Last semester I wrote an academic paper about the existence of white privilege. I used logos or reason in order to prove that white privilege exists; reasoning such as the shockingly higher number of white CEOs there are versus the number of minority CEOs. Logos became my method of persuasion or Ethos. I didn’t use pathos or emotion to get my point across as the statistical facts were overwhelming. I felt emotion was best achieved by pointing to  all the empirical evidence. I believe I fully used the Toulmin method to write my paper on white privilege.  As I previously mentioned, I mainly focused on the claim by backing it with factual examples as well as rebuttals.

Using the Toulmin method helped me pinpoint the information that would make my case or point. However, while analyzing my own work through performing the Ethos/Pathos/Logos method, I was able to see how to improve the delivery of my message or point. In other words, I could have used specific examples that would create an emotional response as opposed to only providing statistical facts that proved my point.