|
Objective
In this lesson,
you'll learn to develop a persuasive argument that convinces audiences
to share your beliefs and motivates them to take action.
What is Persuasion?
Persuasion attempts
to move people to action, to get them to do something. For
more than two thousand years, rhetoricians have studied how to persuade
people to act. In courts of law, lawyers build cases that they hope
will either convict or release people on trial. In government debates,
politicians use language to encourage people to vote (or not vote!)
for particular people or public policies. In religious gatherings,
leaders speak to their congregations to persuade them to behave in
particular ways toward their fellow humans. And, of course, teachers
use persuasion on a daily basis, to move their students to become
interested in their subjects and to learn new concepts and skills.
You, too, have
used persuasion many times in your life. You may have tried to persuade
a parent to pay for your schooling, to buy you a car, or to let you
live away from home. You probably have persuaded friends to go to
a party with you or to change a behavior, such as to quit smoking.
Differences
and Distinctions
Persuasive writing
is different from writing an academic argument such as a research
paper. In academic argument, you're using logic and reasons to convince
your audience that your position, written as an assertion, is logical
and reasonable. In a persuasive argument, you also must convince your
audience that your position is reasonable or credible. But persuasion
goes one step further: you invite your readers to act or to
do something. [See Writing to Argue a Position.]
Persuasive arguments
are special kinds of arguments that, unfortunately, many students
don't learn to write. Written essays, television and radio broadcasts,
and formal speeches are common kinds of persuasion. However, persuasion
isn't limited to broadcasters or political leaders; it's important
in any job. Executives, salespeople, advertising and customer service
representatives, and skilled trades people like auto mechanics all
need to persuade people to be successful.
To move an audience
to take action, you must:
- Convince them
that your position is reasonable and
- Engage their
human natures to move them to action.
Elements of
the Persuasive Argument
- Audience and
purpose
- A do-able
proposal
- Logical reasons
and evidence
- Ethical character
of the writer or speaker
- Emotional
appeals
- Counter-proposals
- Rhetorical
devices, or style
- Introduction
and conclusion
Consider your
Purpose and Audience
Before you write
a persuasive argument, consider your purpose and audience. The goal
of persuasion is to move people to action. So, if you are able to
make the decision about whom to persuade, then choose a group of people
who actually could do something: e.g., a school board, college administration
or students, city council, church congregation. Having selected your
audience, you must understand them because that's the only way to
move people to action. You need to do an audience analysis
[See "Analyzing the Audience" and "Writing
to Persuade."] Ask yourself:
- Who is this
audience?
- Can you realistically
expect them to accept your claim and proposed action?
- What are their
values, beliefs, biases, fears, and needs?
Write a Do-Able
Proposal
To write a persuasive
argument, you must propose an action that your audience can accomplish.
So, you need to understand the problem for which you're proposing
a solution. For example, take the general problem of environmentalism.
Most people would agree that we should take care of the natural environment
and not pollute it unnecessarily. But what makes this problem controversial
and arguable is that most people don't agree on how to solve environmental
problems. Let's say that you take the position that "Our college
shouldn't add to the planet's pollutions problems." This is an
arguable position that needs good reasons and strong evidence to be
convincing.
To write a persuasive
paper, however, you must go one step further and propose a solution.
In what ways should the college avoid polluting the environment? Are
there specific actions that the administrators and/or students should
take to change their activities that promote pollution? Your proposal
needs to address the problem and be reasonable enough to move
people to action. Let's say that you propose the following solution:
"To help reduce pollution, our college should stop using Styrofoam
plates and cups or disposable plastic tableware."
This solution
offers a clear and do-able proposal: The college and its members (administrators,
workers, and students) can avoid polluting by changing the types of
eating utensils they use. This change will have certain consequences
for the entire college community. Notice that the proposal doesn't
have to solve all the problems of environmental pollution—it
merely has to address one small segment of the problem.
Give Logical
Reasons and Evidence
The lesson "Writing
to Argue a Position" covers the best ways to convince an audience.
People cannot be moved to act on your proposal if they first aren't
convinced that your position is reasonable. Therefore, you need facts,
examples, statistics, expert testimony, and anecdotes to convince
your readers. Ask yourself:
- What reasons
are likely to appeal to them?
- What sources
will be convincing?
You'll need to
learn certain facts about the college's uses of disposable tableware.
