Transcript Document

AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
COMMUNICATIONS STUDIES
17. Persuasive Speaking
Lecture by Dr. Mohammed Ibahrine
based on
Clella Jaffe’s Public Speaking
Structure of the Lecture
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1. Select Your Persuasive Topic
1.1 Finding Your Subject
1.2 Making Persuasive Claims
1.2.1 Factual Claims
1.2.2 Definition or Classification Claims
1.2.3 Value Claims
1.2.4 Policy Claims
1.3 Narrow Your Persuasive Purpose
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Structure of the Lecture
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1.4 Focusing on Beliefs and Actions
1.4.1 Unconvinced
1.4.2 Unmotivated or unfocused
1.4.3 Inconsistent
1.4.4 Consistent
1.5 Focusing on Values
1.6 Focusing on Attitudes
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Structure of the Lecture
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2. Choose a Persuasive Pattern
2.1 Problem-Solution Pattern
2.2 Monroe's Motivated Sequence
2.3 Direct Method Pattern
2.4 Comparative Advantages Pattern
2.5 Criteria Satisfaction Pattern
2.6 Negative Method Pattern
Summary
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Associative Statement
“Power of speech, to stir men’s blood”
William Shakespeare
“Speech is power: Speech is to persuade, to convert, to
compel”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Thesis of today’s lecture:
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Thesis:

The best subject for persuasive speeches come from the
things that matter most to you personally
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We consistently argue for our ideas in an attempt to
influence one another’s beliefs, actions, values and
attitudes and we strategically organize our speeches and
adapt our ideas to different types of audiences
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1. Select Your Persuasive Topic
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The Process of Changing or Reinforcing
–
Attitudes
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Beliefs
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Values
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Behavior
Values Most Deeply Ingrained
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1. Select Your Persuasive Topic
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Definition:
 Persuasion is vital in a democracy where core
values include citizen participation and freedom of
speech
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1. Select Your Persuasive Topic
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Choosing persuasive topic for your classroom
speech can be daunting
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Select a topic that matters to you
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1.1 Finding Your Subject
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It is pretty hard to persuade others if you are neutral about the
subject
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My strong beliefs: What ideas and issues would I argue for?
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My strong feelings: What makes me angry?
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My social ideals: What changes would I like to see in society?
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My personal ideals: What can make life more meaningful for
others and for me?
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1.2 Making Persuasive Claims
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After you know your topic area, ask yourself what
claim you want to defend
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A claim is an assertion that is disputable or open to
challenge
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A statement that requires some sort of evidence or
backing to be believed
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1.2 Making Persuasive Claims
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Factual Claims.
These three types of factual claims are common:
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1. Debatable points are things that either are or are not true,
that did or did not happen
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2. Causal relationships argue that a particular phenomenen is
the result of something that preceded it and led to it
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3. Predictions content that something will happen in the future
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1.2 Making Persuasive Claims
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Definition or Classification Claims.
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Claims of definition or classification are need when we must
decide what kind of entity or phenomenon we have, when we
categorize
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Early in a discussion of issues, it is important to define
terminology by setting the parameters of the category, then
showing why the specific entity fits into that category
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1.2 Making Persuasive Claims
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Value Claims.
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When you judge or evaluate something using terms such as
right or wrong, you are making a value claim
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Value conflicts are hard to resolve when people arguing
disagree on criteria or standards for deciding whether
something is
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Right or wrong
Fair or unfair
Humane or inhumane
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1.2 Making Persuasive Claims
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Policy Claims.
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Policy claims often deal with problems and solutions,
assessed by terms such as should and would
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There are two major types of policy arguments:
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Arguments against the status quo: are arguments for he change
Arguments supporting the status quo: are arguments for the way
things are, arguments against change
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1.3 Narrow Your Persuasive Purpose
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Narrow your focus and specific
purpose in light of what your listeners
already know and do, how they feel,
and what they consider important
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1.4 Focusing on beliefs and Actions
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What we believe to be true affects how we act
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Our beliefs and actions are influenced by our values and our
attitudes
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To illustrate, students who spend time studying outside of
class believe their hard work actually benefits their learning
and their grades
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They feel it is good, even moral to study hard, considering the
amount of money they are spending on tuition
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1.4 Focusing on beliefs and Actions
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They have positive attitudes toward education
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This combination of beliefs, values, and attitudes
leads them to act by scheduling time for reading
their texts, working on class projects and joining
study groups
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1.4 Focusing on beliefs and Actions
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Unconvinced.
