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Jonathan Wang
Victoria Wingate
Communications 001
November 10th, 2014
Critical Analysis Paper: Informative Speech
Aristotle stated that for a speech to have successful persuasion, it
must have three essential components: ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos is
the credibility of the speaker, specifically, the good sense, good moral
character, and goodwill. Logos can be translated as thought-plusexpression. These are techniques that contribute to the persuasion of the
speaker. This pertains to anything that bolsters the appeal of the speech,
such as structure, content, and style. Finally, pathos is the emotional appeal
that speaker connects with the audience. It is anything that a speaker does
that connects his or her speech to the audience. For our informative speech,
we were supposed use these three principles to make our audience
understand and empathize with our topic speech. My partner, Jessica Che,
uses ethos, logos, and pathos to inform us listeners about the evolution of
electronic dance music.
Jessica use of ethos involved her past experiences in electronic dance
music, such as attending festivals and listening to the music. In fact, her
curiosity of the rise and origins of electronic dance music arise from her

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many trips to these events. This brings her credibility and moral character
up, since we know she is being honest with her information and her thought
process on why she chose her topic. It also shows that she cares about her
topic because it is a part of her life and not some random topic she decided
to choose. Her goodwill is also good as well since she spoke to us like peers,
in a respectful and thoughtful tone. I believe her use of ethos greatly
enhanced her speech because we know that she is very informative in what
she is talking about and we know that her information is correct and true.
For her logos, Jessica uses a chronological organization for her speech,
which highlights the evolution and changes of electronic dance music. She
notes the differences in music, location of festivals, change in clothing styles,
and also change in popularity in each decade of when electronica dance
music first originated. This organizational structure is perfect for Jessica
because her main thesis is the change in electronic dance music. Her
presentation aid also helps with her logos because it emphasized the
changes electronic dance music underwent through. Her clarity was very
good, since she spoke in clear and well-paced sentences, which allowed the
audience to listen easily. She also did not stutter that much, or did not sound
too rehearsed, so she sounded natural in her voice and not monotone. Her
virtue is high as well since we know she spent a lot of research in her topic.
She also cited many sources, making her information very accurate, and
allows us to know that she is being truthful in her statements. Therefore,

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Jessica has good propriety because she has clarity and correctness in her
delivery and in her speech.
Jessicas emotional appeal comes from the fact that she, and all of us,
enjoys good music. In a way, she is able to relate with us on why the origins
of music is important. Her past experiences, and her ethos, shows us that
she is interested in her topic, which makes us interested to hear her speak.
Although she was a little nervous at first, Jessicas tone as she spoke showed
us her knowledge of the music. Her topic also helps with her pathos because
we all know that music is universal and is an enjoyable hobby. She
maintains eye contact with the audience, which makes her speech more
personable, while also giving a sense of confidence in her delivery. Her
insight of her topic appeals to us by allowing us to see how a genre of music
originates and how it can grow to have a huge fanbase and following. She
also ends the speech by asking us that if we have any questions or concerns
about electronic dance music, to freely ask her. This shows that she cares
about the audience and that she wants to inform us well, and not just give
out information because she is forced to. Jessica use of pathos made her
speech more appealing to us and made us appreciate the information she
provided even more.
Overall, I believed Jessica made good use of ethos, logos, and pathos
to deliver an interesting and informative speech. Her ethos made her sound
intelligible and credible. Using the correct organizational method,

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presentation aids, and clarity gave Jessica the logos needed to deliver her
speech clearly and logically. She was able to create an orderly and
straightforward speech by choosing the right organizational method. With
her pathos, Jessica was able to connect with us emotionally and physically.
Without these components, we would have listened to a speech that would
be dishonest, not compelling, and most importantly, not informative.