AOW #6: "To the Student"

“To The Student” is part of the introduction that explains the Lee A. Jacobus’s purpose of comprising A World of Ideas and how he intends the collection to be used by students. Jacobus writes that he first compiled the passages found in his book for his own students and was not expecting such a supportive and appraising public response; there were not many collections of its kind since the idea of publishing excerpts from multiple authors and thinkers ranging from Aristotle to Martin Luther King Jr. in one book was “modern.” Jacobus explains that this book is designed to help students with understanding the writing and meaning of such great thinkers, which is why he included footnotes and guides within the readings. Jacobus (author) is credible to write this passage because he is also the writer of the book that the passage is meant to introduce. The purpose of this passage was to instruct teachers and students on how to use this book since its exigence was that teachers and students were not used to using this kind of collection. Although the author appealed to instructors, his main audience for this passage was students, which is signified as he writes that students should not be intimidated by the readings in the book because his tips and notes will help with comprehension. Jacobus effectively uses the rhetorical element of arrangement to introduce himself to his audience by starting with the process he went through comprising the excerpts in the book, and ending on the assuring idea that understanding the authors in the book is possible; this further appeals to the students in his audience. He also appeals to logos by providing examples from letters he received from his readers that explained why this book was helpful and necessary for students. This helped him achieve his purpose of explaining how the book should be used.