Dylan Greenstein

Rhetorical Analysis of Original Research in Interaction With Civil Engineering

The research paper by Cynthia J. Wilson Orndoff, is a methodology used to understand the interaction of skateholders, business, and the general public, and how all of them use each other in the benefit of civil engineering. She is qualified to write this paper and is a trustable source as she is the assistant professor at Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering in the University of Missouri. The paper uses the IMRaD format precisely. This is due to the fact that it starts off with an introduction explaining what the purpose of it is, to understand skateholder interaction to enhance decision making and influence project performance and funding of civil engineering CE projects (Orndoff, 2005). Then a body which explains the tests and research that was done for this information. There are two different yet similar models (contingent value method (CVM) and the Delphi model) they use to gather their information and allow for skateholder participation. With both of these methods introduced in this paper, a company now has some great tools to use to begin to characterize and formalize stakeholders’ goals with an interactive approach that enhances decision making and maximizes project performance.Then a conclusion to explain why both methods are used together to get the best results.

The intended audience for this article is most likely businesses, but also for the skateholder’s as well. This is because it tries to show their relationship and how to maximize it for the benefit of the public. The urgency to write this article was due to the fact that they needed to know what exactly causes and effects the interaction of the skateholder’s, the businesses, and the general public, and how they can increase it for the benefit of the public for uses such as funding for civil engineering, like roads and highways, things everybody has to use. Not only was this needed because it helps us fully understand the crucial information needed, but also because, as the paper explains, the past studies of this topic had flaws and were not properly conducted, hence the need for this article. This paper clearly helps us understand the use and functions of each method of gathering information and why each one is necessary. It explains in detail, the benefits and the weaknesses of using each method. The paper also makes great use of numbered diagrams and figures to help further understand and break down both of the methods being used in the study. In their studies, they selected individuals with the proper qualifications for understanding this type of work. It then goes on the explain why it must be this way and why it cannot use just any random willing participant. The diagrams and figures used are both labeled for proper understanding. This extremely technical paper really only uses logos as a more dominant approach to delivering the message to its readers. Logos is used throughout this paper as a way to bring reasoning and evidence for the subject matter. It is all very straightforward and to the point of what is being done, how it is being done, and why it is being done. Theres really is no other way to put it. There is a sense of ethical appeal to this, in that it is the right thing to find organizations and agencies who provide the necessary engineers for public builds that we all use in our daily life. It is almost the right thing or an obligation to help with these matters. The author isn’t trying to use any emotional appeal here, its genuinely just logic and ethics. Overall, this is a great method for this kind of paper. It is the more technical and “this is how it works and here’s what needs to be done” approach. It wasn’t trying to guilt anyone or anything like that. It was very proper and well conducted.

There was so much to learn about in this research paper. I personally did not even know so many of the terminologies used in this paper, so I most definitely learned added some new fancy words to my vocabulary. I mainly learned about the system in which the skateholder’s, agencies, and the general public function. I learned how specific studies using specific methods can grant us more information on how this relationship grows positively or negatively. I’m very happy with the topic I had chosen for this assignment and hope to do become more familiar with this type of research.

Reference

Orndoff, C. (2005) Promising New Tool for Stakeholder Interaction. JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING,1-8. https://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/%28ASCE%291076-0431%282005%2911%3A4%28139%29