Expository Composition Vocabulary List

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 PERSUASIVE WRITING  

*Not all of these terms may come up in class, but students should be familiar with all definitions.*

Ad Hominem Argument: Also, "personal attack," "poisoning the well." The fallacy of attempting to refute an argument by attacking the opposing rhetor's personal character or using a pure argument from ethos. E.g., "There is nothing wrong going on at Guantanamo, and anyone who says there is  must be a friend of the terrorists." 

Antagonistic rhetoric: In antagonistic rhetoric, the rhetor tries to accuse, discredit, indict, convict, defeat, neutralize, eliminate or even bring about the death of the opponent. Sometimes called "polemic" rhetoric. This is the opposite of nonantagonistic (cooperative) rhetoric.  The task of the rhetor is to distinguish between situations in which antagonistic rhetoric is necessary, and those in which nonantagonistic rhetoric is appropriate.   

Antithesis: The opposite of your own standpoint or thesis; your opponent's standpoint. In the classical arrangement, this is part of the "division," the 3rd paragraph or part of the text: a brief summary of the opponent's standpoint, presented in a manner favorable to your standpoint, but which the opponent cannot deny. See "Straw Man" below for a fallacious version of antithesis. (Antithesis also refers to a specific parallel structure in writing, where contrasting words or ideas are presented in parallel).

Argument: Appeal or verbal persuasion from reason (facts), emotion or reputation.  In Rhetoric, unlike everyday English, "argument" does not mean fighting (i.e., "having an argument") or fussing. As one textbook says, "Everything is an argument."

Aristotle: Ancient Greek philosopher, 4th century BC.  Wrote The Art of Rhetoric.

Argument from consequences: A fallacy; arguing that something cannot be true, because if it were, the consequences would be unacceptable.  E.g., "Global warming cannot be caused by burning fossil fuels, because if it were, eliminating or replacing them would bankrupt American industry." 

Arrangement: The order or format of your writing. In this class, persuasive papers should be written in the six-part classical arrangement, unless I ask you to do otherwise. Other common arrangements include the various four and five-part essay formats (the three-point essay, SWOT, SOAP, IMRAD, IPPPC, etc.) that are expected and used to construct knowledge in different academic and professional disciplines, and which you may have learned already elsewhere.  You, the rhetor, are the builder, and the arrangement is the schematic, framework or blueprint. The arrangement serves you and the audience, you do not serve the arrangement.

Artistic persuasion: Verbal persuasion; convincing by means of reason (logic), emotion or reputation, the function of Rhetoric. "Persuasion" by force, bribery or threat is "inartistic."

Audience: Writing works only when it meets the needs of a definable collective of readers--the audience--and serves them obsessively. One of the first tasks of the writer is to decide who the intended audience is, and what distinguishes them from other groups. Failing to carefully define an audience, writing for those who are not audience, or trying to please different conflicting, irreconcilable audiences means trouble. (ref: Albert, Tim. A-Z of Medical Writing. London: BMJ Bks, 2000. 40.) [See also "Universal Audience."]

Bandwagon:  A fallacy, falsely arguing that because "everyone" thinks something, it must be right. E.g., "The whole world knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction." 

Begging the question: A fallacy, falsely arguing that something is true by repeating the statement in different words.  This is sometimes called "circular reasoning."  See also "Big Lie technique." 

Big Lie technique (also "Staying on Message"):  A fallacy, persuading by repeating a lie (or a deceptive half-truth) over and over again (particularly in the media) until people believe it is true without proof or evidence. E.g., "Big government is the problem."  

Blind Obedience (also Argument from Loyalty, the "Team Player" appeal, the Nuremburg Defense). A dangerous fallacy, holding that something is true simply and solely because a venerated or respected source (an expert, one's parents, one's own leader, one's own "side," team or country, one's commanding officers) say it is true. This is over-reliance on authority, a pure argument from ethos that puts loyalty above truth. In extreme cases, a rhetor attempts to justify incorrect, stupid or criminal behavior by claiming "That's what I was told to do," or "I was just following orders."    

Classical Arrangement:  A six-part format. Goes back to Cicero, ancient Rome's greatest rhetorician, who lived more than 2000 years ago.

Content: What is being communicated in a text (also "Message").

