What are the three basic issues speakers must deal with when discussing a question of policy?

Persuasive Speaking

Persuasion is the altering or modifying of a person’s attitudes, beliefs, values, or outlook about a topic. Ethos, pathos, and logos all contribute to our ability to persuade and empower others.

Types of Persuasive Claims

Questions of policy refer to persuading for a change to an existing law, plan, or policy or creating a new policy. Anytime you are asking what should be done to make a given situation better, you are using a claim of policy. Policy suggestions need to be real and sincere and based on evidence. This type of persuasive speech is the most commonly used persuasive claim for class presentations.

Topic example:  “Health care should be available to all full-time students at reduced costs.”

Questions of value are used when trying to persuade the relative merits—good or bad, moral or immoral—of a position.

Although it sometimes can be used to support questions of policy, a question of value can also stand alone. Questions of value focus on judging what is right or wrong or what is good or bad.  Anytime you are trying to convince an audience that an idea or course of action is right or wrong, you are persuading by using a question of value because you are appealing to your audience’s morals. The use of pathos, or emotional appeals, is usually quite effective for questions of value.

Topic example: “Pharmaceutical companies have the moral responsibility not to test their products on animals.”

Questions of fact are used when one person tries to persuade another that a fact is true or not. If you are trying to persuade your audience that something did or did not happen or something is or is not true, you are dealing with a question of fact.  If you are attending to a question that has several possible contradicting answers, your goal is to persuade your audience your answer is the correct one. If you have a question that currently has no answer, your job is to convince your audience that the answer you are proposing is correct.

Topic example: “The captain of the Titanic was solely responsible for the ship’s untimely sinking.”

Crafting Persuasive Arguments      

Once you understand the type of persuasive claim you are going to make, you need to carefully think about how to structure the argument.

Argument by example

When you use examples as your main support for your persuasive claim, you are using argument by example. When you use inductive reasoning, using specific examples to support your larger claim, think carefully about potential counterexamples that the audience might know in relation to your topic.

 Argument by analogy

Compares different ideas or examples to reach a conclusion using a literal or metaphorical analogy. The audience needs to have a basic understanding of at least one part of the analogy for it to have a chance of being accepted and accurate.

 Argument by definition

When you use the definition of an idea or a concept as part of your persuasive appeal, you are using an argument by definition. You start with a general definition that makes an argument about a specific case.

Argument by relationship

Argument by relationship refers to the general relationship or correlation of two ideas or concepts.  Specific examples or cases are either related or caused by each other. Correlation occurs when two ideas happen at the same time but do not cause each other. Causation occurs when one thing causes the other thing. Research has demonstrated that telling a narrative or story that demonstrates causation can be effective in persuading others (Dahlstrom, 2010).

Strategies to Persuade

After deciding how you will structure your arguments, you need to think about multiple strategies of persuasion.

• Provide sufficiency of evidence.
• Ask for suspended judgment.
• Demonstrate cost-benefits
• Seek out micro changes
• Social judgment theory (SJT): Developed in 1961 by Yale professors Muzafer Sherif and Carl Hovland, it maintains that individuals can be persuaded on a topic by being convinced to accept changes that are close to their already-held beliefs.

Organizing Your Persuasive Presentation

Problem-cause-solution The problem-cause-solution pattern may be best used in persuasive presentations based on questions of policy or questions of fact.  The problem-cause-solution pattern can easily become the three main points of the body of your speech.

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

Developed in 1935 by Alan Monroe, it is a second commonly used organizational pattern for  persuasive presentations.

Step 1:  Attention

Step 2:  Need

Step 3:  Satisfaction

Step 4:  Visualization

Step 5:  Action

Persuasive Presentations and Convergence

At its core, persuasion is about helping meet the needs of your audience and future audiences in ethical ways. Audience analysis plays a central role in the task of persuasion.