The Thesis: Putting your Idea Into Words
The most important part of your arguments is its substance that is, the idea you are trying to communicate or the point you are trying to prove. This can usually be summed up in a Thesis: the statement of your argument in a single, declarative sentence. The first step in composing a piece of persuasive speech or writing is to compose this sentence. For example, you might wish to argue the following:
Democracy is the ideal from of government
Once you can state your idea in its simplest terms, you are ready to build an argument around it.
The Modes of Appeal
Since Aristotle, rhetoricians have identified three primary modes of appeal that we may use to persuade an audience. Aristotle called them the "artistic" proofs, because they require art or skill.
The first such as appeal is logos, which is the "appeal to reason"; it uses logical reasoning to convince an audience. For example, you might say the following:
Democracy always promotes the best interests of the majority of people in any decision because everyone in the group can advocate for their interests, and decisions are made by majority consensus.
This kind of statement is an example of what we call deductive reasoning. It makes one or more prepositions and then works through their logical implication. We can understand deductive reasoning by putting it in the form of a syllogism, which is a series of statement that make each proposition explicit:
In a democracy, decisions are made by majority consensus.
While a consensus is being worked out, each person will be able to advocate for his or her own interests.