Rhetorical Appeals Playing Cards Peer-to-Peer Activity

Rhetorical Appeals Playing Cards Peer-to-Peer Activity.

Overview

On the previous page, you watched and listened to three speakers discuss the importance of argument and debate in the academy and in public life. For this discussion, you will analyze the arguments and rhetorical appeals the speakers make, as well as discuss your analysis with your peers. Before you complete this assignment, make sure you have read Chapter 17 (Analyzing and Constructing Arguments) and Chapter 18 (Strategies for Supporting Arguments) in Everyone’s An Author.  

In your textbook, your authors state that the choices writers make in order to make arguments, or be persuasive, fall into three basic types: emotional appeals (to the heart), ethical appeals (about credibility or character), and logical appeals (to the mind). In rhetoric, these are known as rhetorical appeals and are often referred to by their Greek names: Ethos (ethical appeals), Pathos (emotional appeals), and Logos (logical appeals). Authors employ the type of appeals they think will be most effective with their specific audience. Below, you will see three “playing cards” that represent each type of rhetorical appeal. (Tip: Most people hear “emotional appeal” and automatically make a negative association with melodrama or manipulation. But “Pathos”, in addition to emotion, can mean appealing to the body/needs of the body or to lived experience.)

Process and Instructions

For this assignment, identify a place in the “Purpose of Argument” video where one of the speakers (Cohen, Hefferenan, or Sandel) makes an appeal to logic (logos), emotion (pathos), or ethics (ethos). Think about how you knew the speaker was making this specific appeal and why it might be effective with the audience and/or in the context of the argument. In your response below, “play” the Appeal Card and discuss why you chose it, including a description of the speaker’s strategy and why you think it works or doesn’t work in context. After you submit your own reply, you will respond with a comment to one of your classmates.

Steps to complete this discussion:

1. Read Chapters 17 (Analyzing and Constructing Arguments) and Chapter 18 (Strategies for Supporting Arguments) in your textbook.
2. Watch the video (three speakers) on the page, “The Purpose of Argument.”
3. Identify a place in the video where you can clearly see that the speaker (Sandel, Cohen, or Heffernan) is making a rhetorical appeal to ethics, logic, or emotion.
4. In your post, copy and paste one of the “Rhetorical Appeals” playing cards below. Discuss in about 150 words the rhetorical appeal you identified in the video, the speaker who employed it, and why you think it works/doesn’t work in the context of the author’s argument.
5. Post your discussion. (You must post your own discussion before you can see those of your classmates.)
6. Read and respond with a comment to two of your classmates’ posts. You must compose your own post in writing, but you may leave audio or video comments for your peer. Remember that your response to a classmate should be meaningful–you should ask a question, follow up on an idea, contribute a new idea or way of thinking, explore a new perspective, connect to your classmate’s idea, answer a question, and so on. In each comment, you should give your peer the badge you think best fits their response and explain why you are awarding that specific badge. 

To play the “Rhetorical Appeals” playing card, copy and paste it into your discussion. For an example of how to do this, watch the following screen-cast:

Playing An Appeal Card (Links to an external site

Rhetorical Appeals Playing Cards Peer-to-Peer Activity

 

"If this is not the paper you were searching for, you can order your 100% plagiarism free, professional written paper now!"