Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

Caffeine May Boost Long Term Memory

In the article "Caffeine May Boost Long-Term Memory" ethos, pathos, and logos are used to persuade the reader into believing their articles, and agree with their ideas. Logos uses logic and statistics to sway the reader towards their idea. Pathos uses techniques to make the reader feel something, and uses the readers emotions to draw them in and persuade them. Ethos is the authority and integrity of the author, which makes the article more persuasive knowing its written by someone who knows what they are talking about.

Pathos- An example of pathos in the article is reading about the author. Honor's "main interests lie within new medical diagnostics, neurology, stem cell research and cancer research. Honor has strong journalism experience and, prior to joining the Medical News Today team, she worked within a number of financial publications covering both consumer and trade finance." They make it sound like she has enough experience to be writing a good article. When "by Daniel Borota of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore" is stated, it shows that a smart, qualified professor backs up this knowledge and that this article can be trusted.

Logos- A very good portion of the article uses logos to make its point. Throughout the article, the author describes the experiments people underwent to prove that caffeine can help long term memory. They explained the experiment, and used the amounts of caffeine and other m=numbers to persuade the argument. They included their conclusion, stating "that a dose of at least 200 mg is required to observe the enhancing effect of caffeine on consolidation of memory." Using logos is a good way to help persuade an argument of piece of writing.

Ethos- In my opinion, the article itself uses ethos as a tactic. How many people wouldn't want a good long term memory? How many people would just be like, "Eh, who really cares about remembering things." Very few, and the idea of remembering things longer, and being able to remember happy times can definitely affect your emotions.