Ch. 16 Question #1 Response

When it comes to persuading a group of people, everyone responds differently to different types of evidence. Evidence gives an argument support. It is like the backbone to an argument.

According to who the audience is should dictate which forms of evidence are most appropriate to use in certain situations. For example, if someone was ever put in the situation where he or she had the chance to talk with all kinds of C.E.O.s of all businesses today to try to persuade them to place a ban on using monkeys and other primates in advertising, there are a couple forms of evidence that will hit hard in the eyes of a C.E.O. One form that would probably be most effective to them would be data and evidence collected from surveying a sample of large population or from performing experiments. A lot of times, numbers are typically easier to understand and see correlations than a group of words that would come from personal experience or testimony.

If the audience changes and the target audience becomes middle school kids, or a college newspaper, basically something a lot less formal, then best form of evidence to use would come from interviews, observations, and personal experience. These forms of evidence allow the speaker to connect and relate with the audience in a better way than giving out some results of a survey or any other experiments. By knowing which forms of evidence are best and most appropriate for your audience and telling them information that they value most, often times determines the effectiveness of your argument, therefore it should be wisely chosen.