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Caleb Corson

Professor Munsell

ENC1102

November 12, 2022

Rhetorical Analysis of a Professional Text

Engineering is continuously evolving to accommodate for new challenges that arise in the

industry. The following text The Fantastical Meets the Practical by Michael Valenti

demonstrates these engineering evolutions by engineers employed by the Disney Corporation.

The text explains many of the new techniques that engineers at Disney collaborate on together to

solve any new issues that arise. In addition, the text explains how engineers work alongside other

departments to complete major projects. The information inside the text utilizes an appeal to

pathos, ethos, and logos to show off the amazing job that future engineers could hold that

occupation.

The abstract of the text outlines the necessary skills that an engineer at Disney utilizes

during their workday. Engineers are required to know basic skills such as programmable logic

controllers and CAD software. The text also outlines how important the engineering department

is towards creating a project that will capture the minds of all ages. The second section outlines

the process for completing a project. It summarizes that engineers receive projects from the

Imagineers and the Entertainment department. Engineers receive not only project for rides but

also attractions and transportation systems utilized by the park. The engineers at Disney are able

to complete these projects for tight deadlines and testing by utilizing concurrent engineering.

Furthermore, the next section goes into detail about how engineers use concurrent engineering to
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complete projects. In this section the text outlines how Disney engineers used these skills to

complete a tough project. It explained how the engineers divided the project into to several

distinct designs that were divided up between different groups. The reason for this was to give

specific groups a single system to work on and test. This distribution allowed for the project to

be completed faster than originally thought. However, Disney engineers are not responsible for

just completing projects. In the following section the text outlines how engineers at Disney

volunteered for a robotic event to promote interest in the sciences, Engineers built a robot to

compete against the high school contestants. Even during this volunteer project engineers

continued to create new ideas to complete projects. Additionally, engineers have had to adapt

technology to work for new problems that may arise. Such as the adaptation of technology to aid

people with disabilities. The park had to come up with a way to provide assistance to those who

are hard of hearing or speak a different language. They incorporated infrared light to control

screens that showed closed captions for those who are hard of hearing. They additionally adapted

this software to translate the rides audio into different languages for foreign guests. These

evolutions are what drive Disney to continue changing on many fronts. This allows for a job that

is not static and changes from one day to the next.

The text utilizes logos to convince the audience that working as engineering at Disney is

a dream job. For instance, the text stated that, “engineers never build the same thing twice,

therefore engineers have developed a body of knowledge on what works that engineers can then

apply to new projects and parks,” (Valenti 10). This quote establishes that an engineering

position at Disney is not like any other job. The reason this is the meaning is because engineers

are constantly completing new and challenging projects. This means that engineers work on the

same project twice. This appeals to reason by explaining to the audience that because the job is
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never the same and therefore future employees would not have to worry about having a normal

boring occupation. This convinces the reader that working as an engineer at Disney would be the

most exciting job to have.

Furthermore, the text also utilizes an appeal to pathos to convince the audience. The text

utilizes pathos by incorporating specific word choice with words that have a positive

connotation. For example, the text incorporated words such as dream, imagination, larger-than-

life, and excites to name a few. These words were purposefully chosen for the text. This is

because these words have a positive connotation that further excites the audience about the job.

These words specifically are used to describe the atmosphere of the job. They bring a feeling of

joy and excitement to the description of the job. For instance, the job could be best described as a

dream job that is larger-than-life. With words like that incorporated into the paper the text

appeals to pathos. This is because the job is described as an exciting and out of this world

occupation. This convinces the audience that working at the Disney is the job of a lifetime.

Finally, the text also utilizes one more device to convince the audience that a job at

Disney is one of the best occupations for engineers. The additional device the text utilizes the

help of is an appeal to ethos which is an appeal to the texts credibility. The credibility of the text

is evidently clear according to the information. For example, in the text, The Fantastical Meets

the Practical, the text included quotes from engineers employed at Disney. One such example is

a quote from  Greg Hale who is the director of Ride and Show Engineering at Disney. Hale

quoted that, “we must design equipment that can withstand duty cycles much tougher than

other entertainment venues, because we run our attractions up to 16 hours a day, 365

days a year. That can put the stress of a 20-year Broadway run on stage equipment in a
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single year,” (Valenti 7). This proves the credibility of the text because the author would not

have purposely included this quote if the source was not credible. The reason for this is

because the quote demonstrates how projects are consistently being used more than any

other thing. This means that engineers are constantly having to look after these rides to

make sure they are safe and sound. This relays a sense of caution and worry to the

audience because it explains how crucial engineers are to rides even after they have been

constructed. Therefore, the author can be trusted because they included this quote to

demonstrate to the audience that the job is not completely about creating projects but also

about maintaining the attractions so that they can last a lifetime. This just goes to show the

importance of knowing the complete description of an occupation.

In summary, the author’s reason for writing this text was to interest future

engineers in a job working for Disney. Additionally, the writer wanted to explain the role

engineers play in the day-to-day operations. More specifically the author wanted the

audience to see what actual Disney engineers have come up with and had to face. The

reason for this was to inform the audience of what a future engineer will endure as an

employee. This text will have an impact on future engineers. The text will impact them by

convincing them that working as an engineer for Disney would be one of the greatest jobs

available. This will in turn cause the audience to look for an occupation in engineer in order

to open the possibility to work for Disney.