What is Ethos? Nine Ways Authors Use Ethos in Writing (and Other Mediums of  Persuasion)

In many college English classes, students are asked to use ethos in their writing and/or to analyze another author’s use of ethos through a rhetorical analysis. Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher who studied the art of effective communication (also called “rhetoric”), found that effective persuasion comes down to the use of three specific rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos. He claimed that in order to effectively convince an audience of their ideas, a person must appeal to their audience’s logic (logos), emotions (pathos), and ethics (ethos).

Ethos’ meaning tends to be the most confusing to people. What does ethos mean? Let’s start with the basic “ethos” definition: ethos is an appeal to ethics. This definition of ethos doesn’t adequately capture the complexity of this rhetorical appeal, but it is a good starting definition. It is true that a writer who uses ethos is attempting to appeal to the ethics of their readers, as an ethical reader will only accept an idea if that idea is credible and if the author of the idea seems to have good character. So ethos is more about how the author builds their credibility and the credibility of their idea(s) to appeal to their readers. A credible author will come off as being trustworthy, informed, appropriately critical and analytical, and fair. 

Let’s discuss nine ways authors use ethos in writing, along with some ethos examples:

Citing sources of ideas 

One way to use ethos is to cite sources of ideas. Any amount of plagiarism—in which an author intentionally or unintentionally claims another author’s ideas or words as their own—damages that author’s credibility. By claiming someone else’s ideas or words as their own, an author is deceiving their readers, taking credit for something they did not create. In contrast, by showing readers the sources of their ideas or words, an author is helping readers to see where those ideas or words come from. This also gives readers the option to locate and learn more about those sources so that they can see how credible those sources are.

Writers often use style guides, such as APA Style, to document their sources consistently and in a way that makes it easy for readers to both gain an understanding of and locate those sources. 

Example of strong ethos: According to research done by two literacy experts, Simon and Klein (2021), “The use of graphic-novel adaptations in the reading classroom substantially increased both student comprehension and engagement” (p. 4). 

Using ethical sources

Authors should strive to use ethical sources. Sources should be informed, credible, relevant, and more. Sources that are intentionally misleading or manipulative, contain mis- or disinformation (including discredited information), and/or use faulty reasoning are considered unethical. 

Example of strong versus weak ethos: A research-based argument about the benefits of weightlifting should use strong sources to back up its claims. Research by a biophysicist who studies exercise science and who has several publications and a prestigious position at a research institution will have more credibility than a celebrity who does weightlifting occasionally, finds it beneficial, and posts on social media about it.

College instructors usually ask students to use “academic” sources in their research-based writing; these are most often considered to be peer-reviewed sources that are published in academic journals. Published books that have undergone the peer review process are considered academic, as well. During the peer-review process, the peers of the author (who are academics in the same field) will assess the quality of the author’s manuscript. If there are any potential issues that can’t be easily fixed, the manuscript won’t be published. For example, if the manuscript involves a study that uses inappropriate or misleading research methods, the study won’t be published. Peer-reviewed sources are considered credible because they undergo this level of scrutiny.

There are times when using other sources besides academic sources is perfectly justifiable, but you will still want to make sure that these sources are ethical if you are using them to support your ideas. Make sure that the sources add value to your ideas and that whoever has authored them has a background that makes their views on the subject worthy. 

Using sources ethically

Authors should also use sources ethically. Using sources ethically means taking pains to represent sources with accuracy and integrity. Writers who misrepresent their sources might take quotes out of context, paraphrase their source inaccurately, and/or misinterpret sources and draw false conclusions from them. 

Some writers who misrepresent sources just don’t understand what the source is truly saying, which could lead them to do things like cherry-picking specific quotes that seem to support their personal ideas. In other cases, writers might be purposely misrepresenting a source so that it supports their argument. Misrepresenting sources damages your credibility as a writer and causes readers to distrust everything else you’ve written. 

Example of weak ethos: According to research on spanking, “spanking is an effective form of punishment.” ←This line takes a quote out of context in order to mislead readers. Here’s what the source actually says: “Those in favor of spanking believe spanking is an effective form of discipline, but decades of research shows that children who are spanked experience several negative developmental outcomes.”

Explaining sources when necessary

In some cases, writers may need to explain their sources to their readers so that their readers can understand those sources. Doing this will help readers to trust and accept those sources. 

To explain a source, a writer might explain various aspects of that source, depending on the nature of the source. They might explain 1) who the author or entity responsible for the source is and what their credentials are, 2) what the source type is, 3) which methodology the author/entity used to perform research and draw conclusions, 4) when the research was conducted, and 5) where the research was published.

Critical readers will often be further swayed with more information about a source. For example, consider this statistic: ”Fifteen percent of women experience insomnia.” A critical reader will immediately wonder: how was this statistic found? If this information is not included, a critical reader might wonder if there is a reason the information is not concluded. Was the study size too small—did it only include 50 women? Was the study as representative of women as it could be, or did the study only collect information on certain groups of women? Providing readers with extra information about the source, including information about the research methods, will help them to understand the source’s limitations while giving them reason to trust the source (if the source is trustworthy to begin with). 

Example of strong ethos: “Glynn and Heinz, both psychiatrists interested in the ways insomnia impacts women, performed a cross sectional study involving 10,000 women from various demographics across the United States. Their study revealed that up to 15% of women experience insomnia.”

