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Chang Ching Wu
Dr. Guenzel
ENC 1102-A003
June 5, 2014
Rhetorical Analysis of "Colleges Prepare Manpower As Unmanned Drones Take Off Degree
Programs Surfacing Commercial drone industry elevated by Amazon and others needs trained
staff"
The title of this article may seem like a mouthful, but the content of the article itself is
really informative for new comers who are interesting in taking a glimpse into the rising industry
of commercialized drone. After reading and analyze the article for a few times, positions for
commas in the title become clear once a better understanding of the scoop of the article were
achieved. The title would be easier for audience to understand if it have been "Colleges Prepare
Manpower, As Unmanned Drones Take Off, Degree Programs Surfacing, Commercial drone
industry elevated by Amazon, and others needs trained staff" instead.
The article is a newspaper article published by Investors Business Daily on March 3
rd
,
2014. One can say the sponsor of this article is Investors Business Daily, also known as IBD,
is a US based national newspaper that focuses on reporting news which covers international
business, financial, and global economy. However, the article being analyzed here is not from the
publisher directly, it is retrieved from the GALE Database instead of the website of the
publisher. Both the printed copy and the website requires subscription in order to access content
of their articles, based on this information it is safe to assumed that the intended audiences are
those who subscribed to the paper. While the implied audience are those who came across the
article from a database or a subscriber.
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The purpose of the articles published by IBD is to inform their subscriber on topics which
involves investment. They are only relaying credible and reliable information that appears to be
useful to their subscriber. IBD even noted on their website that they are not offering, soliciting,
or recommending buying or selling of securities. Based on their website, one can form a general
idea about the kind of article that IBD publishes. As an audience with some prior knowledge on
the topic of unmanned aerial system, following the train of thoughts that the author have was not
difficult. However, it is not hard to imagine some audiences may be confused by the amount of
information that is being presented to them by the author.
The article is written by Sheila Riley, a reporter who is a contributor to Investors
Business Daily. The purpose of this article is to inform its audience in regard to the commercial
drone industry that is on the rising.
Credible information is provided throughout the article to help better inform the
subscriber. Information from the authoritative figures is presented to the audience through quotes
from researchers in academia. The article opens the door to the discourse community of the field
of academia that focus on the research and development of, unmanned aerial vehicle and or
system. By introducing the technology through interviews conducted with researchers of certain
institution that is currently leading the develop of this technology. Author is presenting the
commercial drone industry as a health and profitable market for investment.
Author introduces quotes from credible sources throughout the article to aid the
presentation of this new market. Actions and movements of major corporations were mentioned
as well, offering insights on what the pioneers are using this new technology that have just
become radially available. The policy and attitude of the authority were mentioned to help
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dismiss concerns in regard to the limitation of the market. Voice from the industry that is taking
part in building this new market was mentioned to show the confidence in the market.
Numerous sources were quoted throughout the article, providing grounds for the claim
that author is trying to make. Sources such like John Bridewell, an aviation professor at the
University of North Dakota. Colleague of John Bridewell, Benjamin Trapnell, an associate
professor at the University of North Dakota. Kimon Valavanis, chair of the electrical engineering
department at University of Denver who also directs the Unmanned Systems Research Institute.
David Messigner, an associate research professor of the Center for Imaging Science at the
Rochester Institute of Technology Center. And, Nathan Dreva, an spokesman for aerospace
company Honeywell.
The University of North Dakota is a well-known institution for their aerospace and
aeronautical programs. The institution has their own airfield for field training right by the local
airport, Grand Forks International Airport. Also, there is an air force base near by that houses
military drone. The company, Northman Grumman, also has a branch around the area as well.
Northman Grumman is a military contractor that specialized in aeronautical related products.
One thing to note is that the drone housed by the air force around the area is the product research
and develop by Northman Grumman. Based on the background, the sources related to University
of North Dakota can be considered to be credible sources.
The Unmanned System Research Institute at University of Denver is a well-respected
institution for the work done in unmanned ground and aerial technology. As a professor and
chair of the electrical engineering department who also directs the Unmanned System Research
Institute can without a doubt be considered as a credible source.
