AP LANG Argument and Rhetoric Test

Audience-based reasons

Form your argument on your SPECIFIC audience

• Demographic

• Interests

• Prior knowledge

Enthymeme

Claim plus Reason - incomplete

• + warrant - complete

Ethos

CREDIBILITY

Logos

LOGIC

Pathos

EMOTION

rationalization

The application of plausible reasons to explain oneself

• where someone justifies a belief or action with seemingly logical but actually flawed reasoning. Instead of confronting the real reason behind their stance, they create excuses that sound reasonable but aren’t truly valid.

Claim

A statement that asserts a position or belief about a particular topic

• Toulmin

Stated reason

An EXPLICITLY and CLEARLY stated explanation that cannot be misinterpreted

• Toulmin

Warrant

Unspoken assumption/logical bridge that connects evidence

• Allows the audience to accept the leap from evidence to conclusion

• Supports stated reason

• Toulmin

Grounds

Evidence for the stated reason

• Toulmin

• Can be based on:

  • evidence: facts, statistics, reports, or physical proof

  • source credibility: authorities, experts, celebrity endorsers, a close friend, or someone’s say-so

  • analysis and reasoning: reasons may be offered as proof

Backing

Evidence for the warrant

• If warrant isn’t immediately accepted

• Toulmin

Conditions of Rebuttal

Series of questions

• Match arguments that stand against position with pre-made answers

• Allows modification to arguments

• Toulmin

Qualifier

Limits the force/intensity of claim

• No argument is 100% persuasive

• Having this allows for your claim to be more acceptable

• “very likely” “except in rare cases…”

• Toulmin

Kairos

OPPORTUNITY/TIME OF PRESENTATION

STAR

• SUFFICIENCY

• TYPICALITY

• ACCURACY

• RELEVANCE

Sufficiency

• “Is there enough evidence?”

  • Hasty Generalization: too little evidence for claim

  • The more contested the claim/the more skeptical ur audience, the more evidence needed

  • Too much evidence is boring tho ugh

Typicality

• Is the chosen evidence representative and typical?

  • Cannot be a once in a lifetime event

  • must apply to many ppl

• “Yes! You can do a full time job and full time college!” But, the evidence comes from a girl working as a night receptionist - has time to do homework on the job

Accuracy

• Is the evidence accurate and up-to-date?

  • Ethos babe

  • Evidence can’t be used as realistically unless it is accurate and up-to-date

  • Evidence can’t be persuasive, unless the audience believes in the writers credibility

Relevance

• Is the evidence relevant to the claim?

  • Evidence will only be persuasive if the reader considers it to be relevant to the contested issue

• “I work hard so I deserve an A”

  • Ur evidence is ur time logs for studying and testimonials from friends

  • This proves you work hard, not that you deserve the A

Issue Question

Answered with argument

Information Question

Answered with explanation

Lack of common assumption

If one refuses common assumptions, they can “win” an argument, or at least not lose.

Fact

claims which focus on empirically verifiable phenomena

Judgement/value

claims involving opinions, attitudes, and subjective evaluations of things

Policy

claims advocating courses of action that should be undertaken