Stage 4 “Persuasion Strategy:” In this stage, you must devise a persuasion strategy. Here the strategic decisions you make about persuasion must be based on the information you have gathered in the audience analysis/research stages and the persuasion related concepts from the readings or discussed in class.
Overview of Strategy: choose relevant information from the research stage (demographics, psychographics, values, beliefs, attitudes, details about the person, stance, votes, relevant coverage, etc.) and briefly describe the kind of argument/appeals you want to make in relation to those aspects.
Your strategy must, depending on the specific topic, address as many of these concepts as possible (at least three from the following 8):
Discuss issues of context (exigency, rhetorical audience, constraints, etc)
Address issues of ethos/credibility, pathos/emotions, and logos/reasoning.
Discuss your strategy in terms of the Burkean concept of identification.
Discuss appeals in terms of the cognitive dissonance, inoculation theory.
Discuss deliberate word/language choices in terms of how you intend to frame the debate (choose 1)
terministic screens
ideographs
Discuss language use in relation to gender and race (if relevant for your project)
Discuss issues related to types of support: facts, statistics, testimonies (expert, lay, and prestige), examples, and narratives.
Identify and justify your choice of modes of reasoning: inductive, deductive (syllogism, enthymeme), analogical, causal.
Work Cited: you must actively use/quote the readings (not just mention the concepts) as well as any other sources you use.
Important Note: This stage will be evaluated on the strength of the connections you make between
Audience Analysis – Research Support – Persuasion Theory/Concepts
This is YOUR strategy, your plan on how you will attempt to persuade your target audience.