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The Rochester Institute of Technology is known for their Center of Imaging Science in
the discourse community of computer science. An associate research professor of this institution
can be considered as a credible source as well.
Honeywell is company that commercializes in research and development of innovating
technology relating to the aerospace and aeronautical field. The company has major influences in
the capability and performance of the unmanned aerial vehicle and system market. The
spokesman from this company can certainly be considered as a credible source.
There were also mentions of authority giving green light to this rising market. Congress,
FAA, and the government were mentioned along the lines. Mandated researches were done by
credible institutions including University of Alaska, Texas A&M University, and Virginia Tech.
This help build the credibility of the author along with other credible sources.
Author provides more sources to support the grounds that were being built throughout the
article. Author mentions the degree programs offered by institution like University of North
Dakota, showing that demands will certainly be met with supply in the future for this growing
market. Ongoing researches were mentioned in regard to the application of the unmanned aerial
vehicle and or system. Interests shown by major corporations, Amazon and DHL, were
mentioned as well.
The logical aspect of the rhetorical appeals made by the author is concrete. Author builds
a good foundation for the claim, provides many grounds, and presents warrants for the grounds.
Author even provides warrants to support the ground. Author presents a new rising market that is
open for investment. Author describes several characteristics that are usually presence in a health
and profitable market. Since, IBD only provides reliable and credible information for its
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subscribers, the author did not attempt to persuade the audience to perform any sort of financial
transaction-- the author simply provided information.
The paper lacks the presences of emotional and ethical aspect of the rhetorical appeals
throughout this article. In some sense this is understandable, after all the purpose of this article is
to inform rather than to persuade. If one were to describe the article in a more accurate manner,
then is safe to say that article consist of quotes from different credible sources and the causes
and effects relationship that resulted by the new market of commercial drone.
On one hand, this article is well organized as an informative piece that is written to
inform its audience. On the other hand though, the background information on the author
appears to be limited. The only thing that one can find about the author is that Sheila Riley is a
reporter who works for Investors Business Daily, Inc. It appears there is no way to tell whether
the culture and or background of author may or may not have influence the article. One can only
trust that IBD holds their subscribers as their top priority and makes sure that the article written
by their reporters are unbiased. But, as somebody with decent amount of background knowledge
on the topic of unmanned aerial system and vehicles, this article seems to be painting the
commercial drone market in a positive light. There are controversial debates going on in regards
to the usage of commercialized drone. However, there were no mentions of the issues that some
people are concern about in regard to public safety and privacy. This may be ignore due to the
support from the authority and as the result the author may think that public opinion does not
matter. The author should not just present a one sided analysis on the market of the commercial
drone industry.
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In conclusion, author presents a new market to potential investor. The outlook of the
market was backed by several credible sources throughout the article. The application of the
technology in the market was introduced. The future workforce of this market is ensured by the
numerous degree programs offer by credible institution such like University of North Dakota.
But, the author only provide a one sided argument without the opposing sides that exist. The
reason for author to ignore the opposing sides may be the nature of the publisher. It is safe to say
that this article is a credible source that can be used as an analysis performs on the market of
commercial drone industry. Even though, this article appears to be lacking an opposing side of
argument.










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Work Cited

Riley, Sheila. "Colleges Prepare Manpower As Unmanned Drones Take Off Degree Programs
Surfacing Commercial drone industry elevated by Amazon and others needs trained
staff." Investor's Business Daily 2014:General OneFile. Web. 4 June 2014.

"Stock Investment Research & Education - Business & Financial News." Investor's Business
Daily. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 June 2014. <http://www.investors.com/default.htm>.

"Investor's Business Daily." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 6 June 2014. Web. 6 June 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investor's_Business_Daily>.

"Aerospace at UND." University of North Dakota. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 June 2014.
<http://www.aero.und.edu/>.

"University of Denver." University of Denver. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 June 2014.
<http://www.du.edu/>.

"RIT's Center for Imaging Science." RIT CIS. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 June 2014.
<http://www.cis.rit.edu/>.