Laura Bolin Carroll discusses in her essay, “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis”, about the significance of understanding rhetoric and how rhetoric is used in everyday life in advertisement or even in different types of social settings. I found Carroll’s essay very intriguing as it provided many in depth analyses about how rhetorics are used not only in social settings but also in social media through advertisements. She argues that there are certain types of rules of context and argument which include pathos, ethos, and logos for argument and exigence, audience and constraints for context. 

I agree with many of the points made by Carroll regarding the importance of pathos, ethos and logos. When I took a speech communications course one of the most important aspects we had to focus on was the pathos, ethos and logos of the speeches we had to present. She dictated to us that all three of these rhetorics are extremely important when you are giving a speech because it shows the audience that you have legitimacy and that you can successfully build a relationship with your audience that can enhance your speech. She argued that your pathos must be adjusted depending on the type of speech you are giving and the audience. I believe that many of the points that Carroll describes in her essay have a lot to do with learning the fundamentals of speech, which is an excellent skill set to acquire.