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Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

  • Page ID
    183987
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    Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are elements of persuasive writing, each functioning as an important component of powerful rhetoric.

    Ethos: appeals to ethics. Including ethos in your writing means incorporating testimonies or information from credible sources. Using credibility from important people, i.e., gov. officials, field experts, etc. or sources builds and supports an argument and persuades the audience.

    Pathosappeals to emotion. This is the passion you pour into your topic; you build your persuasion through eliciting an emotional response from your audience. Selecting the right words to move people is an essential element of pathos.

    Logos: includes logic, so when you incorporate statistics, data, facts, you're persuading through logos.

    Watch the video below to learn more!


    Ethos, Pathos, and Logos is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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