Artifact Analysis

Artifact analysis

By

Isa Oestman Olai

Academic Writing 310, 2015

Artifacts studied; Cowbird responses to aircraft with lights tuned to their eyes: Implications for bird-aircraft collisions, California Oak Woodland Community, Liberty Canyon wildlife crossing: Environmental assessment and project design.

The artifacts I chose to analyze are from Holly Harrison an environmental specialist consultant at Rincon Consultants, she specializes in Biology.

The genre in which my artifacts lie is very specific, it has key components such as genre based jargon, Latin words, specific locations, biological aspects, and a very scholarly tone. This genre usually includes mathematical graphs and calculations, studies of the relationship between human and nature, genre specific jargon, formal structure, field work, and a lot of references to previous cases or other species. I would say that the genre is found where the purpose of the artifacts lies––where they reach the right audience. These particular artifacts would be found on a desk of a government official that is in charge of making changes that could have a positive effect on the protection of animals, they are found in profession specific periodicals, or in the hands of someone like Holly––who is a consultant for a firm that works to protect the earth. In addition to that I believe that artifacts like these can also be found in the hands of people with an interest in birds or the protection of certain species.  

The purpose of the artifacts is to educate and inform people of the importance of protecting animals in their natural habitat from human interference. They function as an indication of a problem in local areas in Santa Barbara and Goleta regarding environmental issues, mostly focused on animals. The artifacts help people understand the issue in a deeper sense and what can be done to save/protect the animals. They are written, in a sense, as a plead for change in a formal and structured way––they are in report form, meaning that they have a specific structure. The goal of the artifacts is to encourage change and to further educate the audience on present-day matters.

The artifacts are structured in a scholarly way, meaning that they have a specific format. They include an abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, and acknowledgments. This indicates that they are mainly based on studies––including research and field work. This enhances the trustworthiness and sets a certain tone––a tone of importance and cause to action. Also they contain visual literacy in form of; graphs, maps, explanation of key words, calculations, and pictures. All of these are meant to provide support for the thesis and the explanation of the issue at hand––they strengthen the thesis statement and the findings in the field work. The fact that these are included further enhances the trustworthiness and accuracy of the study.

The length varies in these texts, however they are fairly lengthy and difficult to read for someone outside of its audience. The artifacts contain a lot of parentheses and words specific to its genre, which again makes it difficult for a non-audience member to read it and fully understand it.   

The artifacts concern people that are highly educated on local animal species and their interaction with humans. They mainly cover how humans effect these species in a negative manner. In order to fully understand these artifacts and appreciate them one would have to be educated about the biological functions of specific species and the impact human interference has on them. One of the artifacts describes thoroughly the effects of human life on one specific bird species–– in order to make the audience relate, the text compares the specific bird with other specimens of birds that have had similar outcomes. This comparison is part of the logos part of the text where the authors try to make the audience gets a deeper understanding of the problems through relating to other similar instances. The writer assumes that the reader has the proper knowledge to understand certain terms, the interest to read a 35 page report on a Santa Barbara specific bird species, and an understanding of previous similar issues.

With these writings the authors hope to change the current situation and help to, in the future protect animals in the Santa Barbara area. It is written to an audience that has the power to impact these matters and that are educated enough in the genre to understand its importance. These writings have extensive facts and a format that encourage knowledgeable readers to learn more about the issues that they describe.