August 11 Think of a time when you tried to persuade someone to agree with you, change their mind, or do something you wanted. What were you trying to persuade them to do or believe? How did you use ethos, pathos, or logos to persuade them? Which appeal was most effective and why?

     A time when I tried to persuade someone to do something I wanted was when I tried to get my mother to purchase something for me. I used ethos by reminding her that I had been responsible and productive throughout the week. I used pathos by explaining how the purchase would make me extremely excited and happy. I used logos by giving logical reasons why it was worth the money, like saying there was a sale and how often I would use the item. Logos was the most effective because giving reasonable evidence made my request seem more responsible rather than just asking for money.

In class, we learned more about the three rhetorical appeals; Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. Ethos focuses on the appeal to credibility, Pathos focuses on the appeal to emotion, and Logos focuses on the appeal to logic or facts. We also learned that choosing the right appeal can help your argument better.

I learned that different situations call for different rhetorical approaches in arugments. I feel like logos is the most effective rhetorical appeal for most arguments, since it is hard to argue back against facts.