Persuasion

Appeals

• Logical• Ethical• Emotional

Logical appeals (logos)

• Appeals to reason• Use statistics• Use cause and effect

• “The National Safety Council estimated that in 2010, 28% of all crashes involved texting while driving. Therefore, a national ban on handheld devices behind the wheel would significantly reduce traffic accidents.”

Emotional appeals (pathos)

• Appeal to the reader’s emotions: hope, desire, fear, or sense of identity

• May use loaded words, figurative language, or sensory detail

Sometimes I wish eastern Congo would suffer an earthquake or a tsunami, so that it might finally get the attention it needs. The barbaric civil war being waged here is the most lethal conflict since World War II and has claimed at least 30 times as many lives as the Haiti earthquake.

Yet no humanitarian crisis generates so little attention per million corpses, or such a pathetic international response.

-Nicholas Kristof, NY Times Columnist writing in 2010

Ethical appeals (ethos)

• Convincing by the credibility or character of the author

• Or…• Appealing to the reader’s sense of morality

and justice

• “Diane Ravitch, an expert on education policy for more than forty years, who helped design the No Child Left Behind Act, argues that standardized tests that once promised to improve education have done more to dumb-down the curriculum.”

Rhetorical Strategies (diction)

• Allusion• Hyperbole• Litotes• Repetition

Allusion

• A reference to a well-known person, place, or thing.

• E.G. Nick Jans describing Chris McCandless:• “Such willful ignorance… amounts to disrespect for

the land, and paradoxically demonstrates the same sort of arrogance that resulted in the Exxon Valdez spill—just another case of underprepared, overconfident men bumbling around out there and screwing up because they lacked the requisite humility.”

Hyperbole

• The use of exaggeration for persuasive effect

• “When the construction is complete, this will be the most beautiful high school in the state of Ohio.”

Litotes

• Understatement for sarcastic or persuasive effect

• EG: It is a bit chilly in the hallway between the English classrooms and cafeteria.

repetition

• A persuasive writer can repeat key words or phrases for rhetorical impact.

• Advertisers frequently come up with words or phrases they want you to associate with a product and then repeat over and over again.

Rhetorical Strategies: Syntax

• Parallelism• Chiasmus• Antithesis• Rhetorical Questions

Parallelism• When a writer establishes similar patterns of

grammatical structure and length.• His writing was clear, accurate, and persuasive.Or…• His writing was grammatically correct, factually

supported, and emotionally moving.• Or…• His words were sparkling jewels; his sentences

were intricately carved; his paragraphs were solid as blocks of granite.

Chiasmus

• Takes a phrase and “turns it inside out.” abba

• “Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” --Teddy Roosevelt

• “The bible will keep you from sin; or sin will keep you from the bible.” – D.L. Moody

Antithesis

• Contrary ideas expressed in a balanced sentence.

• It can be a contrast of opposites: “Evil men fear authority; good men cherish it.”

• Or it can be a contrast of degree: “One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”

Rhetorical Question

• A question asked by the writer that does not expect an answer. The answer is obvious or suggested by the context

• It’s really a statement in the form of a question.

• Do we want to bring more jobs to Ohio?• Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?

Qualifiers

• Qualifiers are terms that make an opinion easier to support:

• “Creatine makes athletes stronger, but it won’t necessarily make them better.”

• Examples: almost, often, usually, maybe, most, frequently, many, frequently…

Concessions

• A concession identifies another valid opinion on the topic. Conceding a point often makes an overall argument more convincing.

• “I realize that you are worried about our safety, but there are dangers in nearly all things, including driving cars and playing sports.”

Words that signal concession:

• Even though• While it is true that• I will admit• Admittedly• I cannot argue with• Granted• I accept the fact that

Anticipation

• The best persuasive writing will anticipate and refute opposing arguments.

• “Some may argue…”• “It may seem...”

Fallacies

• A fallacy is a statement that is misleading. It may sound logical and factual, but it’s not.

• Slippery slope• Hasty generalization False cause & effect• Name calling Red

herring• Either / or Straw man• slippery slope

Hasty generalization: coming to a conclusion on the basis of insufficient evidence.

My friends shop at American Eagle, therefore, all high school students like American Eagle.

• Name calling (ad hominem)

• attacking the person who holds the view rather than the view itself

“Barack Hussein Obama wants to take away assault rifles. He is a socialist!”

• Either / or – describing a situation as if there were only two choices when in fact there may be several

• Either we implement new standardized tests, or our students will not be prepared to compete in the next century.

• False cause & effect – asserting that because Event B followed Event A, A caused B

• I did well on the test when I wore my lucky socks. The socks must have made me smarter.

• Slippery Slope• If A happens, then we will go through a series

of small steps until B and C, and catastrophe. Things will get worse and worse until the worse imaginable consequences occur.

• If we raise taxes even a tiny bit, the government will get more and more powerful until we lose all of our liberties.

• Red Herring• A diversionary tactic; avoids key issues rather

than addressing them.

• The level of mercury in fish may be unsafe, but what will fishermen do to support their families?

• Straw Man – oversimplifies an opponent’s viewpoint and then attacks the hollow argument.

• Those seeking to cut funding for Medicare and social security are trying to destroy the safety net for the neediest Americans.