lecture

1. Analyzing Arguments
Rhetorically
Week Five- Thursday

2. What is rhetoric?
• The art of effective or persuasive speaking or
writing, especially the use of figures of speech
and other compositional techniques
 Aimed at motivating specific audiences in specific
situations
• Our best known definition comes from Aristotle:
 The faculty of observing in any given case the available
means of persuasion
• Aristotle claimed there were three persuasive
audience appeals
 Logos
 Pathos
 Ethos

3. In-class activity
• Take out a pencil and paper
• At the top write your name and the date
• Write 1-2 sentences concerning your viewpoint on the existence of the
Headless Horseman? Is he real?
• No need to expand. Just provide a yes or no statement

4. Logos- Appeal to Logic
• Attempt to provide sufficient
evidence from empirical sources
and sound reasoning
• Avoid using logical fallacies
• Logos is matter–of–fact
 Provide statistics and a reliable
interpretation of precise research

5. Logos Activity:
• Appeal to logic or reason
 Theoretical language
 Denotative
meaning/reasons
 Literal and historical
analogies
 Definitions
 Factual data and statistics
 Quotations
 Citations from experts and
authorities
 Informed opinions
• Find persuasive material
from The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow that appeals to logos.
• List these appeals
underneath your statement
about the Headless
Horseman
• Try to come up with three
appeals to logic

6. Pathos- Appeal to Emotion
• Draw audience in by offering emotionally charged reasoning with vivid
visuals that affect the audience's emotions
• This rhetorical appeal is often used to elicit a specific emotional response,
such as:
 Outrage
 Anger
 Sadness
 Happiness
 Desire
• The hope is that if the reader or observer feels the emotional response they
will be persuaded.

7. Pathos Activity:
• Pathos is an appeal
to emotion
 Vivid, concrete
language
 Emotionally loaded
language
 Connotative meanings
 Emotional examples
 Vivid descriptions
 Narratives of
emotional events
 Emotional tone
 Figurative language
• Find persuasive material from
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
that appeals to pathos.
• List these appeals underneath
your statement about the
Headless Horseman
• Try to come up with three
appeals to emotion

8. Ethos- Appeal to Moral Philosophy
• Demonstrate reliability, credibility, and a correct moral philosophy
• Has everything to do with the morals and values of a community, nation, or
society
• You are persuading an audience because you have an understand of the
values and beliefs of that audience

9. Ethos Activity:
• Ethos is an appeal to moral
philosophy
 Language appropriate to
audience and subject
 Restrained, sincere, fair
minded presentation
 Appropriate level of vocabulary
 Clear Articulation
 Multiple presented
perspectives
• Find persuasive
material from The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow
that appeals to pathos.
• List this appeal
underneath your
statement about the
Headless Horseman
• Try to come up with one
appeal to morality

10. Peer Review. Personal Review.
• Peer review is a form of rhetorical analysis, in which people of equal
scholastic or professional achievement create opinions on the works of others
• Peer review is not just beneficial to your peer, it also helps you ask questions
and develop your own opinion on the same topic
• Conducting a successful and in-depth peer review and rhetorical analysis is
all about asking the right questions about a specific text

11. Professional Rhetorical Analysis
• When will a person use rhetorical analysis outside of in-class peer reviews?
• Peer reviewing is very similar to professional rhetorical analysis
• When reviewing a work that you intend to analyze, take the same steps as
you did in your in-class peer review
• Ask the following questions and form an opinion…

12. Ask yourself questions.
• Asking the right questions can lead you to a well balanced and informed
opinion
• This translates into a coherent and well-thought out argument
• It is a good practice to write out your own answers to these questions when
conducting a rhetorical analysis

13. Open your books to page 159
• Let’s go over these questions in class
• While we discuss, consider your topic for the MLA short essay and your draft
of the Mini Paper
• How does your own argument stand up to this kind of scrutiny?

14. DUE:
• Thursday September 29:
 Revised Mini Paper (drop box by class time)
 Intro, Outline, and 3 sources for MLA Short Essay (drop box by class time)
• No journal this week