Acknowledging and addressing other viewpoints

Acknowledging and addressing other viewpoints is one of the other best ways to build ethos, especially in argumentative writing. When authors acknowledge the other side(s) of an argument, they are showing their readers/listeners/viewers that they have thought long and hard about all sides of the argument, and that through this acknowledgement, they have still come to see their side of the argument as being the best. “Best” here can mean anything from “most ethical” to “most financially feasible” to “most law-abiding”—it depends on the argument. The important thing to recognize is this: to acknowledge other viewpoints does not necessarily mean to disprove or discredit those viewpoints (though sometimes, it can mean this). In many cases, authors will find other viewpoints to be valid. 

Example of strong ethos:  “While Lanson’s proposed solution to build a new parking garage would provide more parking for students, his solution is expensive and does not fit into the university’s budget. My solution to offer students public transportation vouchers is less costly and will also encourage students to use public transportation, which will aid in the reduction of carbon emissions from individual vehicles.” 

Avoiding logical fallacies

Authors who use faulty logic damage their ethos, while authors who avoid logical fallacies come off as being more reasonable and trustworthy. Logical fallacies are flaws in an author’s reasoning that undermine their ideas. Flawed reasoning can be proven untrue or can be shown to be manipulative and misleading, so when an author uses this kind of reasoning, they come off as being unreliable or untrustworthy. 

There are various kinds of logical fallacies that people use, especially in arguments. For example, an ad hominem attack is a fallacy in which an author attacks an opponent’s character even if the aspect of the opponent’s character has nothing to do with the opponent’s argument. This fallacy attempts to manipulate the audience into 1) disliking the opponent (often by evoking emotions like fear and disgust) and 2) unfairly dismissing the author’s argument. 

Example of weak ethos: “There is evidence that Watson did drugs in high school, which means he is a bad person, which means his argument against capitalism is bad!” ← Watson’s alleged high school drug use has nothing to do with his views on capitalism; this logic clearly intends to manipulate readers into disliking Watson in order to get them to dismiss his views.

Demonstrating strong character

Authors demonstrate their personal character through their writing. Authors can demonstrate character traits through the treatment of their sources, the acknowledgment or lack of acknowledgement of counterarguments, and the use or avoidance of logical fallacies, as shown above. Authors can also demonstrate character through their language use. The use of certain language can damage an author’s credibility by revealing negative character traits; conversely, language use can also demonstrate positive character traits. 

Example of weak ethos: If an author argues in favor of mass incarceration but uses racist language in their argument, readers might think their views on incarceration are primarily motivated by racism. 

Sometimes, an author’s ethos is built off the page / beyond the source they’ve authored. Authors and other entities (like publishers, organizations, etc.) portray their professional character through the documentation of their accomplishments and through other self-descriptions (for example, researchers describe themselves through researcher biographies, and companies portray their character and ethos through their value and mission statements). 

Authors and other entities can also be judged for actions outside of their documented professional accomplishments and self-described character attributes. For example, an author who does something in their personal life that seems to contradict their professional representation might have their credibility called into question. A company who claims to be environmentally friendly but is found to engage in practices damaging to the environment will also have their ethos called into question. A medical researcher who has been discredited and lost their license won’t be considered a trustworthy source.

Example of weak ethos: An author of a book on marriage advice who advocates for lifelong commitment and shuns divorce but who later gets a divorce will be called a hypocrite, and readers will question if the advice from the book “really works.”

Disclosing conflicts of interest

Ethical authors will always disclose any potential conflicts of interest so that readers can determine if those conflicts of interests impact the credibility of the writing. Researchers who publish their studies in academic journals, for example, are required to disclose conflicts of interest in the publication. A conflict of interest is a situation that raises questions about whether the writer’s and/or any other associated party’s actions, judgment, and/or decision-making are truly unbiased and objective. Here’s an example: let’s say a scientist is publishing research on the effects of cigarettes, but he’s received the bulk of his funding from a company that produces cigarettes. This situation would raise some questions. Is the research totally honest, or did the company’s investment create some financial incentives for the researcher to consciously or unconsciously create a biased study or draw biased conclusions that are more favorable to the effects of cigarettes than they should be? The researcher should disclose this information to let the readers draw conclusions for themselves.

Most conflicts of interest involve financial or commercial interests (as the above example does), but other interests could create conflicts of interest, as well. For example, if someone writes a book review, and the book they are reviewing is authored by their friend, the friendship creates a conflict of interest, as it immediately calls into question whether or not the reviewer has objectively reviewed the book. 

When an author openly acknowledges a conflict of interest, they provide more transparency, which can be an important part of ethos. 

Example of strong ethos: A conflict of interest statement might say something like, “Emilie Grant and Yoon Lee declare no conflicts of interest. Richard Hughes is employed by the study’s sponsor.”

Being a strong writer

Finally, being a strong writer makes an author come off as more credible. The main reason for this is that a strong writer can make their argument understandable and accessible to their intended audience. An audience who doesn’t understand an argument because it is worded, formatted, or structured inadequately won’t find that argument’s author to be trustworthy; rather, they will be distracted by the ineffective elements of the argument and might deem the author to be uninformed or unintelligent. 

How to write, argue, and analyze using ethos

To write persuasively using ethos, be sure to do each of the things listed above, such as avoiding fallacies, using ethical sources, and addressing other viewpoints. To analyze another author’s use of ethos, you can use the criteria discussed above. Ask yourself: does the author cite their sources? Do they use their sources ethically? Do they use ethical sources? Do they disclose conflicts of interest? 

I hope you enjoyed this post! If you’d like me to delve more deeply into any of these topics, or if you have any questions regarding ethos, please drop a comment below!