Conclusion (Peroratio): The last part of the text. In the classical arrangement this is the 6th paragraph or section. Conclusions can take various forms; Aristotle suggests using appeals from pathos. Modern academic conclusions often include a discussion of exceptions and unanswered questions remaining for further study, implications and practical consequences of your standpoint, and an explicit statement of what you want the audience to do. In a conclusion, sum up and discuss, never repeat, what you said in the text. Never begin any conclusion with "In conclusion" or similar phrases. To do so is the sure mark of an immature writer. In written rhetoric you do not have to tell the audience you are concluding, just conclude. However, never simply stop writing when you run out of things to say!  Give your audience closure.

Delivery: Originally, the way in which oratory (speechmaking) is spoken. In contemporary written rhetoric, "delivery" means the method and media used to get the rhetoric into the hands or before the eyes of the intended audience, and the form in which it arrives to the audience.  More generally, the presentation of rhetoric.  Delivery is critical for the persuasiveness of rhetoric--if a very persuasive message arrives in an unattractive, sloppy or disreputable form, or if never arrives before the audience's eyes at all, it cannot persuade, and it is an absolute failure.

Dialectic: Generally, seeking truth through the art of logical argument, the simple recognition that every question has two sides. Sometimes (as in Plato's philosophy) "dialectic" also refers to the eternal clash of opposites in the world of ideas, or even  in the real material world.

Division: In classical arrangement, this is the 3rd paragraph or section of a text.  The Division is a discussion of the stasis, or point at issue in the question at hand--underlining precisely how and at what point you stop agreeing and start to differ with your opponent.  In this section, you may include the Antithesis (a brief statement of your opponent's standpoint, stated in terms that the opponent could not deny).  See also Stasis.

Either-or reasoning: A fallacy that offers only two possible alternatives, even though a broad range of possible alternatives are available.  E.g., "Either you are straight or you are gay--it's as simple as that, and there's no middle ground!" 

Essentializing:  A fallacy that proposes a person or thing never changes, and will always be what it is right now (E.g., "A tiger never changes its stripes, and an ex-con is always a vicious criminal, even if he or she lives to be 100.").  Also used as a synonym for "reifying" (see below). 

Ethos: Persuasive appeal from personal character or reputation (your own or someone else's).  Also refers to a person, collective or organization's reputation in the eyes of a given audience.

Fallacy:  A fake or deceptive argument, an argument that proves nothing. Fallacies often seem superficially sound, and far too often have great persuasive power, even after being clearly exposed as false.  The rhetor's purpose is to expose fallacies in opponents' arguments. 

False Analogy:  A fallacy in which one thing is incorrectly compared with another to draw a conclusion. E.g., "Just like a bird is made to fly free, a human being is not made to be tied down to a single bed-partner."

Form: How the content is being communicated. Includes style (tone) and delivery.

Introduction:  The first part or paragraph of a persuasive text.  Use this to present your thesis statement and to establish your ethos, your "right to write" on your subject.  In contemporary rhetoric, this must contain a clear thesis statement, which ordinarily is at the very beginning of your introduction.  In persuasive writing, never begin your writing with a bland, inoffensive statement (e.g., "All humans must eat.") unless your audience is totally hostile to your standpoint.

Invention: Brainstorming; methods for discovering or inventing the best available arguments and means of persuasion.

Kairos: The rhetorical moment (the "when" and the "where," the time, the place and the social and personal circumstances in which persuasion takes place).  The Kairos changes like the weather.

KISS: The KISS principle is "Keep It Short and Simple" (or, "Keep It Simple, Stupid!"). Follow this principle in ALL persuasive writing by eliminating any words or sentences that are not necessary or to the point. Imagine you are being charged by the word for your writing.

Logos: Persuasive appeal from logic or reason. Logos may involve using facts, figures, numbers, graphs, examples, and different forms of reasoning from evidence. deduction or induction. This is very useful for persuading intelligent, educated and mature audiences. 

Narration (narratio): Telling a story. In classical arrangement, this is the 2nd paragraph or section of the text, telling the background, facts, characteristics and events of the issue at hand in a way that your opponent cannot disagree with.

Nonantagonistic Rhetoric: Rhetoric that tries to smooth over disagreements and to find cooperative ways to reach a common goal, even if rhetor and opponents have differences of opinion. This is the opposite of "Antagonistic" rhetoric ("polemic") that seeks to defeat, convict, neutralize or even bring about the death of the opponent.

