Analysing persuasive texts

Learning to spot the tricks writers use to manipulate their readers will help you to understand how writers grab and hold their attention.

Media texts are an important kind of persuasive text. They include advertisements, reviews, articles, posters and leaflets produced by mass media companies such as TV and film companies, as well as newspaper and magazine publishers and charities.

The purpose is often to persuade us to buy products or to give to charitable causes such as BBC Children in Need.

Typical features found in media texts include:

• Logo – this acts to identify a brand and sometimes a company. Logos can become trusted and can even persuade us to pay more money for a product.
• Headings/headlines – these are designed to grab your attention and can feature exciting or crucial pieces of information about the product that you are being encouraged to buy or donate to.
• Sub-headings – these will be a word, phrase or sentence that is used to introduce part of a text. They can also be used to support a headline in adverts.
• Images – these will try to attract the reader’s attention. There is usually one main image and some supporting images. The supporting images will be smaller and these are known as secondary images.
• Splashes of information – these are different pieces of information that are placed around the page in order to give you shorter pieces of information at a time. They may be short sentences or quotations, and will be easy to read as they are designed to be read at a glance.

It is these features that the copywriter or creator of the text wants you to notice first.

When you are analysing a non-fiction text, such as the one above, it is important to consider all of the elements and how they contribute to the overall purpose of the text.

You should analyse how the language is being used to persuade the reader and what techniques are being used.

Stories can also be persuasive, as writers will often try to convince us of certain information. A writer may want you to like or dislike a character, and the way that they describe them can persuade you to do either of these.

Not all persuasive texts want us to buy products - some will try make us agree with the writer’s point of view.

Writers use many kinds of persuasive techniques to try to convince their readers. These are sometimes called rhetorical devices. The main rhetorical devices are described below.

Anecdote

An account of a real event told in the form of a very brief story. Their effect is often to create an emotional or sympathetic response.

How it works

An anecdote is usually used to help support a persuasive argument that the writer is putting forward. For example, if a writer wants to persuade people to stop smoking, they may use an anecdote about a close relative who died of lung cancer. For English work at school and in exams, you will need to make up an anecdote to suit the exam question, but it must always be realistic.

Catchy phrases or slogans

These are phrases intended to be memorable.

How it works

These are similar to those used in songs or radio adverts. They remind the reader of a key idea or a point of view they want us to remember.

List of three/a tripartite list

This is a triple 'repetition' that adds emphasis, eg 'it’s great; it’s brilliant; it’s amazing!'

A greater effect can be achieved if the words are made more emotional or 'stronger' as the list builds up.

How it works

No one knows quite why three is a 'magic' number for lists like this, but it is – and is stronger than a list of two or four items, for example.

A list of three can help emphasise the benefits of a product or strengthen a point of view impressively but, as always, needs to be used only when it suits the form of the text (ie its genre) and the needs of the target audience.

Contrasts

This is a comparison of two things intended to highlight one of them because of the contrast.

How it works

By showing the different viewpoints, the writer is showing that they are fair and this makes them a more reliable source of information. The reader will see the writer as balanced, honest and trustworthy.

Criticising the opposite opinion/the opposition

This is where a writer will mention all of the alternative arguments or the alternative products and explain their downfalls.

How it works

By doing this, the writer is showing that they are aware of what the reader could be thinking and is making sure that they know all of the negative things about the opposition. It also makes the writer seem knowledgeable and that what they are saying is important.

Emotive words

These are words that are deliberately designed to make a reader have strong feelings. These can be positive or negative.

How it works

Human beings will react to some words very positively. Words like 'love', 'happiness', 'wealth' and 'good health' make us feel good. Other words, such as 'death', 'illness', 'poverty' and 'tears' make us feel negative. Writers are very clever with the words that they use in order to persuade us of their argument.

Emotive pictures

These do not have to be actual pictures. They may be a description of a picture. A detailed description of a picture can put an image in the mind of the reader.

How it works

An emotive picture will either be one that is really happy or really unhappy. It will depend on what the writer is trying to achieve. Trying to get the reader to picture a sad scene or happy scene is the writer’s way of making the reader feel good about being on their side or bad if they are not.

Exaggeration (also known as hyperbole)

This is where a writer will be really over the top in order to make it seem as if an issue is massive, ie 'how will you ever live with yourself if you ignore this?'.

How it works

The writer does this intentionally to make the reader consider the enormity of the issue. The exaggeration will usually be a common type of phrase so that the reader is used to hearing it, such as 'millions of us need this'. By using a common phrase, the reader is less likely to question the statement and is more likely believe the writer.

Forceful phrases (also known as imperatives)

These use words like, ‘think about the plight of…’ or ‘forget your previous ideas about…’

How it works

These are used to push a reader into thinking that the need to agree or disagree is urgent. It suggests that this is something that the reader must act upon quickly.

