Part 2

            Coming into English 1900 I didn’t have much of an idea of what rhetoric meant. When I first heard the word “rhetoric” I thought it was something like a thought because it sounded like the word “rhetorical.” Little did I know how important rhetoric is in making my writing better. To me rhetoric is many different things put together to make up an argument. The goal of any argument is to persuade your audience of something.  Although it may seem obvious, it is important to take into consideration who your target audience is in order effectively persuade them. Other critical aspects of rhetoric include ethos, pathos, and logos, which are basically credibility, emotion, and logic.

         Now, when I am making an argument, the first thing I take into think about is whom I am trying to persuade. The audience is really important because they are the ones who will read or hear what you are trying to say and determine if it is convincing or not.  Some things to think about the audience are age, gender, and social class. Regardless of who your audience is, it is important to use a mature and professional tone. You need to know what social factors will effect them from being convinced of your audience. It is also very important to address counter arguments, make sure that you have credible information to argue the other side of the argument. This is a good example of ethos, the credibility of the author. If your audience is convinced your information is credible they will naturally be more persuaded. Some things that give you ethos are, education, the tone in your paper and obviously where you get your sources.

         Logos is the logic of writing. With logos you need to make sure that your paper or presentation is organized in a way that appeals to the audience. If the audience feels your information is organized and clear they will likely better understand your argument. Finally pathos, emotion, is important in rhetoric.  Depending on what someone is writing about, there is different emotions that can make your audience interested or persuaded by your argument. Emotional appeal is interesting because it can get someone invested in a whole different aspect.

         All these aspect also helped me think of pros and cons for to support each argument for fight club. Fight club was a great learning experienced and helped me practice all the skills I have learned this semester.

         Ethos, pathos, and logos work together to make an argument strong and they are important in rhetoric. Learning about rhetoric has really made my writing a lot better this semester. To me rhetoric is always thinking about the purpose of what I am writing about, who I am writing to, and how to most effectively convince my audience of my argument. Rhetoric helps your paper come together in a very effective matter using ethos, logos and pathos.