Journal # 9 Entry
In chapter twenty – three we look at ways in which we create and organize a persuasive speech. As the title describes the purpose of these types of speeches is to present facts or information to an audience and to attempt to either change their point of view, present an informed opinion or to make an effort to change the audience’s views regarding a specific topic.
This chapter provides examples of goals that we can use to organize persuasive speeches and to help a speaker to deliver the speech in a way that will have the desired impact. One of the first goals is to establish credibility. The speaker should establish their qualifications or expertise regarding the subject. This goal is intended to give the audience an understanding of why or how the speaker has a basis of knowledge about the topic. Another important goal is to make the speech personally relevant to the audience. By creating a connection to the speech and involving the audience we can begin to engage in the persuasive appeals.
There are three forms of persuasive appeals, in many cases a persuasive speech will touch upon all of these appeals. The first is “logos” in which we try to present an appeal based upon logic. The second is “pathos” in which we are appealing to the emotions. The final appeal is to “ethos” in which we attempt to appeal to the ethical nature of a topic. These three forms of appeal are the basis of a persuasive speech and we will build upon them when we look at the next chapter.
In chapter twenty – four we continue to look at persuasive speeches and we delve into ways that we can structure a persuasive argument. The beginning of the chapter introduces the claim, evidence and warrant as the basic elements we will use to construct these speeches.
The claim is our entry point into the persuasive argument. It is a thesis upon which we will build our argument. We need to establish though that the claim has some validity.
The evidence is the facts and information that we will draw upon to attempt to prove the claim. Through research of the subject matter and through careful presentation of our findings we can try to show that the “evidence” supports our claim. We may also want to introduce counter arguments that go against our claim. This gives us an opportunity to refute or disprove these counter claims.
Finally, we should establish that our claim is warranted. We can show either through established facts, supporting evidence, establishment of a sound theory, logical argument or by showing that recent advances in theories have established previous claims, that our claim is valid and proven.
The chapter gives us several means through which we can determine the nature of our claim and ways that we can prove certain types of claims. It also addresses the counterargument and ways that we can refute or disprove a counterargument. Finally, the chapter gives us guidance regarding patterns that we can use to construct a persuasive speech in the best way that it will engage an audience and fulfill the goals of the speech.
