15.2 Explain how to select and narrow a persuasive topic, identify a persuasive purpose, and develop and support a persuasive proposition.

Your specific persuasive purpose targets your audience’s attitudes, beliefs, values, or behavior. Attitudes are learned predispositions to respond favorably or unfavorably toward something. A belief is one’s sense of what is true or false. Values are enduring conceptions of right or wrong or good or bad. Of the three, attitudes are most susceptible to change, and values are least likely to change. After clarifying your specific purpose, you can word your central idea as a proposition of fact, value, or policy.

Supporting Your Persuasive Message with Credibility, Logic, and Emotion