ERIC Number: EJ855621
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0047-2816
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Ars Dictaminis Perverted: The Personal Solicitation E-Mail as a Genre
Ross, Derek G.
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, v39 n1 p25-41 2009
Phishing e-mails deceive individuals into giving out personal information which may then be utilized for identity theft. One particular type, the Personal Solicitation E-mail (PSE) mimics personal letters--modern perversions of "ars dictaminis" (the classical art of letter writing). In this article, I determine and discuss 19 appeals common to the PSE. These appeals were established first by conducting generative rhetorical analysis, then by volunteer coding, on 170 e-mails collected over a 12-month period. After defining these categories, I show how these letters are excellent twenty-first century teaching tools for "pathos"-based argumentation, logical appeals, the creation of "ethos", and "kairos" in the development of perceived exigency. (Contains 1 table.)
Descriptors: Letters (Correspondence), Rhetoric, Rhetorical Criticism, Electronic Mail, Classification, Teaching Methods, Persuasive Discourse, Computer Mediated Communication, Computer Security
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A