Ahmed Hassan

Academic Writing
Rough Draft
Reference not included
The Use of Writing in Boys & Girls Club
Young people need to know that someone cares about them
The Boys and Girls Club (B/G) is an organization that provides
afterschool programs for young people all over the nation. They are
offering programs and services that promote the development of boys
and girls by installing a sense of competence, usefulness, and
belonging. In their website they state for more than a century, the
club have helped put young people on the path to great futures. B/G
annually serves nearly 4 million young people, in over 4,100 facilities
throughout the country. The organization is well established and
according to Forbes the organization has revenue on 1,69 billion
dollars, 2014. Locally, the organization is located in both Santa Barbara
and Goleta.
This quarter we have been learning the importance of writing in
our society and how we as student can benefit from learning different
writing skills. When it comes to writing people often think that it is
something basic, but the truth is that writing is more complex than
that. Every writer has his/hers own style of writing, as an example, in
one of the class reading called navigating genres, we learned that
most country songs tend to tell stories and they often have characters
who are developed throughout the song. Writers often write in four

different ways, which are descriptive, argumentative, expository and

narrative. Country music would fall under the category of narrative
because it tends to tell a story. Writing goes deeper than these four
different styles; it includes context, genre, and stance etc. The writing
style that caught my interest the most is the three different, and how
the B/G uses them in their writing. B/G uses pathos, ethos, and logos in
their written artifacts to establish a connection with the readers.
In order to be able to conduct this research, one most first
understand the definition of the three appeals. According to Durham
Tech, ethos iscredibilitywhich means convincing by character,
pathosemotionwhich means convincing by emotions, and logos
logicwhich means convincing by reasoning. In order to prove that
the B/G uses these three appeals, one needs to find artifacts to
analyze. I managed to attain five different artifacts that could be
analyzed for the research. These artifacts are evidence to support the
claim that the organization uses the three appeals to reach their
primary audience.
The first information attained came from the organizations
website, which I learned about their location, mission, and volunteer
information. After learning this information I went to the organization in
person and received three different artifacts. Two of the artifacts
received where pamphlets that are called I will become something
great and Great futures start here. The third artifact was the

organizations own magazine called Connection. I then emailed both

B/G in Santa Barbara and Goleta in an attempt to interview someone
from the organization for further information. I managed to get an
interview with Ashlyn Strahle, who is the club director for the B/G in
Goleta.
The I will become something great pamphlet is focused on
motivating and giving information about the organization success in
the community. The second pamphlet, which is called Great futures
start here, is more about the programs and services offered to the
members. On the other hand, the magazine called Connections is the
organizations own magazine, which they use to share pictures, stories
and accomplishments with the community. Lastly, in the interview with
the club director Ashlyn Strahle, I managed to discuss how the
organization uses writing to reach their audience and how she
personally uses writing to reach parents/employees etc.
The appeal pathos is connected with all the written artifacts
received from the organization, but the I will become something
great pamphlet contained more pathos than the rest. The entire
pamphlet was based on trying to get donations from parents in order
to get more funding for the children. On the first page of the pamphlet
there is a picture of two young girls holding each other, and smiling.
The picture is used to catch the readers attention and curiosity. This

picture appeals to reader emotion because the two girls look

vulnerable and in need of help.
The second use of pathos could be found in the third page of the
same pamphlet, which is the donation section. This section is called
What it takes to become something great and there are five different
donation options for the donor. In order to become something great the
donor could donate highest eight thousand dollars and the lowest is
hundred dollars. If readers donate eight thousand dollars the money
will go to providing personal supplies for more than hundred young
people at Noahs Anchorage for year and hundred dollars would
supply a backpack and sleeping bag to a homeless youth. B/G uses
pathos in smart way because the donation is tied with youths in need
of help, and the words choice of the writing is we beat, vulnerable,
facing, become, and reaching.
All these words appeal to the readers emotions, because
humans have the urge to help others, and be a part of the solution in
order to feel good about us. Furthermore, in the pamphlet there is
motivation quotes such as You gave me hope and Family is here.
These quotes are pure emotions readers instantly feel that they are
obligated to help children feel these feeling. Ashlyn Strahle stated
during the interview that pathos is fundamental in B/G writing because
it is supposed to spark emotions in order to convince the parents to
join their kids to the organization.

Ashlyn Strahle states The

organization uses pathos in the form of visual in order to bond with the
reader emotions
In addition, ethos is used in all of their written artifacts because
the organizations need to project an impression at all time that they
are credible. Ethos is first found in their website, because they state
that they are located all over the nation. This statement makes the
organization credible because we tend to get a feeling that they are
established and legit. Even though the first pamphlet called I will
become something great was written mostly pathos. Ethos was used
to back up the emotions with examples such as statistics. Above the
picture of the two young girls holding each other ethos was used in the
form of statistics stating, 40 percent of youth foster care become
homeless in six month and 21 percent of Latino youth do not
graduate from high school.
The point of having ethos is to show the reader that the problem
exists and us solving these issues, which help portray the organization
as credible and noble. In their magazine called Connection ethos is
used more than the pamphlet. In page twelve of the magazine facts
such as unemployment rate among U.S teens ages 16 to 19 stood at
20 percent and 85 to 90 percent of incident are due to the lack of
action or inaction of persons in position of responsibility The magazine
is nationwide and contains stories and facts about the organization
different priorities and goals in different locations. To back the stories

of their goals they use statistics, which gives the reader more
credibility.
Furthermore, the appeal logos are also used in all of their written
artifacts because its the most important technique in writing. Logos is
used in the artifacts because it supports the organization claim and
mission. In their pamphlet Great futures start here the organization
use logos in showing that they have five different programs that are
used to help the youth. The five programs are character and leadership
development, education and career development, health and life skills,
sport and recreations, and lastly arts. These five programs appeals to
the readers reasoning because they are programs that can achieve
success. These programs empowers the youth to support and influence
their community, and also sustain meaningful relationships with
others.

The

organization

also

claims

that

by attending these programs, the youth will have a positive selfimage, participate in the democratic process and respect their own
cultural identities.
Logos could be used in many ways to describe the supported
argument, and the organization uses this support indirectly by stating
their programs and the outcome, whiles letting the reader judge by
themselves. They are simply stating the outcomes of attending this
programs and its up to the reader to have some logical reasoning
weather it works or not. Logic is strategic used by the organization to

convince an audience of a certain point, and also to make it easier for

the reader to understand. If used correctly the writing would be seen
as strong, clear, and reasonable claims that are valid for the readers.
To conclude, the artifacts were writing used the three different
appeals, and sometimes one more than the other. Its important for the
organization to use these appeals because it makes their writing
stronger and professional. The fundamental appeal of the organization
writing is pathos because the goal is to help youth be successful in the
community, but ethos could be found in almost every artifact to back
up the pathos with facts and statistics showing that the information
given is credible. The organization use of ethos was to build the
character of credibility and trustworthiness. The interview with Ashlyn
Strahle was really crucial for the research because it gave an insight of
how the organization uses writing by direct interaction with the
organization. According to Ashlyn Strahle its important for the
organization to use these appeals in their writing for the readers. It
makes them credible, logical, and humble.

NOT FINISHED