1. Rhetoric Notes

2. Rhetoric Definition: the art of language and persuasion
One of the three original disciplines in the ancient world (along with grammar and logic)

3. Rhetorical (Aristotelian) Triangle
Represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience.

4. Rhetorical appeals
Ethos: refers to the character (credibility) of a person
Pathos: engages the emotions of the audience
Logos: appeals to reason by offering clear, rational ideas

5. Toulmin Method for constructing Arguments
Claim: the purpose of your argument; what you want the reader to think, consider, feel, or do as a result of reading your argument
Grounds: the basic statistics, facts, or evidence that the reader needs to accept in order to respond positively to your claim
Warrants: the reasons why the grounds justifies the claim; the major supporting points of your argument
Backing: the details or additional logic that may be necessary to support the warrant
Rebuttals: establishes what is wrong, invalid, or unacceptable about an argument and they may present counter arguments or new arguments that represent different points of view
Qualifiers: words throughout the argument that quantify the argument. Some examples include: always, never, is, are, all, none, and absolutely; always and never change to sometimes; is and are change to may be or might; all changes to many or some; none changes to a few; and absolutely changes to probably or possibly. (AVOID ABSOLUTE QUALIFIERS)