This materials were taken from Coursera's Science Literacy Course.
Aristotle taught about three basic modes of persuasion. These modes appeal to human nature and continue to be used today in writing of all kinds, politics, and advertisements.
A well-rounded, well-developed, argument, includes: 1) Ethos, 2) Pathos, and 3) Logos looks credible and will maintain your audience's attention, even if they don't agree.
1. Ethos (supporting evidence):
- Build credibility by integrating anecdotes from those with specific experience or education,
- Avoid logical fallacies. As they are not supported by scientific evidence, rather are a product of fake science,
- Do not discuss the extremes. As these may hurt credibility if they are not representative of the problem,
- Use systematically collected evidence as it is least likely to be biased by emotions,
- And balance the Pathos (emotions) and Logos (logic).
2. Pathos (emotions):
- Appeal to emotions by considering all potential emotions people experience,
- To be effective, use emotions most related to your topic (ex. sympathy for students financial situation),
- Use credible, verified, examples to appeal to target emotions (ex. provide examples of students real life financial stress),
- Don't sound too emotional, maintain an even tone.
3. Logos (present the logical conclusion given the evidence discussed):
- Appeal to logic
- Consider the audience perspective and Build argument around what makes sense to audience
- Present a clear line of reasoning
- Avoid faulty logic
- Clearly present research and, if appropriate personal experience, to provide evidence.
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