and moves. While the article in Womens
Health is significantly different in these areas, it is still successful in communicating ideas about
the same topic to a completely different audience.

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Works Cited
Bunn, Mike. How to Read Like a Writer. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Vol. 2. Parlor
Press, 2011. 71-86. Print.
Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis." Writing
Spaces: Readings on Writing. Vol. 1. Parlor Press, 2010. 45-58. Print.
Gross, Katharina M., et al. "Elevated Social Stress Levels And Depressive Symptoms In Primary
Hyperhidrosis." Plos ONE 9.3 (2014): 1-6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 May
2016.
Harrington, Jill. "Excessive Sweat: How to Stop Sweating." Women's Health. N.p., 14 Nov.
2005. Web. 07 May 2016.
Zackrisson, T., et al. "Patients With Hyperhidrosis Have Changed Grip Force, Coefficient Of
Friction And Safety Margin." Acta Neurologica Scandinavica 117.4 (2008): 279-284.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 May 2016.