Clear, concise and effective written communication is not easy to master; it requires practice, patience and persistence. Written communication is more difficult because unlike oral communication, it requires experience and knowledge to convey tone, clarity, conciseness, arrangement, and expectation; qualities needed in the business environment to write clear and effective communications, void of misunderstandings. In our textbook, Business Communications for Success introduces Aristotle’s elements of rhetoric, an effective set of strategies with means to present and persuade an issue. Aristotle’s styles of rhetoric are divided in three categories: Pathos, Logos and Ethos. Each category contains a set of three cognate strategies to develop …show more content…
Pathos is the emotion given to written words it sets the tone, emphasis and engagement.
Tone: it is the choice of words, vivid language and details to convey how serious the writer feels about a topic, assignment, or argument. You can call it the “jolt” in your brain to get you interested in the writing. Personally, I try to set the tone in each writing assignment, within the introductory paragraph, to let the reader know the relevance or importance of the topic. An example in a business setting is ads. We all have come across interior advertisement on the subway or bus, they always try to appeal to our emotions to persuade us to take action or acknowledge an issue.
Logos is the logic of thoughts, needed in written words to convey clarity, conciseness, and
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In my assignments if not concise, it would take more than the needed pages to express my thoughts, and the meaning would be lost. In a business setting, going back to the ads, they are expensive and constrained by space. Any information needs to be concise, to the point; otherwise, it would be more expensive and the message ineffective.
Arrangement: it would be the order in which written thought, key points, and all other aspects are presented to the audience to enhance their perception of the message. In my writing assignments, I try to follow an order and bring together the paragraphs to relate to each other without breaking the relationship between the key points. Going back to the ads, we can clearly see the arrangement aspect within the business setting by means of size, colors and presentation in a magazine. A whole page ad will command more attention to the message than a quarter page
Pathos is the author's use of emotions and sympathy to urge the audience to agree with his or her standpoint. And lastly, logos apply sound reasoning (logic) to attract the typical ideas of the audience and to prove the author's point of view. "Lockdown" by Evans D. Hopkins is a fine example of an author using these appeals to persuade his audience. Hopkins uses of the three appeals are easy to locate and relate to throughout the entire passage. He undoubtedly uses rhetoric to try and keep his audiences focused and to persuade them to feel the way he does about the treatment of prisoners.
For example, Yousafzai speaks about girls and boys education because "... they are suffering the most" (Eleven). Using the word "suffering" draws emotion from the listeners or readers. This is using pathos because it is evoking emotion. In addition, Yousafzai shows that “... innocent and poor children are victims of child labor,” (Ten) instead of getting an education. Saying that the children are innocent and poor brings out emotion, evoking pathos. This adds to her claim by making education sound even more important. Pathos is used to evoke emotion from the audience about her claim.
Effectively communicating an idea or opinion requires several language techniques. In his study of rhetoric, Aristotle found that persuasion was established through three fundamental tools. One is logos, which is used to support an argument through hard data and statistics. Another is ethos, which is the credibility of an author or speaker that allows an audience to conclude from background information and language selection a sense of knowledge and expertise of the person presenting the argument. The impact of pathos, however, is the most effective tool in persuasion due to the link between emotions and decisions. Although each of these tools can be effective individually, a combination of rhetorical devices when used appropriately has the ability to sway an audience toward the writer’s point of view.
In this paper we will be discussing the rhetorical devices, logos, ethos, pathos, kairos, and
Logos is “a strategy in which a writer uses facts, evidence, and reason to convince audience members to accept a claim” (Lunsford). Dr. Khullar utilizes this aspect of writing by primarily using statistics. One
Clinton uses logos to support her ideas on how to run the country. Logos is the appeal of using logic to assist a statement
In the time of ancient Greece, there were a category of teachers called the sophists who believed that wisdom and Rhetoric could and should be used for profit and personal gain. Aristotle, a well-known teacher, disagreed with this completely and believed that while Rhetoric is persuasive, it should be used morally and with good intentions. He stressed the idea of using moral standards along with emotion, logic and truth to persuade any audience. Almost 1000 years later, Augustine took this step even further with the use of rhetoric within religion practice. He emphasized the idea that rhetoric is a means by which to promote good will and spread truth. Today, modern rhetorician Dubinsky would take this step even further, by stating that Rhetoric isn’t just a means to an end. Rhetoric improves our very lives and unites people under a common good with the proper ethics. While it is unfortunate that they are from different time periods, Aristotle, St Augustine, and Dubinsky would surely all agree that Rhetoric is a means by which regular people can be persuasive with their ideals. All while using the right morals, good intentions, and correct ethics to do so, so that any regular person can influence and change their world, from the simplest of arguments to the greatest of debates. That is why I believe we should study these famous rhetoricians, because their teachings teach us how to become better people and better writers. Aristotle, St. Augustine, and Dubinsky believed in Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, which means studying and working with your audience to persuade them in such way that you’re collaborating for the benefit of both the writer and the reader.
