English 202C: Technical Writing

To: Professor Marks

From: Jennifer Lipton
Subject: Rhetorical Analysis of the Science Fair Fun booklet
Date: May 24, 2014

The purpose of this memo is to provide you with a basic rhetorical analysis of the booklet Science
Fair Fun that was provided. Both the target audience and the main purpose of the document are
effectively communicated throughout the text. The design and organization of this document would
clearly benefit students and their teachers in constructing environmental science projects approved
by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Summary
The booklet produced by the Environmental Protection Agency is an effective document that could
benefit from a slight change to its primary target audience. This document is organized in a way so it
is easy for both students and teachers to complete the different environmental projects outlined in
the text. The Environmental Protection Agency accomplishes the goal of providing students with a
fun and effective way to learn more about the importance of environmental protection.

Design and the Audience
The document Science Fair Fun is designed in a way that is easy for the target audience to relate
to. The first page of the booklet provides the reader with a note for Teachers and a note for
Students. The note for Teachers indicates that this booklet could be used to help the primary
audience, students in the 6
th
to 8
th
grades, develop different science fair projects. This document
effectively grabs the attention of the early middle school students but may fail to capture the
attention of the older students. The booklet contains minimal text under each section so as to
prevent the attention of the students from straying. Rather than using a white background
accompanied with black text, the booklet contains different background and text colors
complemented by clip art images. These images and fun fonts are implemented to make the reading
more appealing to the students and to seem more entertaining. Although students in the 6
th
grade
would find these childish design methods fun, some of the older students in the 8
th
grade might find
the text to be immature.

Structure and Organization
The structure of the booklet is organized very clearly so it is easy for the students to follow. The
table of contents outlines on what page in the document each of the different sections and projects
are located. This minimizes the amount of searching the students have to do in order to find what
section of the text they are interested in reading. The headings of each section are in fun colors that
stand out. This makes it simple for the audience to understand what section they are on and what
they are reading about. Prior to the actual projects, the booklet contains basic information on how
to construct a science fair project. Teachers can use this section as a springboard to help give their
students ideas on putting together their own science projects. Since the Environmental Protection
Agency assumes that students in middle school have prior basic knowledge of environmental science
along with the help of their teachers, the booklet only briefly describes each project rather than
providing a step by step outline. Omitting step-by-step instructions of each project allows the
students to test their knowledge of environmental science and their project constructing abilities.
Provided at the end of the booklet is a glossary of environmental science vocabulary. Although a
glossary is helpful in informing the students what certain words mean, it would have been more
beneficial had it been supplied towards the beginning of the booklet. Providing the glossary in the
beginning of the booklet rather than the end would give the readers with a general understanding of
environmental science terms before beginning the actual reading. This would reduce the need to flip
back and forth due to coming across a word they were not sure the meaning of.

Goals of the EPA
Throughout this document, the goals of the Environmental Protection Agency are clearly to inform
students on the importance of environmental protection, especially the three Rs (reduce, reuse,
recycle). On page 1, the booklet contains basic information on the Environmental Protection
Agency and their organizations goals. They further go into detail on this page about the three Rs
and why it is important to implement them in everyday life. An extra resources section is included
on page 11 of the booklet. This provides both students and teachers with links to help further
educate them on environmental awareness. The exciting and easy to follow projects also allow
students to learn more about environmental protection while still having fun. The Environmental
Protection Agency does a good job in clearly conveying their goal of spreading the importance of
environmental protection in this document.

Recommendations
Overall, the Science Fair Fun booklet is an effective document that attracts the attention of
younger students and provides fun ways to get involved with environmental protection. However,
certain changes could be made to increase its effectiveness. The fun, childish fonts and style of the
document are good for attracting the attention of students in late elementary to early middle school
but may be considered immature by older 8
th
graders. The target audience of this particular
document should be changed to 4
th
through 6
th
graders and a new, more mature document should
be implemented for 7
th
and 8
th
graders. Moving the glossary from the end of the booklet to the
beginning would help inform students on various environmental science terms prior to attempting
to construct the projects provided.