2. Outcomes
Speaker
At the end of this mini lesson,
you will:
-Have a better understanding of the
rhetorical situation (look at the image to your
Audience
left).
Subject
-Consider audience, speaker, and context in
writing, electronic, and visual
communication.
-Understand the 3 rhetorical appeals.
3. The author or The
Author/Speaker
speaker can be
you!
What are some of the different ways you author/
write communications? Think about your
everyday lives.
Academic papers/essays
Email (personal and professional)
The author, Text messaging
though, could be
anyone creating a
communication Resume/Job Correspondence
Blogs
Twitter/Facebook
Letters
4. The
Audience
and
Subject
The receiver of the communication.
What you write, how you write it, the words
you use, etc. should all depend on who
your audience is and what is the purpose
or context for which you are writing.
Speaker
Audience
Subject
5. Case
Scenario:
Meet our author, Jason-
he missed class today
and must email his
instructor.
The subject is Jason’s
email to his professor.
Here is his email:
OMG
ur
not
gonna
believe
it!!!
I’ve
been
sick
&
need
the
homework
4
class.
TTYL
Meet our audience, Mr.
Smith. He will provide
Jason with the
homework, but he wants
Jason to rewrite the
email.
6. Rhetorical
Appeals
There are 3 primary persuasion appeals to
incorporate into your writing:
Logos = logic
Pathos = sympathy
Ethos = credibility
7. 6
5
• Logos means logic and is achieved through
4
facts, data, statistics.
3
• When you read an article and the author is
citing a particular data, fact, graph, etc, that
2
author or speak is appealing to the logic and
1
rationality of the speaker.
0
Can you think of specific examples of logos from
the media ?
8. • Pathos means sympathy/empathy.
• Pathos is achieved through real-life
stories and events that are emotionally
compelling for the audience.
• For example, when a politician is
discussing the economy and relates a
real-life story of a single, unemployed
mother of three struggling to get by, the
politician is appealing to pathos.
9. • Ethos means credibility.
• Ethos is an appeal to the credibility of the
speaker.
• For example, when you watch a
commercial about a medication and a
doctor is endorsing the medication, that
can be considered an appeal to ethos.
• Can you think of additional examples?
