Unit 2 · Rhetorical Situation – Writing

Audience-centered choices ● (core concept) — A writer's perceptions of the audience's values, beliefs, needs, and background guide the choices they make.

Appealing to audience emotions and values ● (core concept) — To achieve a purpose, writers make deliberate choices in an attempt to relate to what the intended audience feels and values.

Appeals (modes of persuasion) ● (core concept) — The strategies writers use to persuade or motivate action. (The three classic appeals are ethos, pathos, and logos.)

Ethos ● (core concept) — An appeal based on the writer's credibility, character, or authority. (Example: a doctor writing about vaccines.)

Pathos ● (core concept) — An appeal to the audience's emotions and values. (Example: describing a family's struggle to argue for disaster aid.)

Logos ● (core concept) — An appeal through logic, reasoning, and evidence. (Example: citing statistics to prove a policy works.)

Strategic use of evidence ● (core concept) — Choosing evidence purposefully to illustrate, clarify, set a mood, exemplify, associate, or amplify a point.

Evidence, validity, and credibility ● (core concept) — Strategically selected evidence strengthens an argument's validity, connects with the audience's emotions and values, and increases the writer's credibility.

Sufficient evidence ● (core concept) — Enough evidence — in both quantity and quality — to aptly support the argument.

Thesis ● (core concept) — The main, overarching claim a writer defends using reasoning supported by evidence.

Thesis statement ● (core concept) — A thesis expressed directly, often in a single sentence. A thesis may also be implied and require a full reading to identify — but on the AP Exam, students must state their thesis clearly.