Instructions: This speech should be given as more of a homework/research type of speech assignment. This is a minor speaking assignment that can help students prepare and practice for their major/formal persuasive speech assignment. In Aristotle's classical treatise on rhetoric, he explained that persuasion could be brought about by the speaker's use of three modes of persuasion or forms of rhetorical proof — logos, pathos, and ethos which are defined as follows:

Logos— persuasive appeals that are directed to the audience's sense of reasoning on a topic.

Pathos — persuasive appeals that are directed to the audience's sense of emotion on a topic.

Ethos — in terms of a persuasive appeal based on the nature of the speaker's moral character and personality.

Students should research a topic and develop a presentation that includes at least one example of each of these modes of persuasion. Students can either choose the topic they plan to use for their persuasive speech assignment (this way they are starting their research early), or they can pick another topic for practice. Speeches should be brief and examples of each mode of persuasion should serve as the main points.

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Instructions: Break students down into groups of six members — two will be responsible for "claims," two will be responsible for "warrants," and two will be responsible for "evidence." Each group should pick or be assigned a persuasive topic. If the class is rather small, break groups up into three members and have one person, instead of two, for each of the three forms of arguments.

Sometimes the class has already brainstormed a list of such topics and they can choose from this list, or one can refer to a list of persuasive speech topics from a book. For each topic, one group will develop a presentation including the claims, evidence, and warrants for the affirmative side and one group will do the same for the negative side. This is not a debate, and groups will not be competing against one another. Each group will be graded on:

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Instructions: Students will need to pick a topic and develop a persuasive presentation. Students will use Monroe's Motivated Sequence as a guide for developing their speech. In order for students to make the most of Monroe's Motivated Sequence, the steps should be followed in order.

The sequence closely resembles a problem-solution organizational format but digresses from linear logic in several ways. In the attention step, the structure tends to deviate from linearity by noting potential objections and dispelling audience concerns or problems with a solution. The most critical principle in Monroe's sequence is the identification of the audience's needs before proposing a solution. The following is a skeleton outline of this sequence:

1. Gain the audience's attention: Attention-getters grab the audience, arousing curiosity about what the speaker is going to say. To help avoid the effects of psychological reactance, the preview statement should be omitted.

2. Identify unfulfilled needs: The speaker must establish a clear, urgent, and unfulfilled need in the mind of the audience. This is a critical step in the sequence. No solutions should be proposed during this stage.

3. Propose a solution that satisfies: Present the solution to the needs or problems described in step two. During this stage, speakers must also identify and eliminate possible objections to the solution.

4. Visualize the resulting satisfaction: Intensify audience members' desire for the solution by getting them to visualize what their lives will be like once they've adopted it. Use vivid images and verbal illustrations to support the benefits of the proposed solution.

5. Define specific actions: In the final step, the speaker must turn the audience's agreement and commitment into positive action. Tell audience members what they need.
to do to obtain the described solution and its benefits.

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