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)