Effective Rhetorical Strategies

  1. Tailoring the argument and the evidence presented for the intended audience(s)
  2. Referring to reliable authorities
  3. Using valid numbers, statistics, and facts (note: valid often depends on one's audience)
  4. Using specific examples
  5. Using personal experience when applicable
  6. Fairly presenting and considering opposing viewpoints --making concessions when necessary (that is, admitting that others have good counter-arguments)
  7. Making appeals to the appropriate emotion; choosing words and examples carefully for tone
  8. Making arguments based on sound reasoning; avoiding logical fallacies, such as overgeneralizations
  9. Establishing the writer's credibility as a source to be trusted( by tone, style, references to sources, and, if applicable, personal experience)
Ineffective Rhetorical Strategies
  1. Not tailoring the argument and the evidence for the intended audience(s)
  2. Using unreliable, biased sources and/or authorities
  3. Making hasty generalizations based on little evidence.
  4. Not using valid numbers/statistics, or using numbers that actually do not support argument.
  5. Not using specific examples, or using specific examples that are irrelevant
  6. Not fairly considering and refuting opposing arguments--attacking the opposition, not their ideas
  7. Having errors and logical fallacies in argument.
  8. Not establishing writer's credibility as a source to be trusted