What We Are All About
This website was created as part of WRA 260: Rhetoric, Persuasion, and Culture, a course in the Professional Writing program at Michigan State University. We used scholarly research and student interviews and analyzed samples of students’ writing to study how two different student cultures use ethos similarly and differently.
In this website, we analyze how Mechanical Engineering undergraduate students and English undergraduate students think of ethos differently. We define ethos as credibility, and we look at how the students:
This website is meant to educate Mechanical Engineering and English professors about how their students may be thinking about ethos in their identities, their schoolwork, and their professors. We also hope that this website will help all teachers, regardless of subject area, realize that students from different backgrounds think differently and better accommodate those differing cultures in the classroom.
Six students collaborated in the making of this website. Learn more about them below.
In this website, we analyze how Mechanical Engineering undergraduate students and English undergraduate students think of ethos differently. We define ethos as credibility, and we look at how the students:
- Create credible identities for themselves in their schoolwork and their writing
- View credibility in their professors
- Learn about credibility from their professors.
This website is meant to educate Mechanical Engineering and English professors about how their students may be thinking about ethos in their identities, their schoolwork, and their professors. We also hope that this website will help all teachers, regardless of subject area, realize that students from different backgrounds think differently and better accommodate those differing cultures in the classroom.
Six students collaborated in the making of this website. Learn more about them below.
Meet the Authors
Works Cited
"A General Summary of Aristotle's Appeals . . .." Durham Technical Community College. Durham Technical Community College. Web. 8 Nov 2013.
Bouwhuis, Robin. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Bryant, Evan. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Campbell, Charles P. "Ethos: Character and Ethics in Technical Writing." IEEE
TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, Vol. 38.3 (1995): 132-138. Web. 25 Sep. 2013.
Commane, Joe. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Connelly, LeeAnn, Jenny Crakes et al. "WRA 260 Podcast: Mechanical Engineers Creating Ethos." SoundCloud. 2013. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 5th ed. Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. 1-391. Print.
D'Mello, Megan, James Miller et al. "Airfoil Final Report." 2013. Print.
Edington, Cary. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Ethics Committee. "Code of Ethics of Engineers." Ethics in Engineering. ASME, 01 Feb 2012. Web. 24 Oct 2013.
Goldman, Erica. "Wuthering Heights and its Hellish Boundaries." 2011. Print.
Herrington, Anne J. "Classrooms as Forums for Reasoning and Writing." College Composition and Communication 36.4 (1985): 404-13. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sep. 2013.
Jarosz, Jeffrey, and Ilene Busch-Vishniac. "A Topical Analysis of Mechanical Engineering Curriculum."Journal of Engineering Education. (2006): 241-248. Print.
Jordan, Mark W. Fallacies of Argument. Odessa College, 12 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Knutson, Christian. "Engineers Need Credibility." ENGINEERING.com. ENGINEERING.com, Inc., 23 July 2012. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.
MacDonald, Stephanie. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Miller, James. Personal interview. 07 Oct. 2013.
“Post 15: Situated Ethos.” I’m an English Major...you do the math. WordPress, 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Roe, Madeline. Personal interview. 07 Oct. 2013.
Smith, Josh. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Warner, David. Personal interview. 07 Oct. 2013.
Warner, Elisabeth. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Bouwhuis, Robin. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Bryant, Evan. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Campbell, Charles P. "Ethos: Character and Ethics in Technical Writing." IEEE
TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, Vol. 38.3 (1995): 132-138. Web. 25 Sep. 2013.
Commane, Joe. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Connelly, LeeAnn, Jenny Crakes et al. "WRA 260 Podcast: Mechanical Engineers Creating Ethos." SoundCloud. 2013. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 5th ed. Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. 1-391. Print.
D'Mello, Megan, James Miller et al. "Airfoil Final Report." 2013. Print.
Edington, Cary. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Ethics Committee. "Code of Ethics of Engineers." Ethics in Engineering. ASME, 01 Feb 2012. Web. 24 Oct 2013.
Goldman, Erica. "Wuthering Heights and its Hellish Boundaries." 2011. Print.
Herrington, Anne J. "Classrooms as Forums for Reasoning and Writing." College Composition and Communication 36.4 (1985): 404-13. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sep. 2013.
Jarosz, Jeffrey, and Ilene Busch-Vishniac. "A Topical Analysis of Mechanical Engineering Curriculum."Journal of Engineering Education. (2006): 241-248. Print.
Jordan, Mark W. Fallacies of Argument. Odessa College, 12 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Knutson, Christian. "Engineers Need Credibility." ENGINEERING.com. ENGINEERING.com, Inc., 23 July 2012. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.
MacDonald, Stephanie. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Miller, James. Personal interview. 07 Oct. 2013.
“Post 15: Situated Ethos.” I’m an English Major...you do the math. WordPress, 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Roe, Madeline. Personal interview. 07 Oct. 2013.
Smith, Josh. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.
Warner, David. Personal interview. 07 Oct. 2013.
Warner, Elisabeth. Email interview. 19 Nov. 2013.