Let me guess, you somehow have ended up on this blog post because you don’t feel as confident as you could about writing. It’s a big part of your job, but it’s not your favorite part. You may or may not have enjoyed English in high school, or First Year Composition (FYC) in college, and but you managed to at least pass those classes.

I hear this all the time. I teach FYC at a major university and every semester I have at least a couple students approach me hesitantly to say they want to do well in my class but they’re horrible at writing. But guess what…they aren’t.

And neither are you.

So let’s go back to the basics. Let’s get rid of all of your preconceptions about writing and your misconceptions about your abilities (or perceived lack of ability). I firmly believe that everyone is a writer. Some people have a more natural ability towards writing than others, but we all can do it, and do it well. Now, this blog post isn’t going to make you a Pulitzer Prize winning author (I wish!) but it should help you understand the basics of writing a bit better and make you feel more confident in your writing.

I’m going to share with you my not so secret “writing teacher” tips. I’m going to introduce you to a few key terms that you may or may not have heard before and explain how any online creative can use them to improve your writing and get your audience to take the action you want. Sound good? Ok, let’s go.

The terms we need to introduce and understand are rhetoric, the rhetorical situation, logos, ethos, pathos, and kairos. I know, I know, your eyes are glazing over already, my 18 year old freshmen do the same, but bear with me.

Rhetoric

When I tell people I got my PhD in rhetoric I usually get a raised eyebrow, because most people only hear that word thrown around on news programs (talking about political rhetoric) or they think of asking a rhetorical question.

Rhetoric at its core is examining what is being said, by whom, in what way, and for what purpose. When we analyze someone’s rhetoric we’re analyzing the message, the way they are conveying that message, who there audience is, and what objective the speaker is trying to achieve. So it’s mostly about the message and the audience. Sound familiar?

When you’re selling a product or service, you’re pitching yourself to your potential clients (your audience) and tailoring your pitch in a way that will make it appeal to that audience. As I always tell my students, you’re already using rhetoric, every day, you just aren’t thinking about it consciously. Which might be way your pitches and marketing doesn’t always land with your audience the way you want. By changing the way you are appealing to your audience (more on that in a minute) you can create a more persuasive message for your audience to get them to do what you want them to…hire you, purchase your product, take your course, etc.

The Rhetorical Situation (RS)

Basically the RS is the specific situation you are writing for. So your RS will change with almost every document. Your RS includes the subject, purpose, audience, and context. To explain that a little more:

Your subject refers to what is the document about? What is it not about? What kind of information does it need to include?
Your purpose asks you to think about what does the document need to achieve? Is there a call to action? Are you giving information? Why do your readers need to read this document and what do they need to know from it?
Who is your audience? Think about this in terms of primary and secondary audiences. What are their specific needs and interests?
Context refers to where and when will this document be used? Is it a blog post? A contract? A press release? What format or design considerations need to be made based on your audience and context?

Now were going to learn a little Greek. This will be fun. Ok, maybe not fun, but it is good to know. So stay with me. There are four rhetorical appeals (also called modes of persuasion), and believe it or not, they’re really important to your writing. You’re probably already using them, whether you know it or not, but are you using them correctly for the audience you’re trying to speak to? Let’s review and then discuss.

Ethos

Ethos is an appeal to authority or credibility of the writer. It demonstrates to the audience that the writer is qualified to speak on the subject and establishes their authority and credibility on that topic. Ways you can do this in your writing is to establish your education/career background, sharing any degrees or certifications or courses you took on the topic, or providing any relevant information, credentials, or experience related to the topic.

Logos

Logos is an appeal to logic. This is done through the inclusion of facts, figures, charts/graphs, statistics, etc. Using logos can also enhance your ethos, since it can make you look more knowledgeable. But logos can also be misleading or backfire, which can damage your ethos. It’s important to make sure that you’re only including the most relevant and correct facts and information. So you should never include a quote or statistic just to make yourself sound smarter unless you fully understand the information and could discuss it further in a deeper conversation. You should also always cross check and fact check information, especially quotes and statistics.

Pathos

Pathos is an appeal to the emotions—think sympathy, empathy, and pathetic, which are all words derived from pathos. You can do this through metaphors or similes, or through a passionate voice in your word choice or making emotional claims about the subject. We see pathos frequently in commercials and magazine ads. “Buy this product and all your problems will go away!” That magical promise of a better and easier life is playing on your emotions. Using pathos in your writing can be incredibly powerful, especially if you’re backing it up with logos and ethos (a winning combo if ever there was one), but pathos can also weaken your argument. If you rely on pathos alone, you will lose out on any reader who also needs facts and credibility before they decide to make a purchase.

Kairos

The lesser used of the four appeals, Kairos very simply means, this is the time and place. A writer or speaker can use this to convince their audience that this is the time to act. A very basic example would be writing a blog post about back to school tips and publishing it in August/September—when students are actually going back to school—rather than posting it in the middle of February. If you are writing something that is topically time sensitive, make sure to bring attention to that. If you’re an accountant marketing yourself, increasing your marketing as an end of quarter approaches or as tax time nears would be taking advantage of Kairos. If you’re a wedding photographer, being aware of your busy season(s) will help you use kairos in your written materials. Phrases like, “now is the time”, “don’t miss out”, “early bird special”, or “end of season deals” are all pointing to time as a motivating factor and can increase the success of your audience following through on your call to action.

Ok, I’m going to wrap this post up there. Now you know the basics of rhetoric, the rhetorical situation, and the four rhetorical appeals. As you were reading this post, you were probably thinking about the ways you might already be using this knowledge in your writing. It’s not hard! It’s actually very easy. But it’s also important to make sure you’re using the right appeals in the right documents and with the right audience.

Contracts and proposals should be much heavier on logos (facts) and ethos (credibility) than on pathos (emotion), while marketing materials might lead with pathos and be backed up by logos and ethos (an emotional description of how your product/service will change your client’s life but backed up with facts and stats about your business and your authority).

Knowing how these appeals work and understanding the rhetorical situation will best help you to find the most effective way of reaching your audience and persuading them to take the action you want them to take, whether that’s hiring you, signing up to your email list, accepting your proposal, attending your event, etc.

I hope you have found this post useful. If you have, I’d love if you would share it with others. And feel free to leave a comment below or reach out to me on social media if you have any questions or want to share how you are using these tips in your writing.

Until next time,

Andrea