1. With a group in your class, discuss the ways people try to persuade you. How do family members try to persuade you? How do your friends try to persuade you? In what ways do their persuasive strategies differ from the ways advertisers try to persuade people?
2. List some ways in which people try to use their credibility (ethos) or emotion (pathos) to persuade others. Supposedly, using reason (logos) is the most reliable way to persuade someone, and yet we use credibility and emotion all the time to get our points across. Why? When are arguments from credibility and emotion even more persuasive than arguments that rely on reason?
3. With a group, make a list of your favorite five commercials on television and a list of five commercials you cannot stand. Why do people in your group find some of these commercials interesting and worth watching? Why are some commercials so irritating that you want to turn the television off? As a group, create a list of ten do's and don'ts of advertising to college students.
4. Find an advertisement in a magazine that you think is persuasive (or not). Then write a one-page analysis of the advertisement in which you discuss why you think it is effective (or not). Look closely at its uses of reasoning, credibility, and emotion. What kinds of support does the advertiser rely on most? What do these rhetorical strategies say about the people the advertiser is targeting?
5. Imagine that a political candidate has hired you to explain how to persuade college students to vote for him or her. The candidate sees college students as very important, but is frustrated by some students' ability to see through the political spin. In a one- to two-page brief, explain what college students find persuasive these days and what kinds of message would get them to go to the polls.
6. Find a rhetorical analysis on the Internet that you can study. These documents are rarely called "rhetorical analyses." Instead, they tend to be critiques of advertisements, speeches, or documents. You can find good examples on Web sites like Slate.com or the New York Times Web site (nytimes.com). Write a one-page discussion in which you study the organization, style, and design of the rhetorical
analysis. How does it work? What kinds of rhetorical elements does the reviewer pay attention to? Do you agree with the reviewer's analysis?
Hey. Go find your own microgenres. Choose a microgenre from the list below and find three examples in print or on the Internet. Use these examples to come up with your own guidelines for writing one of these microgenres, which are similar to a rhetorical analysis.
Ad Buster-demonstrates whether an ad's claims are true or false
Critique-brief discussion of a recent speech by a public figure
Song Analysis-exploration of the rhetorical meaning of a song
Ad Report Card-grading of advertisements with brief explanation of grade
Pundit's Response-partisan review of a speech by a candidate