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Unconvinced audience members neither believe
nor act
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You must produce enough evidence to convince to
persuade them to believe your factual claims
before you call for action
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1.4 Focusing on beliefs and Actions
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The general following strategies are useful when your listeners are
unconvinced:
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1. Begin with logical appeals. Build your factual case
carefully, using only evidence that passes the test for credible
supporting material
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2. Prove your competence by being knowledge about the
facts
2.1 Show that you have respect for listener's intelligence and
for their divergent beliefs
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3. Use comparatively fewer emotional appeals
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1.4 Focusing on beliefs and Actions
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Unmotivated or unfocused.
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Sometimes your audiences are already convinced, often
because they know a lot about your subject
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However, they do not act on their beliefs due to apathy or
indifference (unmotivated listeners) or lack of specific knowhow (unfocused listeners)
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1.4 Focusing on beliefs and Actions
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Unmotivated or unfocused.
 When your audience is unmotivated, give them good
reasons to act
 Use emotional appeals to show that behaving as you
propose as you propose will fulfil their needs and
satisfy them emotionally
 When they lack focus, provide a detailed plan that
spells out specific steps they can take to implement
your proposal
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1.4 Focusing on beliefs and Actions
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Inconsistent.
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If people act in ways that differ from their beliefs, they
experience what various theorists call inconsistency, or
dissonance
Dissonance theory argues that humans, like other living
organism, seek balance and equilibrium
When challenged with inconsistency they feel psychological
discomfort
Inconsistency between belief and action is one of the best
motivators for change
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1.4 Focusing on beliefs and Actions
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Inconsistent.
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Here are a few specific strategies you can use when your listener's
actions are inconsistent with their beliefs
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Support faltering beliefs by concentrating on logical appeals,
using as much persuasive evidence as you can muster
Include emotional appeals as well, giving reasons for
listeners to want to strengthen their wavering beliefs
When you want behaviours to change, appeal to emotions
such as honesty and sincerity
Use narratives or testimonials that exemplify how you or
someone else succeed in a similar situation
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1.4 Focusing on beliefs and Actions
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Consistent.
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When people act in accordance to their beliefs, the may need
encouragement to “keep on keeping on”
Here, your narrowed purpose is to reinforce both their beliefs and
actions by following this set of guidelines:
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Help listeners maintain a positive attitude about their
accomplishments
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Relate yourself personally to their fundamental beliefs and
values
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1.5 Focusing on Values
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Value claims argue that something should
be judged or evaluated as moral or immoral,
beautiful or ugly, right or wrong, important or
insignificant and so on:
 What criteria do we use
 Where do these criteria come from
 Why should we accept these sources
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1.5 Focusing on Values
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Here are some tips for arguing a claim of value:
 Establish the criteria you have used to make
your evaluation
 Appeal to your audience’s emotions
 Use examples to help listeners to identify with
the issue
 Appeals to authority can be persuasive if the
audience accepts the source as authoritative
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1.6 Focusing on Attitudes
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Listeners can have positive, negative, or neutral
attitudes about subjects
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When you face an audience that is hostile toward
you personally
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In this case, it is important to emphasise common
ground between yourself and your audience
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Type of Audience
How to approach the
Audience
1.6 Focusing on Attitudes
Positive audience
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 Strengthen their emotional
ties to the topic by using
The following guidelines will help
you plan effective speeches
targeted toward attitudes:
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When listeners are
positive, strengthen their
emotional ties to the
topic by using
 Examples
 Connotative words
 Appeals to needs and
values that evoke
emotional responses
Establish common ground
throughout your speech
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How
toAttitudes
approach the
1.6 Focusing
on
Audience
Type of Audience
Uninformed audiences
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Present factual
information early in the
speech so they have a
basis to form an
evaluation
 Then use emotional
appeals to create either a
positive or negative
attitude toward the topic
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Type of Audience
Howon
to approach
it
1.6 Focusing
Attitudes
Apathetic Audiences
 Use emotional appeals
 Link the topic to the
audience (to listeners) in as
many ways as you can
 Appeal to values such as
fairness and justice
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Type of
Audience
Mildly negative
How to approach it
 Approach
listeners directly
1.6 Focusing
on Attitudes
 Make a clear case with
objective data
 Present the positive facets of
your subject
 Link them to personal and
community values your
audience accepts
 This way, even if they
disagree with you, they will
at least understand the
rationale for your position
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Type of Audience
How to approach it
1.6
Focusing
on
Attitudes
Negative Audiences
 Approach your subject
indirectly by establishing
common ground on which
you can all agree
 Begin with a statement that
most would accept and
explain why this is so
 Move gradually to the point
on which they think they
disagree
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2. 1 Problem-Solution Pattern.
