Given that we are now switching full-gear into the issue brief assignment, I thought it would be fitting to discuss narratives of persuasion this week.
In high school, I did many extracurriculars, my favorite of which was being the captain of my school’s business and entrepreneurship team that participated in case study competitions (primarily those offered by Boeing). These competitions prompted us to assess and present our responses to various situations. The chairwoman of the Boeing Potomac Region Diversity Council, who headed the board of judges for our primary competition, often said that the best teams need not formulate a reasonable argument but simply present their suggestions in the most compelling way. Taking that to heart, this is the formula we created to win the competition:
Everyone loves a good story; the simple progression from A to B, and eventually C. If you can string the successive portions of your argument into a well-developed narrative, your audience will be more likely to not only comprehend it but come to agree with it – consider the results of Physics professors who explain the derivations of equations in comparison to those who merely write formulae on the board and expect their students to comprehend the relationships they describe. Therefore, to compellingly present your argument, you ought to write them in a story.
There are four primary components your story ought to contain: 1) an explanation of the issue itself, 2) the exigence of the issue, 3) what ought to be done to resolve the issue, and 4) how the audience can address the issue.
The first two components are best delivered simultaneously. For example, consider a streetside advocate who beckons pedestrians to listen to the troubling issue he wishes to make known. How upsetting it may be, most passersby have neither the time nor the patience to give an ear for more time than it takes for them to pass the speaker. Therefore, it would make sense to first explain why the issue is important to the pedestrians before delving into details, convincing them to stay awhile. However, how can you convey the exigence of an issue to an audience that does not know of the issue? You cannot. Thus, when attempting to persuade someone who has little time to listen, the first thing you present ought to present the issue AND explain why they should care.
Here’s an example of how this could be done in political advocacy:
“Your home will be devalued if HR 123 passes Congress!”
This statement simultaneously addresses what the issue is (i.e., a bill in Congress) and why one should care about it (i.e., their property might be worth less money).
Then, to progress the story of your advocacy, you should explain how the crises could be avoided and how your attentive audience should proceed to prevent them. In the context of the previous example:
“Sign this petition to alert our representative that her constituents do not want this to pass.”
I really liked your analysis of persuasion, and your winning the Boeing competition is really impressive!
That is fantastic that your school had a club for business and entrepreneurship, as mine did not. I think persuasion is the key to getting people to agree with your claim. I find that often logic is not a dependable factor for communicating a solution, because people are not always compelled to listen. However, persuasive techniques based on a rocky foundation of an idea, somehow always seem to win out. The thought that immediately comes to mind for me, is how friends can persuade each other to do “stupid things.” For instance, who thought it was logical to flood a bathroom in a dorm?
I like your analysis and suggestion to create a story as a link to the issue at hand. What you suggest reflects a lot about what I’ve learned in RCL the last semester.
I really enjoyed reading your blog. I don’t much think about narrative and key components to persuasion outside of writing assignments and rhetoric classes, but in reading your blog I realized that the narrative of persuasion can be applied in various areas of daily life. Stopping someone to talk about a club or event, convincing someone to purchase something, or even trying to get a friend to back you up on something. Nowadays, the attentions of young readers tend to wander after a couple of paragraphs if the literature does not start off with a compelling hook or immediately reveal something of relevance to them, so using this method as a foundation could prove to be very useful.