Review It
As you read President Obama’s speech on immigration reform, you identified examples of the three techniques used by an author to support a claim. You also learned that ethos (an appeal to the author’s character) and pathos (an appeal to emotions) are supports that use logical fallacies or errors in reasoning. Logos is an appeal to reasoning and evidence to support a claim. The reasoning and evidence used must then be assessed for its validity and relevance to the claim. The acknowledgement and refutation of counter-claims and points of view with evidence and reasoning provides increased support for the author’s claims.
Authors use different support techniques in argument and persuasion, however, a critical reader should focus on looking for logos when assessing the author’s use of evidence and reasoning to support a claim.
Review the steps below to assess reasoning and evidence authors use to support their claims and then complete the review assessments that follow.
