Deploying Evidence

1. Strategies for Deploying Evidence Effectively

When using evidential appeals in your persuasive speech, make sure to deploy evidence strategically in order to most effectively argue your point.

As you craft your persuasive speech, ask yourself the following questions.

term to know

Evidence

The available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid.

1a. Is My Evidence Accurate?

It can't hurt to double check. Make sure that your evidence, be it facts, statistics, personal testimony, or other pieces of information, comes from credible sources.

How do you know if it's a credible source? If they are well-known, respected leaders or sources of information in a given field, you can be fairly confident in their credibility.

As for web sources, make sure the site you are accessing is impartial and unbiased. It's also helpful to anticipate any questions your audience may have about your evidence, including any challenges they may make to its credibility or accuracy.

term to know

Accuracy

Exact conformity to truth, or to a rule or model; degree of conformity of a measure to a true or standard value.

1b. Is My Evidence Relevant?

Just how well does your evidence actually back up your argument? Just because it might be believable to you does not mean it will be as compelling to another. That disconnect might occur when your evidence is not actually relevant to your argument.

Make sure your evidence is directly related to the points you are trying to make. Likewise, your audience may have evidence of their own to contradict your line of reasoning; anticipate these contradictions and argue your point with evidence to counter their disagreements.

In short, keep your evidence relevant, but make sure to have more up your sleeve if needed to further prove your point.

1c. Is My Evidence Thorough?

Sometimes your case may not be compelling simply because you haven't fully supported your thesis. Your evidence may only skim the surface.

It's a fine balance between thoroughly explaining and defining your evidence to your audience and overwhelming them in the process. In this regard, it's important to have a comprehensive understanding about the knowledge base of your audience.

Let the lowest level of understanding in your audience dictate how thorough you need to be; at the same time, don't over-explain or get into so much depth that you lose more of your audience than you win over.

term to know

Thorough

Painstaking and careful not to miss or omit any detail.