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Learn about the various rhetorical strategies that authors use to persuade readers, including arrangement, types of evidence, language, style and tone, and appeals (ethos, pathos, logos).
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Rhetorical strategy: A particular way in which authors craft language so as to have an effect on readers. Strategies are means of persuasion, ways of using language to get readers’ attention, interest, or agreement.
There are many types of rhetorical strategies: • Arrangement: the structure, including the location of the main claim and the sequence of evidence. • Types of Evidence: facts, statistics, examples, research, personal stories, expert opinion. • Language: particular wording, phrasing, emphasis, repetition, etc. • Style and Tone:familiar, formal, scholarly, conversational, humorous, sarcastic, etc. • Appeals: Using language to gain the reader’s trust(ethos), tap into relevant emotions (pathos), and reach the intellect (logos).
Aristotle’s Appeals Aristotle defined three types of appeals that a speaker or writer uses to attempt to persuade an audience.
Ethos • Pathos • Logos
ETHOSAppealing to the Reader’s Trust • The character of the speaker or writer as it comes through in his or her words. • Certain words or passages can create an ethos of trustworthiness, fair-mindedness, credibility, kindness, or humanity. • An author must establish ethos in order for a reader to buy into his/her claims.
Ethos is the character that emerges in the writer’s work through the references made & evidence used: • References to his/her own impressive work and to the work of other credible people show commitment to the issue through previous work and diligent “homework.” • References to worthy goals he/she has show an ethical character. • A considerate, unbiased, fair-minded approach in presenting evidence and showing various viewpoints lends credibility to his/her claims.
Evidence of an author’s ethos: • References to the author’s background, profession, previous work, guiding philosophy, etc. • Comments that indicate sincerity, fair-mindedness, expertise, likeability, moral vision, etc. • Concessions to the opposing arguments. (Or, for signs of lacking ethos, places the author fails to acknowledge such arguments or evidence.) • Use of appropriate evidence, language and style in light of the targeted audience.
The effect of ethos: • To cause the reader to TRUST & RESPECT the author. • To give the author--and therefore his/her argument--CREDIBILITY.
Pathos: Appealing to Emotions • Words or passages that activate emotions, usually because they relate to readers’ or hearers' deeply held values or beliefs. • Pathos is not necessarily a strategy of writing about emotional subjects or of describing strong emotions. It is a strategy of using language in ways that evoke emotions in audiences.
Evidence of pathos in writing: • Information and anecdotes that elicit an emotional response in the reader, such as fear, sadness, joy, patriotism, humor, sympathy, empathy, and so on. • An emotional tone or language used by the author does not necessarily indicate a pathos appeal by the author: it is the effect on the reader that matters. When assessing the possibility of a pathos appeal, ask yourself: was this (example, info, story) intended to make the reader FEEL something?
The effect of pathos: • To cause an emotional response in the reader that will cause him/her to CARE about the issue. • Pathos is necessary for creating a desire on the part of the reader to DO SOMETHING about the issue.
Logos: Appealing to the Intellect • The argument itself. • The reasoning that a writer uses. • Claims and reasons, examples and evidence, information and data, and conclusions drawn from them.
Evidence of logos in writing: • Logical claims supported by verifiable evidence, such as statistics, factual data, research, historical anecdotes, etc.
The effect of logos: • Evokes a rational, intellectual (as opposed to emotional) response. • Causes the argument to “make sense.”
The Appeals Work Together…. Each category of rhetorical strategy works alongside the others. For example, well-chosen examples make an argument seem reasonable (using logos), but they could also tap into beliefs, values or experiences in an emotional way (using pathos), and they could also show the writer to be a person of a certain kind of character (establishing ethos).
The rhetorical effect of the appeals results from RHETORICAL STRATEGIES. • For example: When an author chooses to support a claim with a touching personal story, the strategy of choosing that type of evidence results in a pathos appeal to the reader’s emotions, an ethos appeal by showing the writer to be a caring person, and a logos appeal by showing the reasonable conclusion arrived at when connecting the story to the claim.
