Written Assignment #2

Ethos, Pathos and Logos: These are probably new terms that you have not been introduced to in your life and if you have, this unit will serve as a refresher for the mind. While you may not be familiar with these terms, you may be familiar with these terms: credibility, emotion and support. Essentially, these terms identify with ethos, pathos and logos. Think about these terms and these definitions.

Ethos: Credibility. Have you ever thought about your ethos? Your credibility as a student? Who else are you? How do you identify yourself in this lifetime? Think about who you are. For instance, I might ask myself about my ethos as a server, as a teacher, as a daughter as a sister, as an aunt, as a feminist. Do you get the idea? Our ethos is very important to consider, because it can affect our interaction with others. Each and every day, we all do thinks that either improve or diminish our ethos. Think about how you have diminished or improved your ethos with me?

For this assignment, you could analyze an author’s ethos with you. For instance, how has Jean M. Twenge, the author of GenMe, established her ethos with her readers? You could analyze a hip-hop artist’s ethos with his/her audience. For this assignment, you could examine Tupac Shakur’s “Changes” or “Keep Your Head Up”. How does Shakur establish his ethos with his audience?

Pathos: Emotion. Have you ever thought about your pathos? How do you react to things such as criticism? To Twenge’s GenMe? This appeal applies to our emotions. While it may feel flimsy, it is actually very important, because in order to establish an argument, we must first identify our target demographic, establish our ethos with them and then consider how we wish to make them feel. Think about your pathos in relation to others?

For this assignment, you could analyze Cosmopolitan’s appeal of pathos to their target demographic. You could look at the cover of the magazine in order to draw support. You could analyze a Youtube video’s pathos with his/her audience.

Logos: Support. Think about the structure and logical appeal of an argument. These three appeals work together to create a persuasive argument. Logos is important because each argument needs structure and support. In order for our argument to be valid, we need to draw on support. What is the GenMe’s claim? How does she support this claim? Think about the support that you draw on in your first written assignment.

For this written assignment, you could select a short article and analyze its logos. Remember, think about the structure, the logical appeal and the support the author draws on to support his/her claim. You could also analyze a Youtube video’s logos.

Think about these appeals. How do they work together to form an argument? Why is understanding ethos, pathos and logos important to your argument?

Writing Assignment: For this assignment, you will select a text and analyze how it employs ethos, pathos or logos. These texts are not limited to:

• A movie trailer
• An excerpt from a book
• A song
• A musical artist
• A website
• Youtube videos
• Slam poetry
• The cover of a book
• An advertisement
• An article
• An author
• A magazine

Once you have chosen a text to analyze, you will need to discuss its target demographic, summarize the text for your audience and discuss how it employs one of these appeals: ethos, pathos or logos.

Objectives of the Written Assignment:
1) Select a text you wish to analyze.
2) Understand the difference between summary and analysis.
3) Summarize the text for your audience.
4) Analyze the text and how it employs ethos, pathos or logos.
5) Explain how this is the target demographic (and why).

Keep in mind that this may not be the exact order of your written assignment.

Identifying a Target Demographic: Go beyond identifying people or young men or young women. I have included categories for assigning a demographic below. This should help you with this written assignment.

• Age
• Race
• Gender
• Geographic location
• Education
• Occupation
• Social Class
• Politics
• Religion
• Marital status
• Sexual orientation

Easy Writer

Identifying Basic Appeals in an Argument, 28 – 33
Exploring a Topic, 17 – 18
Developing a Working Thesis, 18
Developing Paragraphs, 20 – 22
Reviewing, Revising and Editing, 22 – 23
Sentence Grammar, 60 – 90
MLA Style, 206 - 207

Format of the Written Assignment: For this written assignment, you will follow MLA format to set up your paper. This format can be found in Easy Writer, pages 206 – 207. The written assignment must be three to four pages in length. A works cited page will not be required for this assignment; however, you must include the link and/or text with the written assignment.