Types of Persuasive Evidence

1. Types of Persuasive Evidence J. Roberts English Grade 7

2. Anecdotes • Brief stories about interesting, amusing, or strange events used to make a point • Benefits: can appeal to a wide range of human emotions; relates author to reader • Drawbacks: can go off topic; can alienate the reader or make reader side with the opposition • Appeals to Emotion

3. An example of my use of an anecdote to support my claim that my parents should buy me a cell phone: One day, my friend Sally wandered away from her mom while they were shopping at the mall. When she realized she was lost, she felt helpless and terrified. But then she remembered the cell phone that her parents had just bought for her, “just for emergencies”. She called her mom, told her where she was, and they were quickly reunited.

4. Descriptions • A portrait, in words, of a person, place, object, or topic • Uses the five senses • Benefits: can put the reader somewhere they haven’t been before; makes the argument interesting • Drawbacks: can be inaccurate or unrepresentative of the real thing (overly exaggerated); easily opposed • Appeals to Emotion

5. An example of my use of a description to support my cell phone argument: “Mom, imagine a mother being separated from her child while shopping at the mall. She is panicked. Where has my little girl wandered off to? Is she lost, kidnapped, in danger? Now imagine how her child feels. She is cold and alone, crying. She is hiding on the hard, cracked, filthy tile of the public bathroom where she last saw her mother. She wonders, as she listens to the lilting laughter of a mother and daughter washing their hands at the sink, does my mom even realize that I’m gone? What if she never finds me? And one single, salty tear slides down her delicate cheek. If only this helpless little girl’s parents had bought her a cell phone. She could simply call her mother, and they would be quickly reunited. Mom, is that what you would want to happen to me?

6. Facts • Statements that can be proven to be true • Benefits: difficult to oppose • Drawbacks: can be boring and dry, thus alienating the audience • Appeals to Reason/Logic

7. Facts: Back to the cell phone argument “Mom, Dad, did you know that by adding me to our family cell phone plan, you would actually be saving money? Our cell phone company offers special discounts to customers who use them for their whole family’s cell phone needs.”

8. Statistics • Facts represented in the form of quantified numbers • Requires a multi-step process • Ratios, Proportions, Fractions, Percentages • Benefits: Difficult to oppose; can be interesting • Drawbacks: can be manipulated • Appeals to Reason/Logic

9. Statistics: An Example “Mom, Dad, you should buy me a cell phone. Did you know that one out of three middle school students report that having a cell phone makes them feel safer? Ninety percent of those students surveyed said that they have used their cell phones to call their parents in an emergency.”

10. Quotes from Authorities • Statements of leading experts on the topic, or reference to experts’ statements • Benefits: they are difficult to oppose • Drawbacks: The author needs to prove that their choice of expert is qualified on the topic. • Appeals to Character

11. Expert Opinion: An Example “Dad, you should buy me a cell phone. Dr. Stuart A. Smith, child psychologist at Sharp Hospital, says that kids who have cell phones have higher self-esteem than those who don’t.”