English: Literature, Rhetoric & AP Essays · Module 8 of 13
Nonfiction & Rhetoric
How persuasive and informational writing works: appeals, structure, craft, and condensing what you read.
Rhetorical Appeals
- Ethos appeals to the speaker or writer's credibility and character; pathos appeals to the audience's emotions; logos appeals to logic and evidence.
- Effective persuasive writing often blends all three appeals rather than relying on just one.
A speaker says, "As a doctor with 20 years of experience, I've seen firsthand how this policy saves lives — and the data proves it, reducing deaths by 30%." Which appeals are being used?
Solution. Ethos (the doctor's credibility and experience) and logos (the statistical data).
Analyzing Nonfiction Text Structure
- Common nonfiction structures include chronological (time order), cause-and-effect, compare-and-contrast, and problem-and-solution.
- Identifying a text's structure helps a reader predict what information comes next and understand how ideas relate.
An article discusses the causes of a historical event, then its effects on the following decade. What text structure is this?
Solution. Cause-and-effect structure.
Author's Craft in Nonfiction
- Nonfiction authors use rhetorical devices too — repetition for emphasis, rhetorical questions to engage the reader, and anecdotes to make abstract points concrete and relatable.
A speech repeats the phrase "we must act now" at the end of several paragraphs. What effect does this create?
Solution. Repetition builds emphasis and urgency, reinforcing the central call to action in the audience's mind.
Summarizing & Paraphrasing
- A summary condenses a text's main ideas into a much shorter form, in your own words, without adding opinions or minor details.
- Paraphrasing restates a specific passage in your own words at a similar length, useful for clarifying dense or complex language.
What is the key difference between summarizing an entire article and paraphrasing one paragraph of it?
Solution. Summarizing condenses the whole text's main ideas into something much shorter; paraphrasing restates a smaller, specific portion in your own words at a similar length.
Check yourself
2 of this module's 5 quiz questions. Pick your answers, then check them in the app, with an explanation for every question.
1. Which rhetorical appeal relies on the speaker's credibility?
2. An article explains a problem, then proposes a solution to fix it. What text structure is this?