Emily Parnell

Dr. Leslie Cook

Writing Across the Curriculum
1 October 2014
Rhetorical Analysis of the Wall Street Journal
Anthropology is a fascinating subject with dozens of different concentrations and
disciplines. Unfortunately, articles relating to any aspect of anthropology are difficult to
find in popular print, such as the Wall Street Journal. Luckily, the newspaper does
occasionally publish articles that can be placed under the category of anthropology. I
discovered five articles that fit into this field; one discusses a study claiming that humans
and Neanderthals are more closely related than previously thought, another provides
evidence supporting the possibility that Neanderthals are more intelligent than scientists
had assumed, another that explains the cause of death for King Richard III, one that
describes a pyramid-like tomb unearthed in Japan, and an article that discusses the
current status of archaeology in Peru. Clearly these publications are not closely related,
however they all are considered to be anthropological subjects. Since there is such a
limited collection of anthropological articles published by the Wall Street Journal, it is
interesting to analyze the rhetorical strategies implemented in the ones that are available.
The authors of the anthropological articles found in the Wall Street Journal are
interesting in and of themselves. Two of the articles were written by Associated Press;
the one about Richard III, and the one about Neanderthal intelligence. The Associated
Press is a multinational corporation, which is responsible for sharing news as soon as it
becomes available. Since the corporation is a primary provider of news around the world,

it is expected to have accurate information. I personally would feel like the articles
written by the Associated Press were more reliable if they provided the name of the
individual or individuals who wrote them; however, the corporation most likely uses its
name as the author in order convey the sense of credibility that is associated with a
recognizable name. It is probably much more affective to use the name of a well-known
organization as the author rather than unknown individuals. The article discussing the
Human-Neanderthal link was written by a reporter named Guatam Naik. There is no
biography available about the author, however there is a list of his or her other
publications. The other articles all seem to be based on recent scientific developments,
which support the reporters credibility, since the subject of the anthropology article
relies on scientific research to determine how Neanderthals and Humans interacted. The
other two articles have no information available about the authors, making the reporters
reliability indeterminable.
The Wall Street Journal is published primarily for individuals interested in the ongoings of the stock market and other business-related news. While it also publishes
articles pertaining to numerous other topics, such publications seem to be less detailed
and more difficult to come by. These articles appear to be written for the audiences
enjoyment, as if the subjects addressed are merely hobbies for the readers. It is also likely
that the audience has little prior knowledge of anthropological methods, although it
seems that the authors expect the audience to recognize the basics of anthropology, such
as archaeological site like the pyramids, and the fact that Neanderthals and humans
interacted at some point in time. The limited knowledge expected of the audience can be
inferred by the fact that articles not related to business are very brief, use fairly non-

technical terms, and are often lacking in detail. For example, one of the articles,
Archaeologists Report Rare Pyramid-Like Tomb In Japan, states little more than the
fact that archaeologists discovered a rare pyramid-like tomb in Japan. This snippet of
information certainly is interesting, but there is not much to be learned from the article.
This particular article was probably written for an audience of people who are interested
in history and other cultures, but do not have much desire to become leading experts on
the subject.
Despite the fact that the audience of anthropological articles published in the Wall
Street Journal may not have a passion for the topic, the articles are written with the
primary purpose of conveying recent news accurately and in an interesting way.
Anthropology is a field that often focuses on the past, but can certainly be relevant to the
present and future. The article, Perus Modern Economy Clashes With Its Past, is
written to inform the audience about the struggles facing archaeologists in Peru, due to
the fact that the growing economy is destroying many archaeological sites, such as Incan
pyramids and monuments, in order to expand its cities, roads, and mines. The article also
serves to raise awareness about similar issues that are occurring worldwide, such as the
theft of artifacts within many countries, namely Greece, and the affects of war on
important sites in places such as Syria. The relation of archaeological issues in a single
country to those worldwide is an excellent rhetorical strategy because it creates broad
connections between different regions of the world, which could stimulate a greater
response from the audience by encouraging them to be aware of the large-scale impacts
of the destruction of archaeological artifacts and sites.

Since the Wall Street Journal is a news source that caters to businesses and finance
topics, it has a very small selection of articles pertaining to my subject of interest,
anthropology. The few articles that can be found relating to any of the various aspects of
anthropology are riddled with limitation and constraints. The article describing how King
Richard the Third was killed based on evidence from his skeleton is pretty similar to the
concentration of anthropology that I am most interested in, however I got the impression
that the article was not reliable for several reasons. The article presents a problem in that
it is very nondescript. It states the Richard III obtained nearly a dozen injuries, but is
not very specific as to where the injuries were located or how they were identified. Im
sure simply the number of injuries is sufficient detail for someone who may not know or
care much about history and anthropology, but it is not very helpful for readers who
actually want to learn as much as possible from the article. While lack the lack of detail is
a concerning limitation, it is completely overshadowed by the unreliable sources who are
quoted within the article. The first source quoted within the article is a professor of
materials engineering; the article does not mention her involvement with the research
performed on the skeleton. It is possible that she did participate in the research, however
materials engineering does not seem like the most relevant profession to the study of
human skeletons. The only other person who was quoted in the article is an associate
professor of history, and the article explicitly states that he was not part of the research.
These issues, and similar constraints within the other anthropology articles I have read
from the Wall Street Journal, lead me to believe that this specific news publication may
not be the most reliable for anthropological information.

The anthropology articles published in the Wall Street Journal are interesting, to say
the least. The rhetorical strategies employed, on average, mesh to create an article that
depicts an intriguing topic, and sometimes even provides substantial data to support the
credibility of the information published. These articles are by no means spectacular
scientific treatises, however they are very affective in providing some basic
anthropological information to audiences who are not aware of what anthropology is, or
to people who may not quite be interested enough to read a detailed, scholarly writing
about anthropology. I would not consider myself to be a member of the target audience
for the anthropological articles published in the Wall Street Journal, but I believe that the
publications are sufficient for their intended purposes.

Works Cited
Dube, Ryan. "Peru's Modern Economy Clashes with Its Past." The Wall Street Journal.
Dow Jones & Company, 10 Sept. 2014. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/development-in-peru-clashes-with-its-ancient-past1410397160?KEYWORDS=archaeology>.
Hongo, Jung. "Archaeologists Report Rare Pyramid-Like Tomb in Japan." Japan Real
Time RSS. N.p., 14 Aug. 2014. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.
<http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/08/14/archaeologists-report-rarepyramid-like-tomb-in-japan/?KEYWORDS=archaeology>.
Naik, Guatam. "New Study Recasts Human-Neanderthal Link." The Wall Street Journal.
Dow Jones & Company, 20 Aug. 2014. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/modern-humans-arrived-in-europe-earlier-thanpreviously-thought-study-finds-1408554003?KEYWORDS=human+evolution>.
Press, Associated. "England's King Richard III Died Painfully on Battlefield, New Study
Says." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 16 Sept. 2014. Web. 03
Oct. 2014. <http://online.wsj.com/articles/englands-king-richard-iii-diedpainfully-on-battlefield-new-study-says1410912696?KEYWORDS=king+richard>.
Press, Associated. "Study Links Cave Art to Neanderthals." The Wall Street Journal.
Dow Jones & Company, 1 Sept. 2014. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/study-links-cave-art-to-neanderthals1409603774?KEYWORDS=archaeology>.