PERSUASION

the claimThe purpose of persuasive writing is to convince others to think the way we do or bring about some kind of action.

Persuasive text must contain a claim, the author’s position or opinion on a topic that is debatable.

As the reader, you should be able to

identify the claim

provide text evidence to prove that is the claim

explain the author’s position on the topic

Supporting Evidence

Once the author has established a claim, he must then give you reasons to believe the claim or take action.

These reasons are called supporting evidence.

Three types of supporting evidence are

experts and research

examples and stories

facts and statistics

Pathos - Greek root means “suffering or experience.” Therefore an appeal to “pathos” is an appeal to our emotion or compassion. Do we sympathize or emphathize? Do we feel something (joy, sorrow, anger, fear) about the subject?

PATHOS = SYMPATHY, EMPATHY

Ethos – Greek root means “showing moral character.” Therefore an appeal to “ethos” is an appeal based on the credibility (moral character) of the presenter. Do you have reason to believe him? Do you trust him?

ETHOS = ETHICS

Logos – Greek root means “account or reason.” Therefore an appeal to “logos” is an appeal to our sense of logic. Does the idea make sense? Does it seem logical or intelligent?

LOGOS = LOGIC

Supporting Evidence appeals

Faulty Reasoning

Authors sometimes use these appeals to create faulty reasoning.

Faulty reasoning is supporting evidence that seems to support the argument but is actually misleading evidence.

There are lots of types of faulty reasoning.

TYPES of Faulty Reasoning

TYPES of Faulty Reasoning

Scare Tactics: persuading someone to do something by scaring them

Plain Folks: speakers attempt that they, and their ideas, are of the common people

PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES

Repetition: Writers may repeat a word, a phrase, example, fact or the claim for emphasis.

Parallelism: similarity of structure of words or phrases

Delaying the claim: Writers may not present the claim in the beginning of the text in order to gain your support first.