Envision Chapter 2 Journal

Chapter two in Envision focuses mainly on understanding strategies of persuasion.  It is important to understand many strategies of persuasion, so that you have all the strategies at your disposal when you need to use rhetoric in a paper or presentation.  An crucial part to understanding strategies of persuasion is understanding the three rhetorical appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos.  Any form of persuasion can be classified into one of the appeals, depending on how it appeals to the reader or listener. 

The first form of persuasion is logos, which appeals to logic or reason.  It uses facts, statistics, and evidence to persuade you to think a certain way.  For example, an ad may prove that people who have used a weight loss product have lost 10% of their body weight within the first three weeks in order to prove that the product actually works.  The next form of persuasion is pathos, which appeals to the readers emotions.  It uses things that may pull at the readers emotions to make them feel sad, or happy, worried, or confident, in order to make them more likely to agree with the writer. For example, an ad may show a pathetic picture of a puppy in a shelter, in order to make the reader feel sorry for the puppy, and more likely to adopt from rescue shelters.  The last form of persuasion is ethos, which appeals to the character of the writer or speaker.  The reader is more likely to be persuaded if the writer has some sort of credibility in the subject.  For example, customers are more likely to buy an acne treatment product if the ad is approved by actual dermatologists. 

Another important aspect to consider when trying to persuade an audience is kairos, which gives attention to the right time and place.  A paper or ad can be much more persuasive if it is used in the right context.  For example, ads for fast food restaurants on the side of the highway will look much more appealing to someone who might have been driving for a long time, and who may be tired and hungry. 

There are many important to things to consider when making a paper as effective as possible, and it is crucial to understand many strategies of persuasion.  A writer who adequately understands many strategies of persuasion is much more likely succeed to persuade their audience if they have these forms at their disposal, and know the right times and places to use them.