Rhetorical Analysis: A's Before Baes

A visual rhetoric can strengthen the effectiveness of a written article as it allows the reader to transfer how they analyze the message of the written rhetoric. In a rhetorical analysis, credibility is extremely important. The author of “A’s Before Baes”, Vivian Cheng, cultivates her audience as she is writing from the point of view of a fellow student. The article “A’s before baes” was published in the Western Gazette. The Gazette is a student run newspaper for the University of Western Ontario that was founded by the University Student Council. The purpose of this article is to explore the possibilities of why the trend of young marriage has changed over time, and how university life has potentially negative effects on anxieties surrounding relationships and marriage. “A’s before baes” is targeted towards female Western University undergraduate student, which is clearly demonstrated through the headline, language and the visual rhetoric included in the article. While the visual element

“A’s before baes” was published through the university paper using common slang that only students would fully comprehend. In the headline the word “baes” is used – according to Urban Dictionary, the definition of bae, means “before anything/anyone else”. The definition or context of the slang term bae is never stated in the article, which means that the author had presumed that those reading her article would be students, therefore understanding the headline without an explicit definition of the term. In regards to the articles context, another point worth noting is that all the sources in the article are framed within Western University. The author interviews three people: a professor, an intake counsellor, and a first year student all that work for or attend Western University. This helps to keep the aim of the article all within the ‘Western