34 Writing with the Appeals
What are the appeals?
The three rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos apply to types of responses elicited from the audience. These appeals can be found easily in commercials. Ethos appeals to a person’s sense of credibility or respect, such as Shaquille O’Neal advertising Icy Hot. An athlete of his renown obviously knows the best methods for relieving achy, sore muscles. Logos appeals to a person’s sense of logic, such as “Nine out of ten dentists choose Crest.” The nine out of ten illustrates an easy fraction/percentage (90%) of professionals who choose Crest over any other brand of toothpaste. Pathos appeals to a person’s sense of emotions, such as “Choosey mothers choose Jif.” Most parents want only the best for their children, so they will identify with being “choosey.”
Also refer to What is Rhetoric?
Ethos: appeal to credibility
“John is a forensics and ballistics expert, working for the federal government for many years. If anyone’s qualified to determine the murder weapon, it’s him.”
“If his years as a soldier taught him anything, it’s that caution is the best policy in this sort of situation.”
Ethos confirms the credibility of a writer or a speaker, making them trustworthy in the eyes of listeners and readers who are then persuaded by the arguments. In some cases, credibility can be established based on credentials (doctor, professor, certificate-based jobs). In others, it can be determined by life experience (someone whose mom has MS, someone who has run a race)
Logos: appeal to logic/facts
“The data is perfectly clear; this investment has consistently turned a 20% profit year-over-year, even in spite of market declines in other areas.”
“History has shown time and again that absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Logos is used when citing facts, in addition to statistical, literal, and historical analogies. It is something through which inner thoughts are presented logically, to persuade the audience. Arguments using logos must be reliable, genuine, and in most cases, provable.
Pathos: appeal to emotion
“Where would the town be without this tradition? Ever since their forefathers landed at Plymouth Rock, they’ve celebrated Thanksgiving without fail, making more than cherished recipes. They’ve made memories.”
Writers introduce pathos in their works to touch upon the audience’s delicate senses of pity, sympathy, sorrow, and more, trying to develop an emotional connection with readers. In order to use pathos, you need to pay attention to your audience. If writing to Americans, you can use the feeling of U.S.A. patriotism. The same argument would be invalid to readers in France.
Academic audiences are primarily persuaded by ethos and logos. They want to see research from credible sources and prominent authors in their field (ethos), and they want to see accurate facts and statistics that support a claim (logos).
Attribution
“Archie the Proud Graduate” image by Kirk Adams