Persuasive Techniques

Rhetorical Questions

• Questions asked for dramatic effect but for which no answer is expected

• Draws on the reader's sense of logic

• By doing research and gathering evidence.

• Traces how events or solutions can have different effects

Repetition

• Deliberate re-use of similar words or phrases

• Comparison that shows surprising similarities between different ideas

• Placing of extremely different ideas side by side

• Statements that can be proved

Juxtaposition

• Placing of extremely different ideas side by side

• Deliberate re-use of similar words or phrases

• Comparison that shows suprising similarities between different ideas

• The merging of two distinct stories into one

Cause and Effect Analysis

• Traces how events or solutions have different effects

• An appeal to credibility, trust, or strength of character

• The writer's own experience

• Invokes feelings of pity

Analogy

• Comparison that shows surprising similarities between different ideas

• Traces how events or solutions can have different effects

• The placing of extremely different ideas side by side

• True stories that illustrate ideas

Facts

• Statements that can be proved

• Statements that express a persons own ideas

• The writer's own experience

• Invokes negative feelings like anger and fear

Data

• Information that is gathered scientifically

• Thoughts and feelings of the writer

• The people for whom the text is intended

• Draws on a reader's emotions

Quotations

• Word for word statements from the text or a person

• Invokes feelins of pity

• Information gathered scientifically

• Placing of extremely different ideas side by side

Anecdotes

• True stories that illustrate ideas

• Statements that can proven true or false

• Words with intensely positive or negative feelings

• Draws on a reader's emotion

Personal Observations

• The writer's own experience

• Statements by well-informed authorities

• Invokes values, like equality and freedom

• Draws on a readers sense of reason