11: Persuasive Speaking
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This page is a draft and is under active development.
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"I used to think persuasion was just something politicians or salespeople did. But then I realized I was using it all the time: convincing my aunt to support my decision to switch majors, talking to my boss about better shift hours, even getting my friends to show up to our club's fundraiser. Lerning how to do it with purpose and respect changed everything."
- Isabella R, student at Laney College
Have you ever convinced a classmate to carpool to save gas money? Talked your best friend into attending a concert of a band they've never heard of? Tried to change your manager’s mind about letting you take a Sunday shift off? Then you’ve already practiced persuasive speaking, whether you realized it or not.
Persuasion is the process of creating, reinforcing, or changing people’s beliefs or actions (Albarracín et al., 2021). It’s not about tricking anyone. It’s about showing up with a clear, honest intention and offering a message that connects with your audience’s values. Persuasion is not manipulation. It’s communication with purpose, rooted in credibility, logic, and emotion (Frymier & Nadler, 2007; McKenna, 2025).
At De Anza College in the Bay Area, California, for example, we’re surrounded by passionate voices, community organizers rallying for housing justice, students advocating for more mental health resources, small business owners pitching eco-friendly products at local farmers markets. Even everyday interactions can carry persuasive weight: asking your parents to support your decision to transfer to a UC, encouraging your coworkers to join the union, or simply persuading your friends to try the taco truck you swear is the best in Oakland.
Every day, we’re bombarded by persuasive messages. Some come from ads telling us which shoes to buy, which mayor to vote for, or which streaming service we must subscribe to. Others come from people we trust, asking us to help around the house, attend a club meeting, or join the family for Sunday dinner. Whether subtle or direct, we are constantly being persuaded, while also persuading others (Tan et al., 2021).
As you learned in Chapter Three on audience analysis, understanding who you’re speaking to is everything. You must consider the attitudes, beliefs, and values of your listeners. That means thinking not just about what you want to say, but what your audience needs to hear and how they need to hear it (Fransen et al., 2015).
In this chapter, we’ll explore persuasion as a powerful and ethical tool for speaking. First, we’ll define persuasion and understand how it works. Then, we’ll break down four different types of persuasive speeches. Finally, we’ll walk through three tried-and-true organizational patterns that can help structure your persuasive message so it actually sticks.
Whether you’re standing at a podium, speaking up in a Zoom meeting, or just making your case around the dinner table, persuasive speaking is a skill you’ll use for life. Let’s get into it.
- Define and explain key concepts in persuasive speaking, including persuasive prepositions, inductive and deductive reasoning, and common logical fallacies.
- Analyze and apply the persuasive appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos to enhance credibility and emotional and logical impact in a speech.
- Create a well-structured persuasive speech outline using an appropriate organizational pattern that effectively supports your argument.
- 11.1: An Overview of Persuasion
- This page covers the evolution of persuasion in public speaking, emphasizing its complexity in today's media-rich environment. It explains the goal of persuasion in influencing attitudes and behaviors, contrasting it with informative speeches. The text stresses the importance of understanding persuasion for personal development and ethical communication, supported by real-life examples from California. Additionally, it provides exercises for practicing persuasive skills effectively.
- 11.2: Types of Persuasion
- This page outlines four essential types of persuasive claims in public speaking: definitional, factual, policy, and value claims. It explains each type's function, highlighting how definitional claims redefine concepts, factual claims assert truths, policy claims suggest actions, and value claims assess ethics.
- 11.3: Organizing Persuasive Speeches
- This page emphasizes the significance of organization in persuasive speeches, focusing on three effective patterns: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence, Problem-Cause-Solution, and Comparative Advantages. Monroe’s sequence captures attention and motivates action through a clear progression. The Problem-Cause-Solution method outlines a problem, its causes, and proposes solutions. Comparative Advantages showcases the superiority of one option.
- 11.4: Cannons of Rhetoric and Aristotelian Proofs
- This page covers the foundations of persuasion, focusing on Aristotle's appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos, as well as Cicero's five canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. It illustrates practical applications of these concepts in academic and professional contexts and highlights the enduring relevance of these classical techniques for effective communication today.
- 11.5: Glossary
- This page provides an overview of persuasive communication, detailing classical rhetoric and Monroe's Motivated Sequence. It defines persuasion's final steps, including Action, and discusses types of claims: factual, definitional, policy, and value. Cicero's five canons of rhetoric: Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery are examined for their significance in speech effectiveness.
- 11.6: Discussion Questions
- This page explores the role of persuasive strategies in communication, highlighting the need to understand audience attitudes and values in contexts like climate change and political activism. It examines organizational patterns, such as problem-cause-solution, and illustrates these with real-world examples. Additionally, the text emphasizes the significance of ethos, pathos, and logos in enhancing communication skills for advocacy and professional purposes.
- 11.7: References
- This page presents a collection of scholarly resources on persuasion, covering attitudes, beliefs, resistance methods, and rhetorical strategies. It integrates psychological and educational research with Aristotelian concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos, examining their role in effective communication. The implications for academic success and ethical practices are also discussed, alongside practical applications in diverse contexts like digital communications and education.