Rhetorical Analysis of Academic Journal

The Journal of Finance

Nick Hernandez 

1. The authors of this specific article that I have selected from the February 2016 issue are R. David McLean and Jeffrey Pontiff. The authors are simply portrayed by their name and their affiliated University or organization where they conduct their research. The issue that this specific article discusses is "Does Academic Research Destroy Stock Return Predictability?"

2. The intended audience for this journal issue are those with a finance background doing research and also those within the stock trading industry. Some specific details that show this is the specific content within the document such as different predictor types where the data is only digestible to those with a deep knowledge of the financial field. Table IV, "Predictor Returns across Different Predictor Types" is a perfect example of this.

3. The context surrounding this specific article

4. The overall message of this journal article is to report the findings of a massive research intensive investigation. Once this research was recorded and a conclusion was made as to how academic research effects stock return predictability, then this information is conveyed in this academic journal. I decided this by reading through the headings of the articles and the conclusion. A specific example is "Our findings suggest that investors learn about mispricing from academic publications.

5. The purpose is to get information and research out to those in the same field in order to progress finance as a whole. An example of this is the journal itself, an outlet for published research.