Nonartistic persuasion (also "Inartistic persuasion): So-called "persuasion" by force, threat or bribery. Sometimes called the "Argumentum ad bacula," or "argument from the club"--"Agree or I'll bash your head in!"  The opposite of Rhetoric, which deals with purely verbal, "artistic persuasion."  In some situations, argument from "the facts and nothing but the facts" [logos] is inartistic argument, even though the arrangement and manner in which the facts are presented appear to form an artistic argument.

Passive Voice: The English verb form, in which the actor (the person, place or thing doing the action described in the verb) is the object of the sentence (e.g., "He was eaten by a shark.") Strongly prefer active verb forms over passive in persuasive writing, because audiences almost always perceive passive verb forms as "weak" and even "sneaky" or "deceptive." However, in some instances (e.g., scientific writing), passive voice is preferred.

Pathos: Emotion. In rhetoric, "pathos" refers to a persuasive appeal from emotion (yours, the audience's, or someone else's).  Even though sometimes condemned as "playing on the emotions of the audience," this is a very persuasive appeal.

Persuasion: Convincing an audience, by means of reason, emotion or character, to agree with your standpoint. Rhetoric is the process of artistic persuasion.

Plato: Ancient Greek philosopher, 5th-4th century BC.  Emphasized Dialectic over Rhetoric.  Author of The Allegory of the Cave.

Playing on emotions (also, the Sob Story): A fallacy, the pure argument from pathos, ignoring facts and seeking to persuade with emotion alone. 

Polemic: Warlike or conflictive rhetoric. See Antagonistic Rhetoric.

Political Correctness ("PC."):  A contemporary fallacy, that the material reality of a thing can be changed by changing its name. E.g., "We fight against cruelty to animals by changing the name of "pets" to the more politically correct term, "animal companions." 

Post Hoc Argument: Also, "post hoc propter hoc" argument, or the "too much of a coincidence" argument. A fallacy, that because something comes at the same time or after something else, the first thing is caused by the second. E.g., "AIDS emerged as a problem at just about the same time as Disco music became popular--that's too much of a coincidence: Disco caused AIDS!" 

Postmodernism: A belief-system that (among many other things) proposes that each person's reality is different from everyone else's, so no one has any right to impose their beliefs on another. This is problematic for rhetoric or persuasion, which proposes the opposite: that persuasion is inherent in all human communication, and is one of the highest and most noble human actions. 

Power: All writing takes place within situations of power (either cooperative or antagonistic). In this class it is vitally important to understand the relationships among language, knowledge, and power. Writing with power (successfully using rhetoric) means writing to persuade in order to further goals that you or your audience want or need to accomplish. "Power" does not necessarily mean forcing or tricking other people to do what you want--it simply means being able to do anything or achieve any results at all!  Rhetoric is a powerful nonviolent method of achieving desirable personal and social goals.

Proof (Confirmatio): In classical arrangement this is the 4th paragraph or section of the text, in which you offer reasoned proofs for your own standpoint. These proofs can be facts, logic or evidence. Opinion, as such, does not belong in this section (although, of course, ALL rhetoric is opinionated!).

Purpose (also exigency): WHY you are writing what you write, the need, purpose or demand for your writing.  Writing with no purpose (or writing whose only purpose is "because it is assigned," which is the same thing) is bad, useless writing.  This class teaches "real world writing," and all writing in this class should be for a purpose beyond that of simply getting a grade.  The purpose of good writing is to serve  your own and your audience's needs.

Questions: Do not start your text with a question, unless you answer it immediately. A thesis statement normally cannot be a question, although for some writing tasks a "rhetorical" question that is immediately answered can be a thesis statement.  

Quotes and references: Using someone else's words in your own text to support what you have written.  Scholars (you are one!) constantly quote one another!  Doing this is good scholarship, particularly when you are a beginning scholar, since quoting adds the strength of the other writer's ethos to your own.  Quoting without quotation marks or without giving credit in the text is cheating (plagiarism). 

Red Herring: An irrelevant distraction, attempting to mislead an audience by bringing up an unrelated, but usually emotionally loaded issue. E.g., "In regard to my recent indictment, let's look at the problem of illegal immigration instead--our borders are under siege even as we speak!" 

