Rhetorical Analysis of Academic Journal

 

AIChE Journal, February 2016

1. Who are the authors/speakers published in this specific issue of the academic journal you've selected? How many different authors are published here? What do you know - or can you find out - about these people? How are the authors/speakers portrayed in the journal issue? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers.
There are over 50 different authors published in this specific journal issue. Most of the people in the journal are professors in multiple different universities and a few of them work in research laboratories for major companies. Many of the authors are from countries other than the United States. As for how they are portrayed, there is no way that this question can be answered. There is no article or anything other than a sentence about where they work linked to their name.

2. Who is the intended audience for this particular journal issue? How can you tell? Are there any secondary audiences included here? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers.
The intended audience for this particular issue is chemical engineers and researchers. I can tell that they are the intended audience because of the use of specific and complex scientific words and concepts known only to this audience. One example is in the article title "Chemical nature of active sites for defect-mediated nucleation on silicon dioxide." It is rare that anyone outside of the science field would know about defect-mediated nucleation or understand the article itself.

3. What is the context surrounding this particular journal issue? How does this affect the content of the journal? (See the bulleted questions on Student's Guide page 180 for specific questions about context). Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers.
The context of the journal is that the articles in the journal are published within three months of it being submitted to the journal. That means that most of the topics in the journal are fairly recent. The authors are knowledgeable about their publications and are very credible.

4. What is the overall message of the journal issue? How did you decide this? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers.
The overall message of this journal issue is that Chemical Engineering is interesting. All the articles in the journal are very interesting, especially the article about Micro-Explosions.

5. What purpose is the journal issue trying to achieve? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers.
The purpose of this journal is to inform the reader of advances in the field of Chemical Engineering. Specifically in the fields of Inorganic Materials: Synthesis and Processing, Particle Technology and Fluidization, Reaction Engineering (Kinetics, and Catalysts), and many more.