Persuasion and Reasoning

Appeal: An appeal is a method of persuasion.  An advertisement or essay appeals to you  on two different levels...

1. Logical Appeal: "Logic" is "fact-based reasoning," so logical appeals include facts, statistics, expert opinions/interviews, and case studies (scientific research).

2. Emotional Appeal: Emotional appeals make you feel sad, happy, excited, jealous, or sympathetic.  Emotional appeals use opinions, anecdotes, and (in the case of TV) images about the emotion they want you to feel.

Persuasion and Reasoning

To decide if an author or advertiser is doing a good job persuading, consider the following:

3 A's of Evidence

1. Adequacy: Is there enough evidence given?
2. Appropriateness: Is the right kind of evidence given?
3. Accuracy: Is the evidence correct?

Persuasion: Persuasion is trying to convince readers or viewers to do something, buy something, believe something, or change something.

Persuasion uses convincing visuals, convincing language, evidence, and your emotions.

Persuasive essay structure:

Types of Evidence:

1. Facts -- Last spring, 3 different buses broke down.
2. Examples -- Last spring...students were waiting be the side of the road for 2 hours.
3. Quotations -- "It was torture, waiting in our broken down bus that long," a student said.
4. Statistics -- 20% of our buses need repair at any given time.
5. Anecdotes -- One student complained that waiting in the bus so long that it gave her extreme back pain.  She had to skip class when she finally arrived at school so she could go to the doctor.  As a result, she missed a test and failed the class.