Reductionism: (also, Oversimplifying, Sloganeering): A fallacy; deceiving an audience by giving simple answers or slogans in response to complex questions, usually appealing to less educated or unsophisticated audiences. E.g., "If the glove does not fit, you must vote to acquit."  Often involves appeals to emotion (pathos)..

Refutation: Disproving or attempting to attack the credibility of an opposing view. In classical arrangement, this is the 5th paragraph or section of the text. Refutation has to do mainly with your opponent's standpoint, not your own standpoint or beliefs. Refutation overcomes your opponent's main arguments (or potential arguments), one by one.

Rhetor: Someone who creates rhetoric. In this class, this means you.  "Know yourself, know your enemy; a hundred battles fought, a hundred battles won" (Anon. Chinese saying).

Rhetoric: The art of verbal or written argumentation and persuasion. Rhetoric is not simple logical argumentation; how, where, when and why one says something, and who is saying it are all just as important in rhetoric as what one says. Rhetoric always has to do with the controversial, the unsure and the probable, rather than with the sure and certain (which is the realm of either mathematics or faith).  Rhetoric is the nonviolent language of power.  

Rhetorical analysis: Analyzing the rhetorical characteristics (style, content, arguments, kairos, pathos, ethos, delivery, etc.) of a given piece of writing.

Reifying: A fallacy that treats convenient but imaginary categories as actual "things." (E.g., "The biggest struggle in our society today is between Boomers and Gen-X'ers.") Sometimes also referred to as "Essentializing." 

Slippery Slope: A fallacy, that "one thing inevitably leads to another."  E.g., "You two go and drink coffee together and pretty soon you'll be dating, and one thing leads to another so soon enough you'll be pregnant and wanting to marry him." 

Standpoint: Point of view, opinion or viewpoint (yours or someone else's).  This can be stated (thesis) or unstated (hypothesis).

Stasis (Also, Point of Stasis, Division): Generally, the point at issue in a debate or disagreement; the first point at which you stop agreeing and start disagreeing with your opponent. Stasis is examined in the Division section of your essay.

Straw man: A fallacy where one sets up a phony version of an opponent's argument, and proceeds to knock it down with a wave of the hand.  E.g., "Vegetarians say animals are people like you and me. Have you ever seen a cow that can write Shakespeare? Vegetarianism is bull!"

Style (also, Tone, or degree of formality): In English, can be High, Medium, or Low, or anywhere in between..   According to Hermogenes of Tarsus, good writing style can be judged on the degree of clarity, grandeur, beauty, rapidity, character, sincerity and force. According to the Rhetorica ad Herrenium, defective writing styles include "swollen," "slack or drifting," and "meagre" [starved].

Text: Any piece of writing, not just the textbook.

Thesis statement: Statement of your standpoint, usually found in the introduction. Thesis statements must be specific, opinionated and deniable, and must (like all writing!) be addressed to a very specific audience.  A thesis statement cannot be either an unquestioned fact (2+2=4) or an open question ("What is to be done?"), but should take the form of a "should-statement."  This can be either explicit ("We should drill for oil...") or implicit, in the form of a controversial statement that you want to convince your audience of ("Beautiful Juarez is a tourist's dream").  

Tone: See "style."

Topic sentence: In contemporary American writing, a sentence determining the topic of a paragraph. A topic sentence is to a paragraph what a thesis statement is to an essay. Topic sentences branch from the thesis statement like branches on a tree.  

Universal audience: An imaginary audience consisting of all humanity. Audiences are always specific.  Unless you are writing Holy Scripture, never write (intentionally or by default) for a "universal audience"--writing for "everybody" means writing for nobody, and writing for a universal audience (or for nobody in particular) is almost always bad writing.

Voice: The rhetor's presence in a text.  Texts do not fall from the sky, and to pretend they do in your writing is deceptive. Persuasive texts must always have "voice" in them (yours), in some way or another.

"Who cares?" test: When you are done writing a text, if you cannot answer the question "Who cares?," it is bad writing.  Either fix it up or toss it out and start over, but never turn in anything that does not pass the "'Who cares?' test."

Source for links: http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm

Revised 2/06.  O.W.

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