Humour

This is where the writer tries to make funny - and maybe even ridiculous - points to prove that they are right.

How it works

Humour works in two ways. The reader will usually appreciate humour, so it will make them more likely to be on the side of the writer. Also, the reader will remember what made them laugh, so it will make the message in the text even more memorable.

Imagery

Imagery covers all of the descriptive writing techniques, such as metaphors and similes. These will usually be used in emotive pictures or anecdotes.

How it works

When a writer uses imagery, they will be trying to get the reader to picture something specific. When you analyse this, think about what the writer is trying to show the reader and how this helps their argument.

Opinion as fact

This is where the writer will state that their opinion is fact, when it is actually only an opinion, ie 'It is a fact that I cannot stand winter!'

How it works

Stating that opinion is fact can be quite confusing for a reader. The reader may feel automatically that what they are being told is fact, and that they should be convinced by it.

Personal pronouns

This is where the writer will use words such as, 'I' or 'we' or 'you' to talk directly to the reader.

How it works

By using the word, 'you' and addressing the reader, the writer can appeal directly to every individual reading the text. By using the word 'we' it will make it seem as if the writer is on the side of the reader, as if 'we' are all in this together.

Repetition

This is where a single word or phrase is repeated over and over again in order to emphasise it.

How it works

Repetition works in a similar way to a list of three. By continually repeating the same idea or phrase, it draws attention to that particular phrase and emphasises its importance. For that reason, it is important to analyse the actual word or point being made and why it needs to be emphasised.

Rhetorical questions

These are questions that appear in writing that isn’t dialogue. As there is nobody to answer the question, they are usually designed to talk directly to the reader.

How it works

When a reader is asked a question, it allows the reader a moment to pause and think about that question. For this reason, rhetorical questions are effective in hooking a reader’s interest and making them think about their own response to the question in hand.

Shock tactics

This is where the writer will try to use shocking imagery or statements in order surprise or horrify the reader.

How it works

This is effective because it will shock the reader into action. If the reader is surprised or horrified by something, they will remember it and it is likely to cause an emotional response that will make them react.

Statistics (and facts)

Statistics are numbers or facts that are used to provide convincing information.

How it works

A writer will use these as a tool to convince the reader about something. The reader will feel that they cannot argue with facts and that the statistics prove what the writer is saying. Statistics are used to convince a reader and to add factual weight to an argument.

Quotations and expert opinions

Quotations are used when a writer brings in some information from another person, sometimes an expert, or from another article and 'quotes' what is said by someone else.

How it works

By using quotations from other people to back up what is being said or promoted, it will make the argument seem much more appealing. If other people, particularly experts, believe in something, this tool can be used to convince the reader that it must be right.

Whenever you write about the language features being used to persuade, it is important to look at as many of these features as possible. It is important to explain how each is being used so that you are able to evaluate how the writer persuades the reader on every level.

Using the PEA or IDEAS technique to structure your analysis will help with this.

PEA stands for:

• Point - When planning a piece of writing, based on something you've read, you first need to come up with the point of your argument.
• Evidence (a quotation) - Once you have decided on the point that you want to make, you will then need to show evidence from the text which backs up your point.
• Analysis - A closing statement, showing the outcome of your argument.

If you want to expand on your analysis of a text and add your own personal opinions, you can use the IDEAS format:

• Identify - Give your opinion about how you think the writer wants the reader to respond to a text along with a quotation to support your view. "I think… because it says 'quotation'”
• Describe - Describe why the quotation supports your view. "This shows… because…"
• Explore - Offer an alternative explanation, saying what else the quotation might tell us. Use tentative words like could or might. “It could also mean …because… “. Or build further by using more quotations to support your argument. "This impression is enhanced by…"
• Analyse - Focus on individual words or phrases to say how and why they are effective in relation to what you have identified the writer as trying to do. “The word ‘……’ is effective because…”
• aSess - Show that you can prove what the writer’s intentions might have been because you can link this same theme or idea to other parts of the text: “The writer may have done this because…”

Every text is intended to affect its readers in some way.

Every reader is, of course, different too, and sometimes a text will affect you in ways a writer didn't imagine, or you might notice depth in it that others won't.

This is particularly true if the text matches your personal experience. A story about your home town might interest you more than one about somewhere else, or a text about smoking might affect you more if you know somebody who is trying to give up.

Remember, you will be rewarded for noticing the intended effect on the reader. Even if something doesn't interest, horrify, amuse or persuade you, you need to identify what the writer meant to do. It is usually better not to mention your personal opinion unless you are asked to.

In this worksheet are some persuasive techniques discussed in this section. You will need to be able to spot them in a text and identify what effect they are meant to have on the reader. Copy and keep this worksheet by downloading this useful table and fill in examples of each technique in the middle column

If you prefer, you could copy the information onto flashcards instead of keeping the table format, writing the technique and effect on one side and collecting examples on the other for easy revision.