Rhetorical Analysis of Academic Journal

So I went on a journey to the library, okay. I was searching for one of the journals I mentioned on this post.

So, I'm casually hanging out in the library, okay. I've been searching for a while, but cannot find any of the three journals from before.

But I found something else that is equally awesome!

This is The Mayo Clinic Proceedings journal from July-December 1986. The journal is older than I am, but as we all know, Mayo Clinic is incredible innovative, so I'm guessing either the library did not have a copy of new editions or the journal went digital.


Hang onto your hats, because it is time for a rhetorical analysis.

• Authors

• There are about 10 entries by 35 authors in each section of the journal. There 6 total sections ranging from July to December.

• Most of the authors are doctors with medical degrees and a few work in the public health field but do not have a medical degree.

• The authors are portrayed under purely professional light. They write about clinical procedures, new proposals, experiments, etc.

• These are some title examples that show the overall tone of the articles

• "The relationship between atrial granularity and circulating atrial natriuretic peptide in hamsters with congestive heart failure"

• "Current techniques for the surgical management of malignant lesions of the thoracic esophagus and cardia"

•  "Purcutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty: current status and future trends"

• Audience

• The audience is other doctors or professionals in the medical field.

• The detailed nature of all the articles and the use of vocabulary show this journal is meant for people who has gone through some extent of medical training or education that will allow them to understand the topic.

• A secondary audience may be Mayo Clinic administration or people who are in charge of organizing these publications. Maybe the doctors are under a contract to publish on a regular basis.

•  Context

• Doctors submit an article for peer review before it is published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings journal. From here, health care professionals across the country can read about these clinical procedures and suggestions and maybe adapt them into their own practices or continue researching.

• This affects he content because the material that goes into the journal must be deemed "useful" or "purposeful". It must provide others with a basis or understanding of concepts that will improve patient care and advance medical procedures.

• Examples of this can be found sprinkles around in "discussion" sections of articles. They all say the work presented is important and valuable.

• "Considerable interest has been focused on evaluating the risk factors associated with restenosis.."

• Message

• The overall message of the journal is that clinical procedures are complex but important to know and improve.

•  Purpose

• The purpose is to inform, share, and educate others on the role of clinical procedures. 

• This is evident in the way diagrams and tables are included to help others understand procedures. Also, the discussion sections often explain how procedures can be improved.  

Do you think this is a good medical journal? Why or why not?