William Evers Prof.

Bara ENGL 202c 24 January 2012 Rhetorical Analysis TO: Professor Bara FROM: William Evers DATE: 24 January 2012 SUBJECT: Rhetorical Analysis I am writing this memo in order to analyze the effectiveness of the brochure issued by the company MegaCryption for sales purposes. The brochure describes the companies mainframe encryption software and the platforms that is can be operated on. It also outlines the benefits and advantages of using the MegaCryption software. The Intended Audience In the ever-changing technology world interoperability of systems and meeting data security guidelines is paramount to the success of any business. MegaCryption uses this document to give to potential buyers who are in the market for mainframe security that can meet the government data security sanctions that get tougher and tougher as technology evolves. Types of people interested in this product are companies who are looking to upgrade their current security, those who have failed to meet government security guidelines, and new enterprises looking to implement their first systems. The brochure adequately addresses each of these potential buyers. The beginning of this document appeals to all of these groups by emphasizing a key point. When implementing new software, especially on systems as important as a mainframe, it is very important to most clients that they can continue to run existing applications during the implementation. After stating some of the most appealing specifications of the software, MegaCryption wastes no time in informing buyers that, MegaCryption provides a comprehensive, cost-effective approach to encrypting virtually any file in your z/OS environment, while complementing any communication level encryption process you may already have in place. Aside from the beginning of the brochure, the authors made a great effort to appeal to all three groups of potential buyers. The text uses a large amount of technical language and acronyms, which is acceptable due to the nature of the document, but the authors also included a very complete glossary at the end of the document. The glossary allows people outside of IT to be able to understand the manual. From a sales stand point, MegaCryption made a smart decision by adding this glossary. Most of the brochure, aside from telling buyers what their product does, is spent describing the many types of platforms supported by MegaCryption. There is also a section devoted to educating the readers on the need for security on their data at rest (data being stored as opposed to being transferred), and how MegaCryption protects both data at rest and data transmissions. This important in a document like this because it raises an issue that readers may not know much about. Then it goes on to say that their software can remedy that problem as well. This section is targeted for all audiences, both with and without a technical background. Problems Solved The obvious goal for this brochure is to be an effective educational sales document. By

emphasizing the gravity of data security issues and then explaining how the MegaCryption Mainframe Toolkit can address those issues, this document is concise but informative. The authors use several techniques to emphasize the solutions provided by their software suite. The final page of the brochure is a simplified, bullet list of the benefits provided by their software. This is a good marketing tool because it recaps important points from the document condensed into an easy to scan format. Reading through the end of the document makes it clear to readers whether their problems can be solved by this product or whether they should keep looking. Although simplified, this list is comprehensive and detailed, and can be used as a reference point when referring back to the document after reading. This document effectively demonstrates how this software can solve a companies data security problems. Aesthetics Many techniques are utilized by the authors to increase readability and to emphasize key points of the document. Along with the aforementioned bullet list and glossary, the author also uses an attractive color scheme and magnified quotes and screen shots. They also utilize highlighting and bordering on important sections of the presentation. The color scheme used in this document effectively make the document more appealing without being distracting, which is important in any document, especially since this is a sales material. Any aesthetics added to a technical writing should not take away from the piece or distract readers, and MegaCryption did not ignore this. They use muted color schemes that are close to the color of the text itself, and the graphics are placed only where they serve a purpose. Each section of the document is labeled with a highlighted sub header to facilitate scanning and to show important text. Sections that MegaCryption wants to emphasize also have a highlighted background and padlock graphic next to them. This subtle formatting draws user attention and make sure that the reader looks at the contained information. Other aesthetic objects serve a more forward purpose, such as the screen shot of the Graphic User Interface (GUI). The GUI graphic shows the simplicity of the toolkit, which can be a big plus to the IT personnel that may be choosing this software. In addition to showing the simplicity, the GUI also puts a face on the product that otherwise is just described by the document. Another object that is used is a magnified quote on the top of the third page, MegaCryption is the #1 enterprise cryptography tool available. Encryption, Data Integrity, Data Authentication and Compression all in one tool, backed by 24x7x365 product support. Placing this quote towards the bottom of the document reassures the reader , as they finish the brochure, that MegaCryption is a great choice with great support. This is an aesthetic tool that drives home the idea of the document. Conclusion This brochure is a solid piece of technical writing. It correctly balances aesthetics, technical language, and readability, which is very important for documents of this nature. While there is no real evidence that this piece was produced collaboratively, one can assume that it took several internal employees to construct this brochure. The document speaks to several audiences and addresses problems they may have in a very concise way. Apart from addressing problems it addresses additional subjects that a potential buyer may not have identified as a problem. MegaCryption goal is to provides a product that is interoperable with other systems and to provide solid customer support, and this document highlights these goals throughout the text.