Theory Thursday: Rhetorical Appeals

So, one of the keystones  of my composition courses is the concept of rhetorical appeals. Being persuasive is key in academic writing (and speaking, emailing, etc.), and understanding how to appeal to one's audience becomes an important step in the process.

Which is why I was pretty geeked when ProfHacker posted this blog on Aristotilean Rhetorical Appeals (or, Ethos, Pathos and Logos). Having read Aristotle in grad school, I am always 1) glad I did, and 2) glad I don't ever have to, ever again. Ever. And 3) amused at how we've transliterated the greek words into our English terms. A language-nerd thing, I know! But the blog also pointed out that, as academics, we should be thinking through our "available means of persuasion," as Aristotle says.

For those who need a little refresher on Aristotle's "available means":

• Ethos--persuasion based in personal character; who you are gives weight to why we should believe you (or, as my students once told me, "You'd believe Oprah, because she's Oprah. She has strong ethos. You wouldn't believe a crack head. A crack head has weak ethos.") 
• Pathos--persuasion based in a passionate, emotional appeal; if I can play on your compassion, fear, humor, I'm utilizing a pathos appeal
• Logos--persuasion based on logic, rationale, facts; this can be easily noticed in the form of statistics

As I get ready to officially start my new job, I can't help but think about being persuasive in my new academic environment. My ethos isn't automatic; no one really knows me, so I'll want to be purposeful in establishing and developing my ethos as an instructor, a colleague, a mentor, and a mentee. And, learning about "how things go" in my new workplace will be necessary to contextualize logical and emotional appeals, as well.

Ultimately, these are ideas I seek to get my students to think through. How well they establish the logic of an particular claims or arguments or ideas they have (which ties into critical reading strategies), how well they understand and appeal to emotions in others, and how well they convey themselves as people, and as scholars, can ultimately effect how they are perceived (and how successful they can become) in the academy, the workplace, and ultimately in the democracy. Not that this teaching-of-writing thing is brain surgery, but when you think about it, it is pretty cool--and important--stuff!