 When an educated reader evaluates a text or source, he or she needs to analyze the printed evidence: ◦ Who wrote this? ◦ Why did they write it? ◦ How credible is the author, the argument, and the evidence? ◦ What rhetorical devices are they using to get the reader on their side? ◦ What is the real intention or meaning and purpose of this text?

Ethos Pathos Logos

 Appeal based on the speaker’s character, image, or ethics  This includes the: ◦ Reputation ◦ Credibility ◦ Authority  of the: ◦ Author ◦ Publication ◦ Reputation of referenced institutions conducting studies or research

 Appeal based on emotion  This includes: ◦ Use of loaded, emotional language ◦ Examples, case studies, and/or anecdotes intended to elicit strong emotional reactions from the reader  This type of appeal can be very powerful; people will do incredible things based on their feelings and emotions! ◦ In some cases, people will totally deny and ignore facts to justify their feelings.

 Appeal based on logic  This includes: ◦ Use of facts, statistical data, research, and solid evidence (which can always be manipulated!) ◦ Reasoning meant to appeal to good judgment, common sense, and logic

 Ambiguity: being vague and unclear  Figurative language: using figures of speech  Propaganda: information of a biased or misleading nature; used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view  Repetition: repeatedly emphasizing a point or phrase  Diction: word choice

 The term is used for words that suggest two or more appropriate meanings or that convey both a basic meaning and complex overtones of that meaning.  Sometimes, authors make deliberate choices of words that simultaneously cause several different streams of thought in the reader’s mind. ◦ "Thanks for dinner. I’ve never seen potatoes cooked like that before.“ ◦ Prostitutes Appeal to Pope (newspaper headline)

 Alliteration: using the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent words  Antithesis: a balance of opposites  Assonance: repetition of a vowel sound  Cliché: a phrase or opinion that is overused and lacks original thought  Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration  Idiom: a phrase that has a certain meaning that can’t be understood from the actual words  Irony: saying the opposite of what is really meant  Metaphor and Simile: comparing unlike things

 Assertion: an enthusiastic or energetic statement presented as a fact, although it is not necessarily true  Bandwagon: follow the crowd, to join in because others are doing so as well  Card stacking: presenting information that is positive to an idea and omitting negative information  Glittering generalities: indefinable words that have positive meaning and are linked to highly valued concepts  False analogy: two things that may or may not really be similar are portrayed as being similar

 Faulty cause and effect: suggests that because B follows A, A must cause B; just because two events or two sets of data are related does not necessarily mean that one caused the other to happen  Name calling: derogatory words that carry a negative connotation when describing an enemy  Plain folks appeal: an attempt to convince others that the views presented reflect those of common people

 Repetition of single word, with no other words in between.  Anaphora: repeating a sequence of words at the beginning of a clause to cause emphasis ◦ “I have a dream… I have a dream…” – MLK, Jr.  Epistrophe: repeating a sequence of words at the end of a clause to cause emphasis ◦ “There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.” – Lyndon B. Johnson

 The precise choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing. ◦ I don’t like her. VS I hate that witch so bad I want to claw her face off! ◦ He’s good looking. VS He’s smoking hot. ◦ It was raining. VS The mist hung heavy in the air as droplets of water converged to form a steadily increasing shower of rain that seemed to wash away all of the stress from my day as I sat on the park bench. ◦ The house is scary at night. VS Lying in bed with the sheet pulled over my head, I was petrified as I heard terrifying creaks and moans echoing from within the walls of the house that seemed to play host to unsettled spirits of the past.