In numbers, how many tons of disposable tableware does the college
use annually? How much does this amount cost the college (and, therefore,
the students)? How much would it cost to replace the disposables with
sufficient permanent plates, bowls, cups, glasses, and silverware?
Ethical Character
of the Writer or Speaker
To move people
to action, you need to present yourself as a reliable and honest person.
Your best character and good will for the audience must shine through
or they will not trust you or your proposal. Ask yourself:
- How do you
present yourself as an ethical writer?
- How can you
present yourself as a person that they can trust and respect?
You'll need to
think about what your audience values in a writer about this subject.
Environmental concerns easily can be made to seem trite and unimportant.
What kinds of research will be important to showing that you've really
considered this problem? How can you show that you genuinely care
about the environment and the college's contribution to it? How can
show that this proposal isn't just a "pie in the sky" kind of idea?
Emotional
Appeals
To really reach
your audience, you must understand how they can be moved emotionally
to act on a proposal. You need to avoid tugging at heartstrings and
honestly address this audience's fears, values, morals, and needs.
Your job isn't to make people feel bad, but to recognize their possible
feelings about the issue and give them some constructive way to address
it. Ask yourself:
- What emotional
appeals are likely to move this audience?
- Will they
be hostile to any elements of your proposal?
For this argument,
you need to consider how the use of disposable tableware really impacts
people's everyday lives. Does it really matter to the college community
what kinds of tableware they use? Will not being able to take plates
out of the cafeteria cause an emotional response, such as during exam
week when people are more self-concerned and less open to being inconvenienced?
Will college administrators see themselves as part of an important
environmental solution or just feel put upon? How can you help them
to care about this issue?
Counter-Proposals
Just like an
academic argument must consider counter-arguments, a good persuasive
argument must consider counter-proposals. Counter-proposals are alternate
or different proposals from your own. Ask yourself:
- What biases
or preconceived ideas might the audience have about my topic?
- How could
these biases lead them to alternate solutions that might sound better
to them?
It can be challenging
to think of counter-proposals because we tend to like the solutions
that we've come up with on our own. Is there some way to solve the
college's pollution habits other than completely banning the use of
disposable tableware? Is there a compromise position between disposable
and non-disposable tableware?
Rhetorical
Devices, or Style
Your level of
formality and arrangement of ideas are all kinds of rhetorical devices
that can help to persuade your reader/s. Ask yourself:
- How formal
should you be in writing to this audience?
- How should
you arrange the reasons to make the best impression on your readers?
How you
state your proposal and your reasons for it is as important as
what you say in a persuasive argument. Should you talk conversationally
as if student-to-student or more formally to address the college administration's
more formal communication manner? Should you arrange your reasons
by the strongest to weakest or weakest to strongest? Should you address
the problem in a cause (disposable tableware) and effect (college's
annual pollution) order that can be restructured for the proposal:
cause (non-disposable tableware) and effect (less annual pollution
by the college)?
Introduction
and Conclusion
Finally, you
need to consider your opening and closing arguments. The introduction
offers the necessary background information and the conclusion sums
up the proposal's benefits to the community. Ask yourself:
- How should
you lead your readers into the argument?
- How should
you conclude it?
Introducing
your proposal means that your need to state the problem, your proposed
solution, and possible implications for that solution. You may not
be able to write the best introduction until you've completed a really
strong draft of your argument. Concluding the argument means more
than just summarizing the proposal and your reasons offered for it.
Consider whether your solution leaves questions that still need to
be addressed. Future proposals can work with these.
Exercise
1.
Because I'm not a politician, I won't be using persuasive arguments.
2. Logical
appeals are necessary in persuasive arguments.
3.
People argue about controversial subjects where there isn't one
certain answer.
4.
Students never have the chance to persuade people because they're
only students.
5.
I should use emotional appeals to make people feel bad about the
problem and then they'll want to fix it.
6.
Ethical appeals are appeals to the audience's character and ethics.
7.
How I organize my reasons and appeals can make a difference in
whether people accept my proposal.
8.
I should always write my introduction before writing my first
draft.
9.
If I discuss counter-proposals, I just show that my proposal is
weak.
10.
Persuasive argumnet is the same as academic argument.
Summary
Persuasion is
a valuable purpose for writing in many aspects of life. Practicing
the elements of a persuasive argument will help you to write powerful
arguments when you need to move people to solve a problem.
  
|
