Persuasive writing

The Letter From Birmingham Jail is a great example of persuasive writing. In it, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr applies all three modes of persuasion. A more contemporary piece of persuasive writing that I think goes well with our situation is the House Ways & Means Budget Subcommittee speech given by President Barker. In this speech, President Barker applies the mode of ethos by attempting to evoke a sense of pride in state and in self by equating the success of Clemson students to the increasing quality of in-state students and the creation of the LIFE and Palmetto Fellows scholarships by the General Assembly. Dr. King uses ethos when stating, "I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth," prior to entering the bulk of his letter. Logos is a technique employed both by Dr. King and President Barker throughout these works. President Barker includes various numerical data to indicate the increasing success of Clemson University, and Dr. King uses a methodical approach to explain why peaceful resistance must be taken underway. The third mode of persuasion is a technique that Dr. King very skillfully applied. By stating, "when your first name becomes 'n*gger,' your middle name becomes 'boy,' and you last name becomes 'John'," Dr. King is evoking strong emotions associated with strong words. Though President Barker does not use pathos nearly as often or effectively as Dr. King, he does apply it toward the end of the speech. By stating, "and we can give our state a top tier research university so that our young people don't have to choose between academic quality and LIFE scholarship," President Barker is appealing to the need for us to provide whats best for our children.