Ethos

"Ethos" is the Greek word for "Character", which turns out to be the credibility of an author on a specific work. A piece of work with good character is usually correlated with specific words towards a certain topic, includes quotes, and has well-known sources backing up thier words. Ethos is a good quality to possess in a writing, especially in an informative work. Ethos is usually more prominent in arguments, but they can also be used to inform the audience about a specific topic. By using Ethos, arguments can be strengthened, especially if good sources are used. Ethos are used in a variety of ways to strengthen a paper, regardless of the genre.

Origins
Ethos originated in Greece, from Aristotle. Aristotle was a Greek Philosopher who changed the ways of persuasion. He divided persuasion into three parts; Ethos (Ethical Appeals), Pathos (Emotional Appeals), and Logos (Logical Appeals). "Ethos (Credibility), or ethical appeal, means convincing by the character of the author. We tend to believe people whom we respect. One of the central problems of argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are someone worth listening to, in other words making yourself as author into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect." (http://courses.durhamtech.edu/perkins/aris.html)

Ethos in Writing
Using Ethos in a piece of work will result in a more believable outcome of your topic, whether you were arguing something, describing something, or analyzing something. Citing the sources used in a specific writing can also strengthen a paper, because it shows the audience that you share beliefs with others in the world. Even more importantly, if the audience recognizes the source where you got your ideas, then they will be more likely to believe what you are saying through your words. For example, the audience would trust a web-source with the ending ".edu" or ".gov" more so than ".com". Alongside citation, Ethos plays other important roles. Ethos can also be the way that the words are presented. A more educated vocabulary would be more persuading than that of a five year old. Word choices will help persuade the audience into believing the author more readily. Ethos is also a measure of confidence. In a writing, the author needs to make themselves sound like experts on the subject matter, so the audience believes what is being said. Ethos is not just for persuasive writings, because all genre's utilize the character-building strategy.

Ethos in Speeches
Ethos has a wide variety of uses, and is not only limited to written words. Ethos can be used in spoken words as well. Using Ethos in regards to spoken words, there are certain ways to build "Character". Speaking to an audience similar to the speaker is one of the best ways to establish ethos in a speech. An audience needs to be able to relate to the speaker for them to even consider what they are saying, whether the similarity is age, economic status, or personality. Another way to establish Ethos with speech, is to present words in a way that draws an audience to listen. Speaking with authority to an audience makes the speaker more believable in what they are saying. As well as citing sources in writing, citing the sources used in a speech can also be depicted in ways that show the quality of the source. For example, if a speaker said something along the lines of "my friend told me one time that macaroni and cheese was blue" the audience would not believe the speaker because of the lack of genuine information presented. Using the blue macaroni and cheese example with Ethos would sound more like "Kraft released a new line of macaroni and cheese to help children learn their colors faster, with the colors of red, blue, and yellow." The statement is more believable, because Kraft is a well know company and has specific information. The difference between statements without quality information gathered through Ethos is substantially different from a statements that were put together with Ethos show how an audience will react to how words are put together. Speaking with ethos is rather similar to using Ethos in writing, but the main difference is how the speaker talks about a specific topic.