Rhetoric and Public Speaking

Ms. Mercer Bancroft ElementaryMaterial from Six Minutes website

by Andrew Dlugan http://goo.gl/SSMli

Rhetoric:Writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion - Merriam-Webster Online

Rhetoric uses the three persuasive appeals

1. Ethos2. Pathos3. Logos

So, what are ethos, pathos, and logos?

• Ethos: credibility (or character) of the speaker

• Pathos: emotional connection to the audience

• Logos: logical argument

These are the three essential qualities that a

speech must have to make it effective.

Ethos

• Does the audience respect the speaker?

• Does the audience believe the speaker is of good character?

• Does the audience believe the speaker is generally trustworthy?

• Does the audience believe the speaker is an authority on this speech topic?

I’m a kid, what authority do I have?

• Your reputation with peers;• Your reputation with adults;• Speaking with authority (voice,

delivery, stance and physical gestures):

• Using ideas from others who have credibility (giving them credit).

Four out of five doctors recommend….

Quick Write

What strengths do you have that will contribute to your ethos?

Pathos

• Do the speaker's words evoke feelings of … love? … sympathy? … fear?

• Does the speaker's characterization of a the other side evoke feelings of hate? contempt?

Emotional connection can be created in many ways by

a speaker, perhaps most notably by stories. The goal

of a story, anecdote, analogy, simile, and

metaphor is to get an emotional response from

the audience.

Quick Write

What is one of the stories from “I Have a Dream”

Logos

• Does the speaker's message make sense?

• Is the speaker's message based on facts, statistics, and evidence?

• Will the speaker's call-to-action lead to what they say will happen?

Quick Write

Which is most important? Ethos? Pathos? or Logos?