My Rhetorical Strategies

I used allusion in my attention-getter paragraph. I used this rhetorical strategy because of the type of audience I am delivering my speech to. For this speech, my audiences are student and teacher. As student and teacher, they should have some knowledge on who Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Seuss, and Thomas Edison is. By using allusion in my introduction, I am hoping that it will grab my audience’s attention by making reference to significant historical figure they are familiar with. By doing this, my audiences will have a deeper understanding of what my speech is going to be on and the ideas I am trying to convey. When incorporating allusions into my speech, I had to think about my audiences. Making reference to historical figures such as Fred Astaire, Charles Darwin, or Lucille Ball who my audience are not familiar with will only lead to confusion. Thus, it was a challenge to choose the right historical figures. I was successful in knowing where to use allusion. I believe that using allusion in the introduction is the best way to get the audience’s attention.

I used this rhetorical strategy to emphasize the important points in my speech and to get my audiences thinking. By using a rhetorical question toward the end of my introduction, I am hoping it would keep my audience engaged and thinking as I transition from my introduction to my personal story. In attempt to use this strategy, it was challenging for me to not use a rhetorical question that the audience can answer with a yes or no, such as “Have you ever failed before?”. I was successful in using the rhetorical question as a transition from my introduction paragraph to my body paragraph. I was able to transition to a new idea, while keeping my audience engaged to