THE POWER OF WORDS!

Persuasive Means

How many of you have ever done the following:– Begged your parents to stay home from

school– Asked your parents for spending money– Asked for a treat, a toy, or new outfit

from the store– Pleaded with your teacher to go easy

when grading or for another day for a project or test

Well, guess what you did…

You have been practicing argumentative techniques using the art of persuasion!

Persuasion is defined as communication that is intended to make its audience adopt a certain opinion or pursue an action or do both through appeals to reason or emotion

How Is Persuasion An Art?

How do effective writers create argumentative essays using persuasive techniques?

• With Art techniques, one can go from good to great by immersing oneself in knowledge and through practice.

• With Persuasion and Argumentative Writing, one must immerse themselves in knowledge and practice to skillfully craft their words into a logical order with facts to support, in order to convince those around them. This task becomes increasingly more difficult when attempting to persuade one who is educated especially in the topic of discussion.

Who Came Up With This Crazy Thing Called Persuasion/Argument?

Back when the world was being discovered scholars, religious leaders, and political figures used Rhetoric in order to convince others of their beliefs and discoveries.

Many of the influential figures who further developed the techniques of persuasion were of Greek and Roman decent.

According to Aristotle, rhetoric “is the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.”

In more simple terms rhetoric is discovering how to use language effectively to please, persuade, and argue one’s point.

One such influential man was called Aristotle.

How Does Rhetoric Work?

Available Means(How To Get What You Want)

•Ethos – making yourself seem trustworthy and believable

Example: Believe me! I’ve been there before. I’m just like you.

•Logos – using logic, numbers, facts, and data to support your argument

Example: A Snickers bar has 280 calories and 30 grams of sugar. That’s not very healthy.

•Pathos – appealing to your audience’s emotionsExample: Your donation might just get this puppy off the street and into a good home.

Available Means Continued…

•Kairos - building a sense of urgency for your cause Example: This is a one-time offer. You can’t get this price after

today.

•Big Names – experts and important people that support your side of the argument

Example: Former U.S. president Bill Clinton thinks that junk food should be taken out of vending machines.

•Research – using studies and information to make your argument seem more convincing; you can use words, graphs, tables, illustrations

Example: A recent study found that students who watch TV during the week don’t do as well in school.

Persuasive Strategies

• avante garde – use of this idea/product makes user ahead of his/her time, innovative

• magic ingredients – a miraculous “cure”, exceptionally effective idea

• patriotism – shows your love of country

• transfer – positive images and symbols to make the idea seem more positive

More Persuasive Strategies

•plain folks – suggests that it makes sense to ordinary people – for the common man•snob appeal – suggests that it would make you part of an elite group that has a more glamorous or luxurious lifestyle•bribery – offers you something more – “extras”•bandwagon – suggests that you should join the crowd – you don’t want to be the only one left out.