Using Ethos, Logos, and Pathos For Analysis
Lesson in Rhetoric for High School English or College-Level Writing
In advanced high school English classes and rhetoric and composition classes, using the rhetorical appeals to analyze texts can be great way to get students to think about persuasive messages in advertisements, songs, speeches, and everyday communication. Students enjoy identifying and discussing the appeals because it encourages them to look deeper at persuasive messages in all forms. They can make comparisons between appeals in academic texts and appeals in popular culture. This assignment is especially useful for students who have never been trained to be critical of media and writing authority.
The lesson below is an outline in three parts
- Introduction: Explain ethos, logos and pathos using the Rhetorical Triangle
- Application: Analyze Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
- Further Practice: Analyze a popular song as homework
Topic: Introduction to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
Introduction: Explain The Appeals with the Rhetorical Triangle
- Draw the Rhetorical Triangle on the Board (communicator, message, audience)
- Discuss the role of each element on the triangle
- Introduce the terms ethos, logos, and pathos into triangle
- Emphasize that the appeals all work together and that most persuasive messages use all three appeals.
Ethos-credibility or character as a reflection of the communicator. Often, ethical appeals are based on trust and community.
Logos-facts, data, statistics of the message. The logos is the information presented as fact (it might not be, but usually is). Often, logos uses numbers.
Pathos-emotions of the audience. Emotional appeals might inspire patriotism, happiness, sadness, anger, and other emotions in the audience.
Application: Analyze “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
- Students will read an excerpt from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr.
- Identify the rhetorical situation of the speech as a class. Discuss who the speaker is, who the audience is, and what the purpose of the message is. A useful tool for analyzing the rhetorical situation is to use journalism questions –Who (author, audience)? What (genre of writing)? Why (purpose)? When? Where? How (appeals, style choices)?
- Make sure all the students understand the context of the speech.
- Focusing on the appeals, point out an example of ethos, logos, and pathos in the essay. It helps if you can use an overhead or LCD projector to review the text.
- Ask students to identify more examples of ethos, logos, and pathos in pairs or individually. Give them 15-25 minutes to work on this on their own.
- After they’ve had enough time, ask students to share what they found. Make sure to ask each student or team to share at least one appeal.
- Discuss each example and give further explanation as to why the appeals make the speech stronger or weaker.
Further Practice: Analyze a Song for Homework
- As class is drawing to a close, answer any questions the students might have about the appeals or analysis.
- Then, give the students a handout of the triangle they can take home. Include the definitions of ethos, logos, and pathos and examples of the appeals from a popular, familiar song.
- Ask students to use the handout and what they learned in class to analyze a song of their choice. They should find at least one example of each appeal in the song.
- Students will bring the song analysis to the next class and share.
Teaching the material and having the students apply it with in-class analysis, followed by a homework assignment will help them remember and process what they've learned. Also, providing a variety of analytical tools and pieces for analysis will help them make comparisons between persuasive writing in all mediums.
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