Crafting Persuasive Arguments

• Listeners are persuaded by a speaker's credibility, evidence,convincing reasons, and emotional appeals

Building Credibility

• Credibility is the audience's perception of the speaker's qualifications
• It is affected by competence and character
• Competence is how the audience judges the speaker's intelligence, expertise, and knowledge
• Character is how the audience views sincerity, trustworthiness, and concern for well-being
• Speakers can enhance credibility by explaining competence, establishing common ground, and speaking with conviction
• Types of credibility include initial (before speaking), derived (during the speech), and terminal (at the end)

Using Evidence

• Evidence includes supporting materials like examples, statistics, and testimony
• Evidence justifies claims
• Speakers should use evidence to prove their points
• It can enhance credibility, immediate and long-term persuasiveness, and inoculate listeners against counter persuasion
• Evidence will address a target audience that opposes the point of view
• Evidence should be specific rather than general
• Novel evidence is most persuasive
• Competent, credible sources are better than less qualified sources
• The evidence should be clear to the point that the audience should reach

Reasoning

• Reasoning is drawing conclusions based on evidence
• Make sure your reasoning is sound and aligns with your listeners

Reasoning From Specific Instances

• Reasoning from specific instances involves moving from facts to a general conclusion
• This method is used often in daily conversations
• The example used is physical education courses are easy
• Be careful of jumping to a conclusion based on insufficient evidence
• Ensure that the instances presented are fair, unbiased and representative
• Reinforce your argument with statistics or testimony

Reasoning From Principle

• Reasoning from principle involves moving from the general to specific
• Example used is "All people are mortal, Socrates is a person, Therefore Socrates is mortal"
• Pay attention to the general principle and determine if there is evidence to prevent it

Causal Reasoning

• Casual reasoning is establishing a relationship between causes and effects
• You must be wary for the relationship between the cause and effect is not always clear
• The example used is "There is a patch of ice on the sidewalk, you slip, fall, and break your arm, therefore there is causal reasoning"

Analogical Reasoning

• Analogical reasoning compares similar cases and infers what's true for one is true for the other
• The example used is "If you are good at tennis, you will be good at Ping-pong"

Fallacies

• Fallacies are errors in reasoning
• Common fallacies include hasty generalization, false cause, invalid analogy, bandwagon, red herring, ad hominem, either-or, slippery slope, appeal to tradition, and appeal to novelty

Appealing to Emotion

• Emotional appeals are intended to evoke feelings like sadness, anger, guilt, fear, happiness, pride, or sympathy
• It is useful for it makes logical arguments
• Use emotional language and develop vivid examples to make an emotional appeal

Ethics and Emotional Appeal

• Emotional appeals can be abused for unethical reasons
• Ethical speakers should use emotional appeals for noble reasons and noble causes
• Balance between reason and emotion
• Make sure the topic is appropriate for the speech
• If there is movement for questioning the current policy, emotional appeals are appropriate
• If you are questioning facts, emotional appeals are not appropriate