Main Points

Claims that undergrid and support our thesis statement

Subpoints

Smaller assertions we make about the world in support of our main points.

Inartistic Forms of Proof

Types of evidence that exist in the world that the speaker can point to in their speech as support for their claims.

Definition

Established meaning and interpretation of a term (Inartistic)

Testimony

Public statement that a witness makes to describe a situation, event, or idea (Inartistic)

Quoted Testimony

Precise words of a witness

Expert Testimony

Persons trained in and/or credible to speak on the subject about the situation at hand

Sworn Testimony

Statement given by a witness under oath

Statistics

Scientifically significant points of data on a subject of public concern (Inartistic)

Laws, contracts, and oaths

Binding agreements and documents affirmed through law or the word of another person (Inartistic)

Precedent

Use of a previous successful finding or occurrence to justify how we should think of a similar contemporary event (Inartistic)

Narratives

Story that sheds light on a issue or exemplifies a point (Inartistic)

Narrative Cohearence

How well a story hangs together at a structure level

Narrative Fidelity

Degree to which the story fits into how the audience is currently understanding the world

Artistic Forms of Proof

Evidence that the speaker can create in the course of giving a speech to support their own claims

Logos

Presents their information in a clear and logical manner (Artistic)

Ethos

Credibility of the speaker- particularly their ethics, characteristics, and experiences (Artistic)

Pathos

Use of emotional appeals by speaker (Artistic)

Warrant

Form of reasoning that connects evidence to a claim

Induction

Reasoning that uses a number of specific cases to draw a general conclusion or claim

Deduction

General principle to reasons what happened in a particular case

Cause

Showing that a person, event, or object reasonably produced a change in the world

Analogy

Form of reasoning that works by identifying the same kind of relationship between multiple kinds of person, object, events, or items

Sign

Pointing to something that signifies the presence of something else

Unclear Arguments

Arguments that fail because the speaker does not clearly state their case in a manner the audience can follow

Unsupported Arguments

Speaker has not provided any/or enough quality support to make their claim successfully

Unethical Arguments

Speakers argument calls for or is done via unethical or immoral behavior

Arguments made on the Wrong Terms

Speaker makes a strong case, but in wrong context

Logical Fallacies

Unreasonable arguments that appear to be reasonable arguments

Ad Hominem

Attacking the person and not the argument

Bandwagon

Something should be done just because it is popular

Slippery Slope

Small and reasonable step will inevitably lead to the most severe and outlandish outcome

What-about-ism

Attempts to avoid criticism by suggesting the critic is actually just as guilty or wrong as speaker

False Dilemma

Present two options to the audience as their only possible choices when, in reality there are many actual choices the audience could make

False Cause

One event happened prior to another event, the first event must have directly caused the second event

Hasty Generalization

Sweeping claims based on one or two few examples

Red Herring

Introduces unrelated information into an argument to confuse or distract from the information that actually matters

Strawman

Speaker intentionally mischaracterizes the position of their opponent and then attacks their opponent for that position