My Rhetorical Action Plan

Wikipedia. PDCA Cycle, November 20, 2008, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

1. Audience:

• Knowledge: My audience knows that marijuana is currently illegal in most situations and states in the U.S. They get their knowledge from news outlets as well as [mostly] online articles regarding the issue. Older generations have the opinion that marijuana should be outlawed and banned, while younger generations are more open to talk about legalizing it.
• Values: My audience is going to be geared more toward an audience that wants to see the legalization of marijuana happen, so they value the freedom of choice regarding their body and use of the drug.
• Standards of Argument: I want to use scholarly articles as well as articles that have done studies regarding the effects of marijuana on the human body, as well as an economist's point of view regarding the benefits marijuana can bring to the U.S.
• Visual Elements: The images associated with this debate are basically images of pot leafs. If you google marijuana, 95% of the image results will be pot leafs. I will try to have more professional and persuading images in my argument, if I can find them.
• Purpose: My [intended] audience is reading my argument because they want to see the legalization of marijuana. I am trying to encourage them to act on their beliefs, and go public with their opinions and ideas. We want to challenge the long-held viewpoints that marijuana should be outlawed.

2. Genre:

• I plan on using a scholarly article type format to effectively persuade my audience and appear professional in my argument. It is designed to appeal to to credibility and logic, and I intend to do that with my use of facts and evidence.
• This genre could be used in any format, for any debate or controversial issues. You can see this genre being published in encyclopedias, as well as online databases and scholarly websites.
• I plan on relying heavy on ethos and logos for this assignment. I want my audience to view my argument as credible and logical, so that they can be better informed on the issue and make the correct decision regarding their opinion.
• I plan on keeping the use of images minimal, as this genre is typically more focused on informative text rather than images, and I do not feel that there are many professional and persuading images related to this topic.
• I want to use a conversational style in my argument, while also keeping it formal and informative. I feel that this will be the best style to persuade my desired audience.

3. Responses/Actions:

• Positive Support: My audience feels the same as I do and reiterates their positive stance on the legalization of marijuana due to my awesome argument =]. This will hopefully convince them to go public with their opinion also. The more voices heard, the more likely lawmakers will listen.
• Negative Rebuttals: My audience that is not pro-legalization will not accept my argument and claims, and could rebuttal all of my arguments with arguments and facts of their own. My article could also not be seen by many, and a negative effect would be that my opinion is not heard and others are not informed.
• The most important negative rebuttal would be a selected audience refuting my claims with evidence of their own. I chose this topic because of the many articles on the pros and cons of legalization. There are many articles to support it, which I will use, but on the other hand, there are many articles to refute it.
• Raise Awareness --> Inform others of the positives of legalization --> Make them think the same as you --> They in turn, voice their own opinion as well --> Lawmakers hear these voices --> Laws are changed.