Argument Strategies

Argument by Causation: Demonstrates how a cause-and-effect relationship supports the speaker's point.
Analogy: Explains or illustrates a point by making a literal comparison between two unlike things.
Appeal to Authority: Cites an expert on a subject to support a point audience's emotional needs and values.
Appeal to Emotion: Uses examples or language that appeal to the audience's emotional needs and values.
Appeal to Logic: Gives facts, statistics, and examples that appeal to the listeners' minds.
Ethos: Trustworthy or credibility of a speaker or writer based on how others perceive his or her character.
Pathos: Appeal based on emotion ( creating an emotional reasons in others by using emotional charge.
Logos: Appeal based on logic or reason; it is rational persuasion of the argument.

Rhetorical Devices
Allusion: Speaker must provide reasons and evidence (facts, statistics , examples, and expert testimony) that show why listeners should change their minds or take action on an issue.
Diction: Choosing words to create a certain tone ( the attitude the speaker expresses toward the subject) or mood (the speech's overall impression on the audience).
Metaphor: Comparing 2 unlike things without using like or as.
Repetition: Repetition of an idea in order to make this stick in the mind of the listener.
Rhetorical Question: A question that does not really need an answer: ex. "Do want your environment to melt away?"
Parallelism: Using ideas of equal importance in an argument: ex. It is important to love your children, yet it is also crucial to discipline them.

Organizational Strategies
Deductive: Going from big to small; general to specific; developing specific predictions from general principals; depends on truth of generalizations it uses as basis for logic.
Inductive: Developing generalizations from a limited number of specific observations or experience; going from the small to big; specific to general.
Topical: An order that arises from the nature of the topic itself. Transitions in this pattern will be a little vague-- things like author factor, the second component. in addition, and so on. Parts to the whole; it doesn't matter what examples are used as long as they are driven by the topic.
Cause & Effect: A piece organized this way can begin with a general statement about the cause and follow with specific effects, or it can begin with a general statement about the effect and follow with specific causes. One can't prove it; one can only make a case for it.
Chronological: Presents ideas according to the time in which they occurred. This type of organization is especially effective if you are describing a process, relaying a series of actions, or telling a story.
Problem/Solution: State the dilemma and explain your possible way to fix it.