My Part in Small Group Paper: Defining Rhetoric

Rhetoric is a powerful communication tool used all around the world to persuade and

inform any audience on any topic. Cultural and universal norms are used and often manipulated

to successfully convey a message in a way that is understandable and relatable. Rhetoric helps us

better understand and connect to the world around us. Rhetoric is not just a tool for persuasion,

its also the way we make our decisions and navigate through the world. The text explains

rhetoric as the art that helps people compose effective discourse. Rhetoric applies to all types

of daily situations using emotion, reason, language and ideas. Although one singular definition

for rhetoric can be complicated, the following paper will explain several rhetorical tools and how

they can be used for persuasion and communication. These rhetorical tools include: logos, ethos,

pathos, kairos, and stasis.

In the times of Ancient Greece logos was used as a term which meant voice or

speech. It later became known as what we now call reason, or logic. Logos refers to evidence

and appeals that arise from arguments within the subject itself. Logical appeals may be real or

invented facts and are often used to persuade the audience that your information makes sense and

is rational. For example, if you are trying to persuade your audience to sign a petition against

contamination to the local environment you may take a cause and effect approach to reason; and

provide facts as to what the consequences are of pollution confirmed by scientific research. Or

you may choose to reason from a parallel point of view and compare your city to another city ten

miles away who has managed to use solar power for electricity, and recycle most of their plastic,

under a reasonable budget. Either way both proofs are trying to persuade your audience to agree

with you, and view your argument as reasonable. When the audience views you as

knowledgeable this also increases your Ethos.

 Ethos refers to the character, appearance, and credibility of whom a message is

coming from. A message may come from a speaker, like a politician, a journalist who writes for

the news station, or a major corporation, like Nike. Ethos is how you as the communicator of a

message are seen and regarded. It is your image, whether you are a credible source of

information or not depends on how you present yourself, and how well you present your

material. If you seem informed about an issue people may regard you as intelligent. The way that

you speak, how you interact with an audience, and what clothes you are wearing also

encompasses your ethos. Your ability to persuade is reliant on how the audience views you,

which may lead you to invent an ethos, or invent a character suited to the situation itself. For

example if you are applying for a job in the restaurant business you may want to create an ethos

by listing previous high end restaurants you worked at and some references. However if you are

applying to graduate school for psychology you may want to create an ethos by providing

references to professors that you have worked for in the past . In each situation your ethos is

being used to persuade the audience that you are the correct choice.