Post 1: Rhetorical Appeals

Regardless of genre, type of media, or purpose, almost anything you can compose will employ at least one rhetorical appeal. There are three kinds of said appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos. Depending on how you intend to grasp your audience directly affects which of these you will focus on for success.

That daunting research paper looming in the near future of this semester will heavily count on ethos, or the credibility supplied to prove accuracy and truth. Seven academic sources (ouch) and three other sources are just the minimum requirements to ensure students aren't just mumbling on about nonsense. As for an example of pathos, those really depressing ASPCA commercials are a clear punch to your heart, aren't they? Their marketing team does a fabulous job of blending slow-motion shots of abused puppies and Sarah McLachlan songs to really drive home the emotional appeal - the pathos - of a human's duty to save these unfortunate animals. The final appeal, logos, uses logic and reason to convince an audience of a certain argument. Your mother forcing you to sit through every episode of Law and Order: SVU before you move away to college to show you why you shouldn't get drunk at parties is a pretty decent example of applying the logos appeal (this is totally not a personal experience, I swear).

In essence, rhetorical appeals aren't strictly reserved for your English course but rather can be found in any genre, media, or mode. Ethos, logos, and pathos would also be really cool names for dogs but that may or may not apply here.