Why should I listen?: The Ethos of science magazine covers

In an age of widespread information availability, we expect scientific information to be available not only to members of the scientific community, but to the general public as well. However, the reasons these two communities have for gaining this information tend to vary, and as a result the manner in which the information is portrayed needs to shift to fit these goals. This study looks at how scientific magazines build ethos from the audience´s first interaction by analyzing the covers of various scientific magazines aimed at audiences of different knowledge levels. Because of the different expectations between the audiences, the magazines use different methods to convince the audience of the value of the information, both in terms of what the audience wants to get out of reading and in terms of how authoritative the audience believes the magazine to be. This sort of study can help us understand the adjustments that must take place both in terms of content and presentation when communicating with audiences of different knowledge levels. This will allow us not only to effectively target audiences to catch their attention, but can also help us determine how audiences understand information they receive.