English | Learning how to write Rhetorical and Persuasive Writing
Rhetoric is the study of how words are used to persuade an audience. With a rhetorical analysis, people study how writing is put together to create a particular effect for the reader. So, on the flip side, rhetorical writing involves making conscious decisions to make your writing more effective. To break it down, there are 3 techniques of rhetorical writing to consider: ethos, logos, and pathos.
Ethos refers to the writer, or you. To persuade your readers, you need to build your credibility. Readers want to know who you are, why you’re competent to speak on the subject, and what your motive for writing may be. You may want to discuss your background, including your education, employment, or personal experiences. If you don’t have a background that shows you’re an expert, you can use credible resources and data to support your ideas and show that you know what you’re talking about.
You can also build your credibility through your writing. Watch your tone, style, voice, organization, word choice, and grammar and punctuation. Superior writing will show your level of professionalism and intelligence to your readers.
Logos comes from the same root as logic. When considering the logos of your writing, look at the actual content and organization of your ideas. Have you included plenty of data, research, and statistics to support your claims? How well do you use reasoning to persuade your audience? Is there a logical flow to your paper?
Logos begins with the pre-writing process. As you outline your paper, start with a strong introduction paragraph with a solid thesis before going into your supporting paragraphs. Also, be sure to include plenty of evidence to strengthen your claims.
The final piece of the rhetorical triangle is pathos, or the emotional appeal. This focuses on your audience and how you can appeal to their emotions. Emotions move people to act. If you want to persuade your readers to do something, appealing to their emotions will be very beneficial. So, try to connect with your audience by learning about them. Then, share stories, personal examples, questions to get your readers thinking about the subject, and other ways to appeal to their emotions.
This is one of a series of videos which I created to teach students the concepts of rhetoric in academic writing. There are 10 sentence patterns. These are the first two patterns. I, also, review the "Tree of Writing Life" and T/P's (time and place). Guaranteed to make you a better writer by just watching it once!
Today, let's learn about how write Rhetorical and Persuasive writing with Ditsay.
Tutor: Daniel Moraga
Hello Students, My name is Daniel Moraga. And I am an experienced professional secondary English, Composition, History, and Humanities teacher. Currently, I am residing on Koh Samui, Thailand, where I have been conducting online enrichment courses for Year 12 Philosophy and Year 11 English. For the last ten years, however, just before the current world situation, I was a secondary English and Humanities teacher in Shanghai, China. I also taught "Grammar and Rhetoric" at Tsinghua University, the "MIT of China," to students transferring to US universities. So I am really proficient at teaching you, easily with 10 sentence patterns, how to write--not just talk on paper. Check out danielmoraga.com and "Essay Island" for more about me. Thank you and have a great day.