Return to Convincing vs. Persuading |
Appeals to Emotion |
Appeals based on reason are central to academic writing, and because appeals to emotion can be misused, such appeals may not be acceptable in many of your academic classes and/or assignments. If you have any doubt about using appeals to emotion, talk with your instructor.
When you do use appeals to emotion, use them carefully and responsibly. Use them when the emotion is appropriate to the issue, and when the appeal supports and adds to your appeals to reason. In academic writing, appeals to emotion should never take the place of sound reasoning.