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Rhetorical Strategies In The Genesis Engine By Amy Maxman

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Amy Maxmen employs a variety of rhetorical strategies throughout her Wired article, “The Genesis Engine,” to make her writing more effective. These include the simplification of complex scientific ideas, personal interviews with researchers, and an informal tone, among many others. Ultimately, her methods of writing and research culminate in a strong informational source.
This article is centered around the research being conducted on an organic molecule called CRISPR-Cas9, a relatively recent discovery in microbiology that allows scientists to edit the DNA inside of living cells. The author’s thesis is that CRISPR-Cas9 technology has both positive and negative implications, and that several influential establishments are investing in its future. …show more content…

She does this by writing, “Use Crispr to treat, say, Huntington's disease—a debilitating neurological disorder” and “To focus on disease—where the long-term financial gain of Crispr-Cas9 will undoubtedly lie.” These quotations make it clear that the author’s target audience are a wide array of people who may be affected by CRISPR development. This includes people affected by genetic illness and investors who may see monetary benefit from this technology. The most effective element of her rhetoric in this case is that she forces the article’s subject to be relevant to anyone, allowing all readers to understand a potentially foreign topic and still feel personally involved in …show more content…

She chooses instead to strictly inform her readers about the technology’s history and growth by engaging them with an inside view of the world of scientific research. This allows the reader to focus on the topic without becoming bogged down in a political or legal battle between two sides. In the article, the author quotes a researcher who says, “‘That is why I try to ensure that scientists are taking precautions and showing themselves to be worthy of the public's trust—maybe we're not, but I want to do my damnedest to try.’” Quotes and other statements like these solidify her purpose of letting her readers peer into the world of science through an unbiased lens.
This practice is an integral element of Maxmen’s writing overall as she shares personal experiences of a number of scientists who are involved with CRISPR research throughout the article. Their stories are presented through quotes from exchanges the author had with them during interviews. This practice strengthens the article’s ethos by shifting the presentation of scientific facts into the hands of professionals on the subject. This also has the effect of helping readers to identify with those scientists because stories of their personal lives are

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