On the previous page you might have read the three main ways that are important to persuade your audience: PATHOS, LOGOS, ETHOS. On this page we will discuss the rethorical appeals and explain why you need to know about these appeals whilst giving a speech.

 

PATHOS

When a speaker appeals to the audience in a emotional way, he or she makes use of pathos.

Speakers can use visual aids that are meant to conjure a strong emotional response in viewers to convince them of the fact that the speaker has the best point of view.

A certain way of storytelling can also trigger an emotional response, telling an example story or comparing a problem to an Utopian society is a useful tool for creating such an effect. It depends on the audience and the topic, if you should use emotional appeals and how you use them.

If you connect with the audience on a personal level, the audience might feel that their values and beliefs are considered and that they therefore become emotionally involved.

LOGOS

Logos is the logical appeal mainly based on logic or facts and tries to appeal to a person's ability to reason.

In speeches, facts and statistics are used as ways to support your arguments, people might not agree with your opinion but at least it is based on facts.

Logos encourages the audience to think about what the speaker is telling them. When a speaker informs them about something and says "if" this is true "than" why would this not also be true?

It's often difficult to argue logos because it's based on facts and facts are not arguable.

ETHOS

Ethos is related to the reputation of the speecher, this is constructed on the reliability of the speecher. The audience wants a speaker that knows what he or she is talking about.

The speaker herefore needs to convince the audience  that they know what they are talking about, this includes knowing all points of view about a topic and both sides of an argument.

It's important to know what audience the speaker is giving the speech to in order to use the strategy above correctly. The speecher can also bring his or her message in a way that fits the audience.

Using credible sources supports the fact that you know what you are talking about and shows that what you are saying is correct and you have done your research.

 

 

You need to keep in mind that in most speeches not just one of the three rethorical appeals  is used. Pathos, Logos and Ethos are usually combined and all three are used in one speech to make the speech as persuasive as possible.