The tone of a piece of literature is directly dependent upon the word choice with which it is written. Word choice factors into the development of an important idea in the text and how that idea is developed throughout the text. The type of word choice used impacts the way with which both the tone and important ideas are developed in writing. The tone of a piece of literature changes with the word choice of the writer of the piece. If the word choice of the writer conveys a certain feeling or emotion, whether it is happy or sad, the tone will be directly impacted by this and changed accordingly.
Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis”, she discusses the nature of rhetorical analysis, how it affects our everyday lives and explains the role context plays. Aristotle’s mode of persuasion: Logos, Pathos and Ethos are all components often used to persuade an audience. Logos appeal to logic or stating the facts, Pathos taps into your emotions and Ethos demonstrates the presenter’s credibility. Determining which appeal was used will assist you in having a clear understanding if you should buy into the idea, product etc. Every day we perform some type of analysis, whether we are aware of this or not.
In analyzing the advertisement, it is clear that the author ties all these forms of writing together. In doing so, he hopes to gain the biggest audience by appealing to many different life styles. The author uses persuasion as a tactic, which is used to lure potential vacation hunters in to choosing his place of choice. He presents all forms of writing strategies (ethos, pathos, and logos) in the advertisement with the most concentration on logos and pathos. The author feels that the best way to persuade the audience of choice is to state the facts in the text, and then support those facts by appealing to the emotions, which is accomplished in the picture. In some cases, the author only selects one category of writing, which all depends on what he or she is trying to promote.
For some, an argument may be a discussion that leads people to become mad and feel hate towards someone. This also might bring tension, between friends and family, but there’re times when people just want to discuss a topic that they feel would make the conflict better or resolved. When an argument happens, it’s recommended to use Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle. It is here that Aristotle set’s up three ways to appeal to the audience, which are ethos, pathos, and logos. These three appeals help the writer to persuade, inform, or convince the audience that what he/she is doing the right thing. Without Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle and Aims of Arguments, the writer would unsuccessfully perform an argument correctly. If creditability of the
Owens and Sawhill use pathos to evoke the feelings of their readers. This method establishes
An article from The Washington Post called “Why So Many College Students Are Lousy At Writing -- And How Mr. Miyagi Can Help” by John G. Maguire explains who is to blame for college students not being prepared to write and the action that should be taken for this issue. In the article, pathos (mood) and logos (mind) are used to persuade the audience of readers to believe how bad college students are at writing. Information is given on who may be to blame and how the problem should be fixed. Author Maguire used mood by choosing strong words of how the students are lacking while corresponding with mind by asking rhetorical questions to get the audience thinking about the subject for themselves. Maguire used a quote from Phillip Mark an assistant
Contrary to popular conceptions of the term ‘style’, I have found that in the context of this class, as well as in the context of the books “Style Toward Clarity and Grace” by Joseph M. Williams and “The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White, that ‘style’ is not style in the sense that it is the way I write (in such as way as ‘everyone has their own unique style’). Style encompasses many elements to writing a cohesive, clear paper. However, I feel that in order to write a clear cohesive essay or paper, I must write in my own way, a way that I am familiar with. This may seem like it goes against something that would be in “The Elements of Style,” but it is not. Strunk and White clearly say in their book, “Write in a way that comes naturally.” (Strunk and White, 70).
...thletic director “will also have to make explanations, educate, do public speaking, and inform others via the written form”. (Hoch, 2007) To emphasize the importance of written communication in a paper by Griffin and Kaleba college graduates were ranked as being below par in written communication by more than a quarter of employers. (Griffin & Kaleba, 2006). To give a specific example Bank of America seeks employees who have both written and spoken skills in communication. (Wilson, 2006)