1. From the Greek word meaning custom, habit, character From Dictionary.com: the character or disposition of a community, group, person, etc. OR the moral element in dramatic literature that determines a character's action rather than his or her thought or emotion.

2.  Understanding How Arguments Based on Character Work Which brand of clothing should I buy? What book should I read? Whom should I vote for in the next election? Which reviews of an Academy Award nominee for best film should I believe? What are the risks in taking prescription painkillers? WHO DO YOU TRUST?

3. We trust professionals: doctors, lawyers, teachers, pastors.

4. Who are you going to believe? This guy? Or this guy?

5.  Claiming Authority Read the following excerpt from Terry Tempest Williams, “The Clan of One- Breasted Women.” Answer the following questions: What does the speaker know about the subject? What experience does the speaker have that makes him especially knowledgeable? Why should I pay attention to the speaker?

6. “I belong to the Clan of One-Breasted Women. My mother, my grandmother, and six aunts have all had mastectomies. Seven are dead. The two who survive have just complete rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. I’ve had my own problems: two biopsies for breast cancer and a small tumor between my ribs diagnosed as a borderline malignancy.”

7. How does this guy claim authority? “The Asian culture, as it happens, is something I know a lot about, having spent five years at Harvard striving for a Ph.D. in a joint program called History and East Asian Languages and, after that, living either as a student (for one year) or a journalist (six years) in China and Southeast Asia. At least I know enough to know there is no such thing as the “Asian culture.” -Richard Bernstein, Dictatorship of Virtue

8. Not everyone is so inclined to list credentials or to outright assert themselves as an authority. In the following paragraph, how does Mike Rose assert his authority? “It is certainly accurate that a number of people do enter higher education poorly prepared. And we do need to think hard about what the current push for “college for all” truly means, how it can be enacted in an effective way, and whether or nit it offers the best remedy for past educational inequality. These are important questions. Articles like “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower” don’t help us answer them.” Here, Mike Rose is responding an Atlantic Monthly article. Although he does not make an explicit effort to assert it, his authority is conveyed through small signals that the reader picks up on almost subconsciously.

9.  Establishing Credibility Credibility speaks to a writer’s honesty, respect for an audience and its values, and likeability. Humor is often used to establish credibility. Humor puts the audience at ease and identify with the speaker. Using language that shows respect for the audience by addressing them neither above nor below their capabilities. Acknowledge any exceptions, qualifications, or weaknesses in your argument.

10. This ad is one in a classic series in which Volkswagen pokes fun of itself and admits to limitations while also promoting the good points about the car, thus gaining credibility.

11. Now that we trust Volkswagen to be honest with us about their limitations, their come off as being even more credible once they introduce a car that exceeds the prior limitation, no matter how small the improvement.

12. How is ethos used in this advertisement? How is pathos used in the advertisement?

13. What do all these books have in common and why do middle aged women flock to the book store to buy them?

15. Credible or not credible?