What are some of the most important questions any writer has to ask before beginning the writing process? A writer has to determine what the audience will be and what the purpose will be. Then, when they know the answers to these questions, they will be able to decide whether to appeal to ethos, pathos, or logos. Ethos attempts to convince the audience that the writer is believable and credible; pathos uses an emotional appeal; and logos appeals to the audience based on logical reasoning. Although it must be said that good writers have to be able to balance the three appeals throughout their writing. .
Many audiences are weary of believing everything they hear. The solution is to appeal to ethos. People will believe information given to them if it comes from an expert in that field. This is not the only way, however to build ethos. A writer can build trust by showing that the subject is well researched and that all angles have been thoroughly looked at.
An appeal to pathos must be balanced well with the other appeals, because it does not appeal to anything solid. Through various writing techniques, it is possible to convince the audience by attempting to get an emotional response. This response, however, if used too much can have a negative effect. When balanced with an appeal to logos, it can be very effective because the need to look at the subject more closely will become more obvious. .
Logos speaks to the audience's sense of reason and logic. The thing to be careful of in appealing to logos is that what one person accepts as credible, another may not. A perfect example of this is in religious circles the audience generally believes everything with any sort of religious authority, but a scientific audience tends to believe mostly what can be proven.
In writing, it is important to maintain a balance between the three appeals. Using one too much may in effect cause the others to become useless as well.
