Intrinsic Authority refers to the authority that comes from the rhetor herself. It might come from her work experience or college degrees or generally good morality, or it might come from how well she demonstrates that she can speak or write about her topic. Related Concepts: Appeals to Authority; Authority (in Writing & Speech); Critical Literacy; Ethos; Fallacious Ethos; Interpretation, Interpretative Frameworks; Intrinsic Authority; Substantive Prose Style Aristotle, who coined the term "ethos," said that "persuasion is achieved by the speaker's personal character when the speech is so spoken as...
Rhetorical Appeals are Ethos: appeals to credibilityPathos: appeals to emotionLogos: appeals to logic. Rhetors deploy a variety of rhetorical appeals depending on their rhetorical situation, thesis/research question, and mindset. Rhetorical AppealsEthos character, ethics, Pathos appeals to empathy, compassion. Logos logic, substantive prose, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning Kairos "the right place and the right time." Ethos: An appeal to ethos is an appeal to credibility. Writers use ethos when they use their own expertise on a topic or cite an expert on the subject. An author might refer to work...
Incorporating appeals to pathos into persuasive writing increases a writer’s chances of achieving his or her purpose. Read “Pathos” to define and understand pathos and methods for appealing to it. The following brief article discusses examples of these appeals in persuasive writing. An important key to incorporating pathos into your persuasive writing effectively is appealing to your audience’s commonly held emotions. To do this, one must be able to identify common emotions, as well as understand what situations typically evoke such emotions. The blog post “The 10 Most Common Feelings...
Successful writers write to win. Whether a writer wants to achieve a particular grade on a paper, persuade a specific audience to adopt an argument, or obtain an interview with a company, a writer writes with a purpose that he or she aims to fulfill. Using rhetorical appeals, particularly in persuasive writing, is a powerful way to persuade an audience. Moreover, rhetorical appeals work. For example, in “Reductions in smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption associated with mass-media campaigns,” authors Karen Friend and David T. Levy examine state and local mass-media...
Why use rhetorical appeals in persuasive writing? Using rhetorical appeals in persuasive writing increases a writer’s chances of achieving his or her purpose. Any rhetorical purpose must be connected to an audience, and rhetorical appeals have been proven to successfully reach and persuade audiences. Logos Strategies for Use: structure of argument, definitions, relevant examples, facts and figures, causal statements, statistics, an opposing view Reflective Questions: Are the main points of my essay sequenced logically? Does my writing define key terms with which the audience may not be familiar? Does my...
Taking Control: Managing Your Online Identity for the Job Search Background In 2008, while working as a career counselor, a student came into my office to discuss her difficulty securing an internship prior to graduation. On paper, she was a phenomenal candidate—3.8 GPA, active in student government, successful athlete, and in possession of solid letters of recommendation from her instructors, coaches, and past employers. Despite her many strengths, she had interviewed with seven prospective employers throughout her junior year but was unable to secure the internship that was required by...
Learning Objectives Understand the purpose and importance of diplomacy, emphasis, and tone in business communication Gain the ability to write difficult professional emails without offending, frustrating, or confusing your reader Learn to use strategies in written communication to make your own work clearer to get the response you need Name that Tone Consider the following lines from business emails. How would you describe the tone of each entry? What words, phrases, or other elements suggest that tone? here) “Maybe if the project leader had set a reasonable schedule from the...
Netiquette is a hybrid word combining “network” and “etiquette”; it essentially refers to the social code of the Internet. As such, netiquette -- how we communicate, treat others, portray ourselves, and protect ourselves online -- is a question of ethics. Ethics, or moral philosophy, refers generally to how groups and individuals determine moral courses of action. Because ethics refers to the way groups and individuals relate to, treat, and resolve issues with each other, digital ethics then encompasses how users and participants in online environments interact with each other and...
Appeal to Nature: Suggesting a certain behavior or action is normal/right because it is "natural." This is a fallacious argument for two reasons: first, there are multiple, and often competing, ways to define "nature" and "natural." Because there is no one way to define these terms, a writer cannot assume his or her reader thinks of "nature" in the same way he or she does. Second, we cannot assume that "unnatural" is the same as wrong or evil. We (humans) have made lots of amendments to how we live (e.g., wearing...
What is Logos? Logos refers to an appeal to logic as opposed to an appeal to pathos or ethos. Here, logos does not refer to formal logic such as that practiced in mathematics, philosophy, or computer science. Rather, logos refers to the consistency and clarity of an argument as well as the logic of evidence and reasons. It plays a role as one of the main three modes of persuasion: logos ethos pathos Utilizing these appeals to reason within our writing and daily life allows us to create more convincing...
