Writing for Your Audience Mary Jean Harrold

Logos, Ethos, Pathos Logos Ethos Pathos Logical structure of reasons and evidence in an argument; make argument internally consistent and logical; find best reasons, support them with best evidence Ethos Audience’s confidence in the writer’s credibility and trustworthiness; present self effectively; enhance credibility Pathos Audience’s sympathies---both real and imagined; make reader open to message; appeal to reader’s values and interests Mary Jean Harrold

Creating Effective Ethos Be knowledgeable about your issue Use examples, personal experience, statistics, empirical data, etc. Be fair Fairness to alternative views Understand and emphasize with other points of view Build a bridge to your audience Ground argument in shared values and assumptions Mary Jean Harrold

Creating Effective Pathos Use concrete language Specific details add interest Use specific examples and illustrations Provide evidence; give presence and emotion Use narratives Grabs attention and leads to claim Choose words, metaphors, and analogies with appropriate connotations Mary Jean Harrold

Meatrix: Does it create effective Ethos? Knowledgeable about issue Fair Bridge built to audience Pathos? Concrete language Specific examples and illustration Narratives Words, metaphors, and analogies with appropriate connotations Mary Jean Harrold

Accommodating Your Audience One-sided versus multi-sided arguments Understanding your audience Treating different views Appealing to a supportive audience Appealing to a neutral or undecided audience Appealing to a resistant audience Mary Jean Harrold

One-sided versus Multisided Arguments Types of arguments One-sided… Multisided… Research suggests when to use each Mary Jean Harrold

Understanding Your Audience (1) Book suggests placing audience on scale May need to “invent” your audience strongly supportive strongly opposed Mary Jean Harrold

Understanding Your Audience (2) Try to assess what audience knows Audience for term paper?? Other examples of audiences for whom you may write??? Determine level of background to give Too little leads to?? Too much leads to?? Determine level of formality Use of “I” or “we” or another actor Use of active or passive voice Understanding audience may take more time than researching topic!! Mary Jean Harrold

Understanding Your Audience (3) Understanding audience is problem for professional rhetoricians (e.g., politicians, advertising executives, researchers) So people since the time of the Sophists have developed a variety of “tricks” to use for assessing and understanding the audience Mary Jean Harrold

Understanding Your Audience (4) Most of the time, you know the audience because you’re part of the audience If you’re part of the audience, what will you know about them? Examples?? If not part of audience, don’t consider individuals, but consider an abstraction of the audience—what they know, what they expect, how they will react Mary Jean Harrold

Understanding Your Audience (5) Understand discourse conventions Flow of words for that interpretive community who somehow set the rules How can you find out about discourse conventions? What are some examples of interpretive communities and their discourse conventions? Mary Jean Harrold

Treating Different Views (1) Appealing to a supportive audience What approach should you use? What are some examples? Appealing to a neutral or undecided audience Mary Jean Harrold

Treating Different Views (2) Appealing to a supportive audience What approach should you use? What are some examples? Appealing to a neutral or undecided audience Toulmin argument: claim reason (grounds to support reason) warrant (backing to support warrant) Mary Jean Harrold

Treating Different Views (3) Rebutting evidence—how? Mary Jean Harrold

Treating Different Views (4) Appealing to a resistant audience Delayed thesis Rogerian Mary Jean Harrold

Discussion in Groups of 5 Watch the Meatrix What is the thesis of the Meatrix? Does this argument create effective ethos? If so, how? Be specific. Does this argument create effective pathos? If so, how? Be specific. What type of audience does it target? Explain? Suppose the audience is resistant, give an outline of either a delayed-thesis or Rogerian argument for the same thesis Mary Jean Harrold