Basic Rhetorical Principals

1
Basic Rhetorical Principals

• English 15, Section 83
• Spring 2003

2
The Rhetorical Situation

• The conditions in which language is used,
  including the intended audience, purpose, topic,
  medium (oral, written, electronic) time, and
  place
• With each new essay assignment, you have a
  rhetorical situation to create and consider

3
RECEIVER (Audience)
4
The Big Three

• Audience The who?
• Purpose The what?
• Exigence The why?

5
Audience A Few Hints

• Avoid the myth of the general public
• Not targeted enough to make your message
  effective, help you choose your examples and
  appeals, or establish tone
• Relate your audience to your purpose
• To inform Who would be interested in this
  information? Need it and benefit from it?
• To persuade Who might be able to act on the
  information you provide?
• To entertain Who would appreciate your examples,
  your humor, the assumed context?

6
Audience Zero In
Anyone who
7
Audience Considerations

• Individual/Group/Institution
• Gender
• Sexual Orientation (Straight/Gay/Other)
• Marital Status (Single, Married, Divorced,
  Widowed, Partner)
• Race (White/African-American/Asian-American/Hispan
  ic, etc)
• Age Group (Child, Teen, Young Adult, Adult,
  Middle-Aged, Older)
• Nationality (American/Other Country)
• Class (Poor/Working/Middle/Upper Middle/Elite)
• Education (High School Degree/GED/Undergraduate
  Degree/ Graduate Degree)
• Degree of Skill (beginner, intermediate, expert)
• Attitudes
• Values
• Political Affiliation and beliefs (Democrat,
  Republican, etc.

8
The Appeals

• Aristotle identified three basic appeals used by
  rhetors to send a message in a given rhetorical
  situation
• Ethos
• Logos
• Pathos
• You will need to balance your use of the appeals
  in your writing however some situations call for
  an emphasis of one over the others

9
Ethos

• A rhetorical appeal that relies on the writers
  or speakers character and credibility to
  persuade and audience
• An ethos-driven document relies on the reputation
  of the author
• http//www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/webclass/web/project1/
  group4/commercial.html

10
Logos

• A rhetorical appeal that relies on reason or
  logic to persuade an audience using facts, ,
  statistics, comparisons, narrative examples,
  documentation, personal experience, and
  observation
• Documents distributed by companies or
  corporations are logos-driven. Scholarly
  documents are also often logos-driven
• http//www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/webclass/web/project1/
  group4/research.html

11
Pathos

• A rhetorical appeal to the emotions, values, and
  attitudes of an audience
• Pathos is appeal based on emotion. Advertisements
  tend to be pathos-driven
• http//www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/webclass/web/project1/
  group4/env.html

12
The appeals in our readings

• Ethos?
• Logos?
• Pathos?