Persuasion 101 By definition… PERSUASION is a technique used by speakers and writers to convince an audience to adopt a particular viewpoint, to perform.

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1 Persuasion 101 By definition… PERSUASION is a technique used by speakers and writers to convince an audience to adopt a particular viewpoint, to perform a particular action, or both.

2 Persuasion 101 In Rhetoric, Aristotle discusses the various ways one
can argue a point. Torture, he notes, makes for a very convincing argument, but not one that most reasonable or responsible people would resort to. A pointed gun is no substitute for good reason, and today we still rely on the three types of good reasons named by Aristotle. Those are: Establish credibility AKA = Ethos Appeal to logic AKA = Logos Appeals to emotions AKA = Pathos

3 Why write to persuade? The goal of “argument” is to win acceptance of your ideas when others, for whatever reason, don’t agree with you. (Even good people don’t always agree on what is right or fair.) Imagine congress if everyone agreed. Would there ever be true progress in our society if everyone agreed?

4 Why write to persuade? The point of a persuasive piece is not to show how mad we are. The argument itself makes us take a closer look at our own and other’s ideas more carefully. Developing a persuasive piece helps us look at evidence, state ideas more clearly, consider the claims of the opposition fairly and to justify our own position.

5 Keys to Persuasion Focus on…SOAPSTONE Speaker Occasion Audience
Purpose Subject TONE

6 Keys to Persuasion: Your Approach
With tone, you must think about your approach. It is the “means” or the “how” to your piece. Ethos - Credibility Logos - Logic Pathos - Emotion

7 Jurassic Park: Close Reading of the Introduction
Examine Crichton’s introduction and evaluate it as a persuasive essay. Then, answer the following questions on a sheet of loose-leaf paper. Be sure to support your analysis by using specific evidence from the text: What is Crichton’s central claim? How does Crichton develop and support his claim? What persuasive techniques does Crichton use to gain attention and convince his audience of his particular viewpoint? In your opinion, is Crichton’s persuasive approach effective? Why or why not?