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Jordan, Brett, "Rhetorical" 07/08/11 via Flickr, Creative Commons License |
Appeals to Credibility or Character
- In my text, my author mentions his own expertise, public image, and personal stories. He also includes the counterargument of his colleagues and the general societal values that he came against.
- Cahill used these strategies to show that despite his expertise (in its own giving him credibility), he faced judgement.
- By mentioning the judgement he received, even as an expert in his field, Cahill makes himself more relatable, down-to-earth, and likable to his audience, therefore increasing his audience's interest and agreement on the subject.
- These strategies make the purpose more clear as there is less the audience has to pick through to get to the purpose. It is laid out transparently by introducing the topic with the exact purpose and theprobldms this purpose has created.
- It doesn't appear that the author has a bias leading him to prefer one sex over the other, influencing his text in one direction, the main bias stems from facts about sex-differences that Cahill follows religiously.
Appeals to Emotion
- Personal stories that evoke emotion, repetition of loaded words, a low level of formality, and a "victim" tone of voice all are strategies used by Cahill to appeal to emotion in his text.
- The author, as mentioned, is trying to come across as a victim in the heated situation to his audience, therefore making his audience agree with his point of view simply because they feel bad, disgusted, or shocked about the situation.
- The actual result is that these strategies work for Cahill. The reader feels, by the end of the text, as if not agreeing with Cahill would be wrong or going against science itself.
- These emotions are effective in this situation since it is an emotionally and culturally charged topic to begin with, if Cahill had not convinced his audience of his side of things he would be going against societal norms and no one would support him or his desire for change.
- The emotional appeals both make the credibility and evidence of this piece seem more acceptable and agreeable. With the emotion the piece appears more factual to the reader.
Appeals to Logic
- Cahill includes historical evidence, statistics, expert opinions, and effective organization in his text as part of his appeal to logic.
- By using these strategies, Cahill frames his piece, later adding to this frame the emotional appeal. Basically his organization is to introduce facts and later explain those facts in an emotional way.
- The result is that, even though there is enough reason with emotional appeal to agree with Cahill on its own, the evidence provided makes the argument even more believable and credible, therefore adding not only to logos, but ethos as well.
- These strategies are effective for the audience because they cut the emotion just enough so that the text doesn't seem dramatically opinionated with no evidence to support the opinions of Cahill.
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