Persuasive Appeals

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Persuasive Appeals

• ENGLISH 11

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Persuasion

• Persuasion is presenting an argument
• The goal of argument is to win acceptance of
  one's ideas.
• Modern argumentation theory has roots in Greek
  and Roman thinking.
• We judge evidence, investigate carefully, state
  ideas accurately, and listen critically.

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Logos

• Reason (logos) - support your general claims with
  concrete, specific data.
• Reason which begins with specifics and moves
  toward a generalization is inductive.  Example 
  Several clubs have reported difficulty completing
  their business during Flex time.  This proves
  that Cardinal time should be longer.
• Reason which starts with a general observation
  and moves to specifics is deductive.  Example 
  When people hurry, inefficiency and poor
  communication are the results.  Under current
  conditions clubs must hurry at Flex time
  meetings.  Therefore, Cardinal time should be
  lengthened to allow for better club meetings.

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Logos, cont

• Use two or three different strong reasons to
  support your argument.
• Support your reasons with evidence.
• Facts - can be proven.
• Expert opinions or quotations
• Definitions - statement of meaning of word or
  phrase
• Statistics - offer scientific support
• Examples - powerful illustrations
• Anecdote - incident, often based on writer's
  personal experiences
• Present opposition - and give reasons and
  evidence to prove the opposition wrong
• Conclude with call to action - urge the reader to
  do something

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Ethos

• Ethics (ethos) - convince your readers that you
  are fair, honest, and well informed.  They will
  then trust your values and intentions.
• Avoid over-use of negatively charged loaded
  words.

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Pathos

• Emotion (pathos) - a carefully reasoned argument
  will be strengthened by an emotional appeal.
• Use description or narrate an example, often from
  your own experience.
• Your point of view is demonstrated in an
  emotional appeal, and is important to the reader.
  
• Careful word choice presents your position
  accurately.

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Diction

• Choice and use of words in speech and writing
• Diction affects tone!
• For example
• To a friend "a screw-up"
• To a child "a mistake"
• To the police "an accident"
• To an employer "an oversight"

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Categories of Persuasive Communication

• The persuasive communicator has a responsibility
  to present accurate and timely evidence to
  support his or her arguments.  The ethical
  responsibility of the communicator to present
  evidence in an accurate manner is essential to
  quality argumentation.
• These communications can be divided into three
  categories
• Fact
• Value
• Policy

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Questions of Fact

• Questions of fact This argument deals with
  things that have already happened, are occurring
  now, or will happen in the future and reasons for
  such occurrences.
• Example  Use of passive restraint devices will
  save thousands of lives over the next ten years.

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Questions of Value

• Questions of value  This argument addresses the
  morality of an issue and calls for a judgment to
  be made right/ wrong, good / bad, proper /
  improper.
• Example The United States has a moral
  responsibility to protect human rights around the
  world.

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Questions of Policy

• Question of policy This argument advocates a
  plan of action to be taken and will include both
  fact and value in addition to a plan of action.
• Example The United States will support with
  human resources and financial aid all United
  Nations sponsored human rights programs.

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Circular Reasoning

• Also called begging the question
• A fallacy in which the premise includes the claim
  that the conclusion is true or (directly or
  indirectly) assumes that the conclusion is true.
• For example
• Interviewer "Your resume looks impressive but I
  need another reference." Bill "Jill can give me
  a good reference." Interviewer "Good. But how
  do I know that Jill is trustworthy?" Bill
  "Certainly. I can vouch for her."

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Either/Or Fallacy

• An either/or fallacy occurs when a speaker makes
  a claim (usually a premise in an otherwise valid
  deductive argument) that presents an artificial
  range of choices.  For instance, he may suggest
  that there are only two choices possible, when
  three or more really exist. 
• These types of arguments falls because the
  audience is not given a fair choice there exist
  many alternate (and often more desirable) choices
  that are never offered to the listener for
  consideration.  Isnt Switzerland a neutral
  country?  (Yes.)  So, are they for or against
  the United States?  Do you love every part of
  your best friends personality?  Does that mean
  that you too are for or against this person?

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Oversimplification

• This fallacy occurs when a series of actual
  causes are reduced to the point where there is no
  longer a genuine connection between the cause and
  effect.
• Often a result of trying not to bog a reader down
  with too many details, but oversimplification can
  lead you down bad roads.
• For example,
• School violence has gone up and academic
  performance has gone down ever since racial
  segregation was banned. Therefore, segregation
  should be reintroduced, resulting in school
  improvement.

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Overgeneralization

• Statements so general they ignore or over
  simplify reality
• This fallacy is very similar to
  oversimplification in that facts often must be
  overlooked in order to get to this point. For
  example, All citizen support their country in
  time of crisis. Oh, really, what about our
  friendly, neighborhood anarchist over there?
• Or example, 2 All birds can fly.

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False Cause

• Non Causa Pro Causa
• A does not necessarily mean B
• This fallacy attributes a cause and effect
  relationship when none is proven to exist. Its
  dark now, which means its dangerous.

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Hasty Generalization

• This is the fallacy of generalizing about a
  population based upon a sample which is too small
  to be representative.

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