Gamez I

Maria Gamez Garcia

Professor Jon Beadle

English 115

December 9, 2021

Effective Rhetorical Strategies

When you are trying to write an effective and persuasive essay, the way that rhetorical

strategies are used plays an important role when it comes to the audience and the message that

you’re trying to convey. We have as an example the book of Waves, in which two of the essays

that are within the book use rhetorical strategies like Ethos, the appeal to credibility, Pathos,

which appeals to emotions, and Logos, the appeal to reason. Except, only one of them delivers

the message more effectively. There’s the author of “Curving the Spread: how lockdowns are

helping” Khushi Virval, who had some strong rhetorical strategies in his essay, but some others

were not as persuasive and effective as it was expected. However, Andrew Armitage, the author

of “Election reform in the United States” was able to project the rhetorical strategies more

effectively by providing evidence from credible sources, appealing to the emotions of the

audience in a way that everyone can relate, and displaying the consequences of what happens

with the current state of the electoral college.

The use of ethos in these two essays could have improved for Virval to have more

credibility. Even though Virval does provide a good argument about lockdowns helping stop the

spread of the virus, the way he used his rhetorical strategies could have been more effective to

persuade and attract his audience. To try building credibility as an author, Virval used personal

experience on lockdowns. The use of personal experience on essays like this one is something

that can be used to build more credibility as an author, but in this case, it didn’t seem to be as
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effective as it was expected. He says, “my family back in India shared video clips showing the

country’s strict implementation of lockdown rules, as well as the strict supervision of policemen

on the streets.” (Virval 29) this could have made people ignore or not consider his argument as

the audience was not able to connect directly to this experience since it is from another part of

the world. On the other hand, you have Andrew Armitage, who uses the rhetorical strategies in a

much more effective way. He provides evidence from credible sources to support his argument.

He quotes from an article that comes from the “Southern Poverty Law Center” that gives him

credibility as he talks about political topics and supports with evidence that comes from a source

that can be reliable. When trying to persuade an audience you need to be able to state a good

credibility, as Armitage did in his essay demonstrating a good use of ethos.

The appeal to reason is also effective in Armitage’s essay more than Virval’s. Armitage

says that “… media coverage of the Electoral College has portrayed states as either ‘Red’ or

‘Blue’” (Armitage 18) and delivers with more details on why the election reform is needed,

because it appeals to people knowing what the “red” or “blue” states mean. In Virval’s essay,

the use of why lockdowns helped was good for most of his essay, but it could have been talked

more about how lockdowns were helping or how they were not helping in the United States a bit

more, as it would have had appealed more to his audience in the U.S. and made his argument

stronger and more effective. He talks mostly about lockdowns in other places around the world,

but he could have made emphasis on the country he was writing to, to make it more appealing

for his audience. This shows how Armitage was more effective at applying logos in his writing.

The use of logos is also important to show reason and to appeal to the reading audience.

We can also see the difference between the two essays use of pathos to persuade the

audience emotionally. Virval appealed to emotions well enough throughout his essay, however,
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he could have tried to appeal more to people who were against the lockdowns because they could

have related less to his argument since it seemed more for people who were pro lockdowns.

Trying to get to the audience that is against lockdowns was probably what he needed to make it

more effective. Meanwhile, Armitage appeal to emotions was the most effective one at the

beginning of the essay, as it makes people understand what he’s trying to say. He says that the

Electoral College “… sows polarization and divisiveness… essentially subjecting the American

ideal” (Armitage 18) which is that everyone is equal, and that causes the audience to feel like the

government is failing to follow that ideal. The use of these strategies helps Armitage’s essay be

more successful in persuading his audience emotionally, demonstrating once again that his use of

pathos was more effective in his essay.

For these reasons the way that the rhetorical strategies of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are

used is important for supporting the arguments you want to make. These two essays count with

important information for the audience to understand and appeal to their points and what they’re

trying to come across. However, the way that Andrew Armitage used his rhetorical strategies

ended being more effective for his essay than how Khushi Virval used the same strategies for his

essay. They had different subjects and tried to be as persuasive as possible. Unfortunately, Virval

wasn’t very effective in some ways when he used the strategies for his essay, even though he did

do a fairly good job at his explanations, examples and citations on his essay, trying to make his

point and support the argument he made. Nevertheless, Armitage was more effective at appealing

to the reading audience of the essay and making his point stand out during the entire essay.

Works Cited
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Armitage, Andrew “Election reform in the United States.” WAVES, edited by Amber

Norwood, 4th ed, Macmillan Learning, 2021, pg 18 – 21

Virval, Khushi. “Curving the Spread: how lockdowns are helping” WAVES, edited by

Amber Norwood, 4th ed, Macmillan Learning, 2021, pg 28 - 30