Means of Persuasion

As we've discussed throughout this semester, information literacy means that you collect information for a specific purpose, that you do so efficiently, and then that you make creative decisions about how to package that information for a specific purpose, audience and genre. This activity is meant to help you think through how you might persuade (which is part of your purpose) your specific audience.

Step 1: For this assignment, you should first read “Means of Persuasion: Emotional, Ethical, and Logical Appeals” on pages 308-322 in our course textbook.

Step 2: Answer the following questions. you will upload your response as a Microsoft Word doc or docx file.

• The reading discusses three approaches to persuasive writing: appealing to emotions, appealing to ethics, and appealing to logic. For each appeal, complete the following: ◦ Summarize the appeal in 2-3 sentences. ◦ Give an example of a specific rhetorical situation

(identify a particular audience and purpose) in which this appeal would be more effective than the other 2 appeals.

• Look back over the research you conducted in Module 2. Where do you see your sources incorporating emotional, ethical, and/or logical appeals? Here, see if you can identify at least one example of each type of appeal. These examples can be within a single source or across multiple sources. If you cannot identify one or more of the appeals, can you identify multiple instances of a single appeal?

• Consider your own persuasive web article. Who is your specific audience and what stance are you taking? What

specific type(s) of appeals do you think might be the most effective for this particular audience and stance, and why?

• Name one claim or piece of evidence that you would like to include in your web article and which appeal it uses. Explain why you think it will be effective for supporting your thesis.