Persuasive Techniques

LOGOS

Logos An appeal to logic and reason

Example: School uniforms should be required because

it would then be easier for staff to recognize intruders.

School uniforms should be required because it would decrease incidents of bullying.

LOGOSStrategies

Evidence Examples and illustrations Facts, statistics Precedents, laws

Organization Process Comparison/contrast Division/classification Cause/effect Definition, description

PATHOS

Pathos An appeal to emotional reaction.

Example: School uniforms should be required because it

alleviates students’ fear of looking different and being picked on because of their clothes.

Suzy Jo McGuillicutty retells the story of when she was made fun of and beaten up because she wore the same blouse two days in a row. Sobbing, she conjures up painful memories of not fitting in.

PATHOS Strategies

Inspiring feeling/empathy/sympathy Anger, pride, guilt, love, shame, hope, etc.

Awareness of opposition Awareness of the audience's cultural

and emotional background Race, age, sex, physical characteristics,

habits Economic or educational level Religious or political affiliation Ethnicity, country of birth, citizenship,

location Awareness of audience concerns

Needs, values, beliefs of groups audience belongs to

ETHOS

Ethos An appeal based on your own credibility. Example:

Based on research explained in the Winter 2004 issue of Educational Leadership, seventy-four percent of the schools who attempted a uniform policy could not claim success with any certainty since other confounding variables such as higher security and a peer mediation program could just have easily have been the cause of decreased school violence.

In my own observations as a student teacher at Waldo Middle School in Salem, Oregon, I discovered that on “uniform days,” behavior referrals decreased to nearly none, whereas on “dress free days,” referrals spiked to as much as ten times as many.

ETHOS Strategies

Credibility (common sense) Familiarity with subject Awareness of broad perspective

Character (virtue) Respect others' values Value welfare of others

Show integrity, trustworthiness, open-mindedness

Confidence (good will) Show self-understanding Understand reader needs Treat reader as equal