Rhetoric

DEFINITION: a thoughtful, reflective activity leading to effective communication, including rational exchange of opposing viewpoints

THE POWER OF RHETORIC: those who understand and can use rhetoric can appeal to an audience find themselves in a position of strength

Rhetoric will help resolve conflicts without confrontation, to PERSUADE readers or listeners to support THEIR position or move others to take action

Rhetoric (2)

Rhetoric is always situational: it has CONTEXT (the time and place) and PURPOSE

Rhetoric always has a MAIN IDEA (thesis) Things to consider for ANALYSIS of a rhetorical

work The relationship of a speaker to a subject,

audience to speaker, and audience to subject The next step is to consider HOW to persuade

your audience by using, ETHOS, LOGOS, or PATHOS

Rhetoric (3)

ETHOS- an appeal to ethos, or character, to demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy

Think of a speech discouraging kids from using alcohol…speakers might use ethos by stressing that they are concerned parents, teachers, counselors, etc.

The speaker’s ethos- expertise and knowledge, experience, training, sincerity or a combination of these gives the audience a reason for listening

Rhetoric (4)

LOGOS- appeal to logos (reason) by offering clear, rational ideas.

LOGOS has a clear main idea (thesis) with specific details, examples, facts, statistical data, or expert testimony as support

Another way to appeal to logos is to use COUNTERARGUMENT- to anticipate objections or opposing views, concede that it could be true then refute the validity of all or part of the argument- this actually strengthens your argument

Rhetoric (5)

PATHOS- appeal to emotion Writing that appeals to only pathos is

rarely effective Pathos relies on choosing language

(figurative language, personal anecdotes) adds an important dimension

Emotional appeals usually include vivid, concrete description and figurative language

Sometimes visual elements are used (posters)