writing classically

To effectively write persuasively, a person needs to have an organized plan to follow, otherwise words can tend to ramble on, have no purpose, and fail to articulately convey the essayist's thoughts. Argumentative compositions are especially in need of detailed structure. The Ancients--masters in the art of winning and compelling dissertations--wrote almost all their books, speeches, and discourses according a few basic rules. Classical scholars often study these guidelines and proceed to apply them skillfully to their expositions. These criterion are practical and useful (outside of the classroom too!). So what are these age-old erudite gauges, you ask?

First: awareness of how the audience is going to be persuaded. There are three different arguments that could or should be made. Logos, is using an appeal to reason. This is the most popular and convincing of the three. It is used to show the sense and logical conclusion of the proposed solution. Ethos exposes the appropriateness and plays of the audience's ethic beliefs. The last appeal is that of Pathos. This plea seeks to sway the audience's judgement based solely on what feels right. Because of its uncomplicated and passionate nature, it is often used to such great extent that it has become easy to abuse this emotion adjure. A quality argument will contain a bit of ethos in the beginning--usually in the rousing introduction of a paper.

Second: the basic structure of a paper is imperative. To start off, the introduction paragraph should capture your readers attention and encourage them to keep reading. It should introduce the audience to the topic at hand, and give a bit of background. This is also the place to state the thesis of your point of view. In the next paragraph you should lay a bit more groundwork, slanting it to match your position--you can't skew the facts, just omit the ones that aren't helpful. In the following paragraphs you should explain any terms or ideas that your readers may not be familiar with or already define them as you do and argue logically, systematically starting general ideas and working towards the more specific details. Conclude with a strong emotional appeal to clinch your argument.

Third: the tone used determines how the audience will view the writing. If the paper is rushed and written quickly, in a reckless fashion, the reader will likely not be interested in more than the first couple sentences simply because of the poor construction. Contrarily, if the vocabulary and general style is so difficult and convoluted that it cannot be understood, the reader will not read it either. Also if the stance taken is not well defined or described and the reader is left in the dark the paper will be of no use because now one will read it. A well written essay takes time to compose. For the most part, the more you put into the writing of a piece, the more the readers will get out of it.

So that is a summary of what I have been learning in my writing course this year. What do you all think? Any tips you would add?