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The problem-solution pattern is commonly used in both
informative and persuasive speaking
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The goal of informative speaking is to increase your
audience's understanding of the issue and the proposed
solution or solutions
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In persuasive speeches your purpose is generally to convince
or to advocate the implementation of a specific policy
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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Monroe’s Motivated Sequence.
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Monroe’s Motivated Sequence is modified form of a problemsolution speech
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2.2 Monroe’s Motivated Sequence.
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Monroe’s Motivated Sequence is modified form of a problemsolution speech
Here are the five easily remembered steps in the sequence
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2.2.1 Attention Steps. You begin by gaining the audience’s
attention and drawing it to your topic
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2. 2. 2 Need to Step. Monroe suggests four elements in establishing
the need:
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a) Statement: tell the nature of the problem
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b) Illustration: give a relevant detailed example or examples
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c) Ramifications: provide additional support such as statistics
or testimony that show the extent of the problem
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d) Pointing: Showing the direct relationship between the
audience and the problem
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2. 2. 3. Satisfaction Step. After you have demonstrated the problem or need,
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you then satisfy the need by proposing a solution
This step can have as many as five parts:
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a) Statement: briefly state the attitude, belief, or action you want the
audience to adopt
b) Explanation: make your proposal understandable (visual aids may
help at this point)
c) Theoretical demonstration: show the logical connection between
the need and its satisfaction
d) Practicality: use facts, figures, and testimony to show that the
proposal has worked effectively or that the belief has been proved
correct
e) Meeting objections: show that your proposal can overcome your
listener's potential objections
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2.2.4 Visualization Step. This step is unique from other patterns
In it, you ask the audience to imagine what will happen if they enact the
proposal or if they fail to do so
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a) Positive: describe the future if your plan is put into action
Create a realistic positive scenario showing what your solution
provides
Appeal to emotions
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b) Negative: have listeners imagine themselves in an unpleasant
situation because they did not put your solution into effect
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c) Contrast: compare the negative results of not enacting your plan
with the positive results your plan will produce
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2.2.5. Action. In the final step, call for your listeners to act in a specific way:
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a) Call for a specific, overt action, attitude or belief
b) State your personal intention to act
c) End with impact
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2.3. Direct Method Pattern
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In the direct method, sometimes called the
statement of reasons pattern
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You make a claim, then directly state your reasons
to support it
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Each point provides an additional rationale to agree
with your views
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2.3. Direct Method Pattern
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It is a good pattern to use when the listeners are
apathetic or neutral
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Consider it when your goal is to convince
You can also use it to organize a speech to actuate
(motivate the audience to do something)
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2.4 Comparative Advantages Pattern
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Use comparative advantages pattern for policy
speeches arguing that one proposal is superior to
competing proposals by comparing its advantages
to those of the competition
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2.5 Criteria Satisfaction Pattern
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Criteria are standards that form a basis for judgement
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The criteria satisfaction pattern first sets forth the standard to
judge a proposal
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Then show how the solution, candidate, or product meets or
exceeds these standards
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2.5 Criteria Satisfaction Pattern
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Because it describes the standards for evaluation
at the outset, it is useful in speeches that argue
value claims
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2. Choosing A Persuasive Pattern
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2.6 Negative Method Pattern
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When you use the negative method pattern
You concentrate on the shortcomings of every other proposal
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Then you show why your proposal is the one logical solution
remaining
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Point out the negative aspects in competing proposals
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Then after you have dismantled and undermined everyone else’s
plan, you propose your own
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