Thursday, March 7, 2013
• Aim: How can we persuade our audience to see
our point of view?
• DN: Are you good at persuading others to see
things your way?
Notes
• Persuasion – is the attempt to convince
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others to do something or to change a belief
of their own free will.
Any time that you try to convince someone
to think, believe, or act as you want them to,
you are speaking to persuade.
A persuasive speech is one that establishes a
fact, changes a belief, or moves an audience
to act on a policy.
– Your success depends on your content and your
delivery.
Types of Persuasion
• Persuasion stems from the idea that people
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can hold different views on a topic and that it
is open to question as to which viewpoint is a
better one.
Your goal as a speaker is to support your
viewpoint so that the audience will adopt it.
In this way, persuasive speeches deal with 3
types of questions that can be answered in
more that 1 way:
– Questions of fact
– Questions of belief
– Questions of policy
Questions of fact
• concern statements that can be seen as either true
or false. You offer proof to support a statement of
fact, but the audience determines whether you
have convincingly proved the veracity of that
statement.
– EX: recycling can (cannot) save communities $
– Coffee drinkers have (do not have) a higher risk of heart
disease.
– The space program does (does not) contribute to
national security.
Questions of Belief
• Focus on what is right or wrong, good or
bad, best or worst, moral or immoral. While
you cannot prove that a belief is true or
false, you can supply convincing information
to justify a belief.
– Small schools are (are not) better for most
students than large schools are.
– Michael Jackson was (was not) the greatest rock
and roll performer ever.
– It is (is not) wrong to avoid jury duty.
Question of policy
• Focuses on a particular action. You try to
convince the audience to act on some policy
or to agree that some policy should be
changed.
– High school athletes should (should not) be
required to maintain a B average to compete
interscholastically.
– Funding for space exploration should (should not)
be increased.
Choosing and Limiting a Topic
• A good persuasive topic is one that you
feel strongly about or that other people
may have different views on.
A General Summary of Aristotle's
Appeals . . . The goal of argumentative
writing is to persuade your audience
that your ideas are valid, or more valid
than someone else's. The Greek
philosopher Aristotle divided the
means of persuasion, appeals, into
three categories--Ethos, Pathos,
Logos.
Ethos (Greek for 'character') refers to the
trustworthiness or credibility of the writer or
speaker. Ethos is often conveyed through tone and
style of the message and through the way the
writer or speaker refers to differing views. It can
also be affected by the writer's reputation as it
exists independently from the message--his or her
expertise in the field, his or her previous record or
integrity, and so forth. The impact of ethos is often
called the argument's 'ethical appeal' or the 'appeal
from credibility.'
Pathos (Greek for 'suffering' or 'experience') is often associated
with emotional appeal. But a better equivalent might be 'appeal to
the audience's sympathies and imagination.' An appeal to pathos
causes an audience not just to respond emotionally but to identify
with the writer's point of view--to feel what the writer feels. In
this sense, pathos evokes a meaning implicit in the verb 'to
suffer'--to feel pain imaginatively.... Perhaps the most common
way of conveying a pathetic appeal is through narrative or story,
which can turn the abstractions of logic into something palpable
and present. The values, beliefs, and understandings of the writer
are implicit in the story and conveyed imaginatively to the reader.
Pathos thus refers to both the emotional and the imaginative
impact of the message on an audience, the power with which the
writer's message moves the audience to decision or action.
Logos (Greek for 'word') refers to
the internal consistency of the
message--the clarity of the claim,
the logic of its reasons, and the
effectiveness of its supporting
evidence. The impact of logos on
an audience is sometimes called the
argument's logical appeal.
Short-hand version:
• Ethos: Ethical appeal - the source's credibility, the
speaker's/author's authority
• Pathos: Emotional appeal - the emotional or
motivational appeals; vivid language, emotional
language and numerous sensory details.
• Logos: Logical appeal - the logic used to support a
claim (induction and deduction); can also be the
facts and statistics used to help support the
argument.
Persuasive Speech
• You will deliver a speech in which you attempt to
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PERSUADE your audience to think, believe, or act a
certain way.
You must complete the appeals outline.
You must incorporate all three of Aristotle’s appeals –
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
You should consult and reference at least 3 sources in
your speech to support your argument.
Speech will be at least 3 minutes in length.
You may use visuals, power point, etc in your
presentation. The use of visuals is not mandatory.
Friday, March 8, 2013
• Aim: How can we choose a topic for our
persuasive speech?
• Do Now: List three school policies that
you disagree with. Write one sentence
explaining why for each
• Go to my HW page
• Open the document titled “Persuasive
Topics”
• Browse the topics and choose 3 topics.
• Begin preliminary research on each topic.
• Pick a topic by the end of class.