Rhetorical Appeals
This rhetorical appeal relies on logic, facts, and evidence.
What is logos?
This type of source includes firsthand accounts, raw data, or original documents.
This trait involves writing clearly, honestly, respectfully, and without bias.
What is professional tone?
This appeal builds trust by establishing credibility, character, and expertise.
What is ethos?
This is the process of evaluating whether a source is credible, unbiased, current, and suitable for the document.
What is a source evaluation?
This ethical violation involves using someone else’s ideas or words without proper credit.
What is plagiarism?
This rhetorical concept emphasizes the importance of timing, context, and recognizing the right moment to communicate information effectively.
What is kairos?
This type of source interprets, analyzes, or summarizes primary information.
What is a secondary source?
This ethical principle requires that technical writers present accurate, truthful, and complete information—even when it reflects negatively on a company.
What is honesty or integrity?
Pathos is the appeal that attempts to persuade an audience by connecting to...
What are emotions, values, or personal experiences.
This documentation method gives credit to authors and helps readers locate the original material used in a technical document.
What is citation?
This concept refers to a writer’s legal responsibility for harm caused by unclear, incorrect, or incomplete technical documents.
What is liability?
This term refers to choosing the right rhetorical appeal—or combination of appeals—to match the audience’s needs and expectations.
What is rhetorical strategy?
This common source problem occurs when a writer uses information that is outdated, unreliable, or taken from a source with unclear credibility.
What is using an outdated or non-credible source?
This type of data misuse happens when a writer selectively presents information to make the results look better than they are, such as cherry-picking numbers or removing outliers without justification.
What is misrepresentation or data manipulation?