Academic Vocabulary
ad hominem: Latin for "to the man" this fallacy refers to the specific diversionary tactic of switching the argument from the issue at hand to the character of the other speaker.
ad populum (bandwagon appeal): This fallacy occurs when evidence boils down to "everybody's doing it, so it must be a good thing to do."
Alliteration: Repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence.
Allusion: Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a work of art.
Anaphora: Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.
Antimetabole: Repetition of words in reverse order.
Antithesis: Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction.
Appeal to false authority: This fallacy occurs when someone who has no expertise to speak on an issue is cited as an authority. A TV star, for instance, is not a medical expert, even though pharmaceutical advertisements often use celebrity endorsements.
Appositive: A word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun.
Archaic diction: The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language.
Argument: A statement put forth and supported by evidence
Assertion: An emphatic statement; declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument.
Assumption: A belief or statement taken for granted without proof.
Asyndeton: Omission of conjunction between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.
Attitude: The speaker’s position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone.
Audience: One’s listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed.
Authority: A reliable, respected source—someone with knowledge.
Backing: In the Toulmin model, backing consists of further assurances or data without which the assumption lacks authority.
Begging the question: A fallacy in which a claim is based on evidence or support that is in doubt. It "begs" a question whether the support itself is sound.
Bias: Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue.
Circular reasoning: A fallacy in which the writer repeats the claim as a way to provide evidence.
Cite: Identifying a part of a piece of writing as being derived from a source.
Claim: An assertion, usually supported by evidence.
Claim of fact: A claim of fact asserts that something is true or not true.
Claim of policy: A claim of policy proposes a change.
Claim of value: A claim of value argues that something is good or bad, right or wrong.
Classical oration: Five-part argument structure used by classical rhetoricians. The five parts are:
Closed thesis: A closed thesis is a statement of the main idea of the argument that also previews the major points the writer intends to make.
Close reading: A careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language, sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural elements of a text.
Colloquial/ism: An informal or conversational use of language.
Common ground: Shared beliefs, values, or positions.
Complex sentence: A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
Concession: A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding.
Connotation: That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word’s literal meaning (see denotation).
Context: Words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning.
Counterargument: A challenge to a position; an opposing argument.
Cumulative Sentence: Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on.
Declarative sentence: A sentence that makes a statement.
Deduction: Reasoning from general to specific.
Denotation: The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition.
Diction: Word choice.
Documentation: Bibliographic information about the sources used in a piece of writing.
Either/Or (false dilemma): A fallacy in which the speaker presents two extreme options as the only possible choices.
Ethos: A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see logos and pathos).
Faulty analogy: A fallacy that occurs when an analogy compares two things that are not comparable. For instance to argue that because we put animals who are in irreversible pain out of their misery, we should do the same for people, asks the reader to ignore the significant and profound differences between animals and people.
Figurative language: The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect.
Figure of speech: An expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning.
First-hand evidence: Evidence based on something the writer knows, whether it's from personal experience, observations, or general knowledge of events.
Hasty generalization: A fallacy in which a faulty conclusion is reached because of inadequate evidence.
Horative Sentence: Sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action.
Hyperbole: Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.
Imagery: Vivid use of language that evokes a reader’s senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing).
Imperative sentence: A sentence that requests or commands.
Induction: Reasoning from specific to general.
Inversion: A sentence in which the verb precedes the subject.
Irony: A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result.
Juxtaposition: Placement of two things side by side for emphasis.
Logos: A Greek term that means “word”; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and pathos).
Logical fallacy: Logical fallacies are potential vulnerabilities or weaknesses in an argument. They often arise from a failure to make a logical connection between the claim and the evidence used to support it.
Metaphor: A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison.
Occasion: An aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing.
Open thesis: An open thesis is one that does not list all the points the writer intends to cover in an essay.
Oxymoron: A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms.
Paradox: A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.
Parallelism: The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns.
Parody: A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule.
Pathos: A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos).
Periodic Sentence: Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.
Persona: The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing.
Personification: Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects.
Polemic: Greek for "hostile." An aggressive argument that tries to establish the superiority of one opinion over all others. Polemics generally do not concede that opposing opinions have any merit.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc: This fallacy is Latin for "after which therefore because of which," meaning that it is incorrect to always claim that something is a a cause just because it happened earlier. One may loosely summarize this fallacy by saying that correlation does not imply causation.
Premise: major, minor Two parts of a syllogism. The concluding sentence of a syllogism takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the minor premise. Major premise: All mammals are warm-blooded. Minor premise: All horses are mammals. Conclusion: All horses are warm-blooded (see syllogism).
Propaganda: A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.
Purpose: One’s intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.
Qualifier: In the Toulmin model, the qualifier uses words like usually, probably, maybe, in most cases, and most likely to temper the claim, making it less absolute.
Quantitative evidence: Quantitative evidence includes things that can be measured, cited, counted, or otherwise represented in numbers.
Rebuttal: In the Toulmin model, a rebuttal gives voice to possible objectioins.
Refute: To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.
Reservation: In the Toulmin model, a reservation explains the terms and conditions necessitated by the qualifier.
Rhetoric: The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the “available means of persuasion.”
Rhetorical Appeals: rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling. The three major appeals are to ethos (character), logos (reason), and pathos (emotion).
Rhetorical modes: Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but are not limited to narration, description, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition, exemplification, classification and division, process analysis, and argumentation.
Rhetorical triangle (Aristotelian triangle): A diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, audience, and subject in determining a text.
Rhetorical question: A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.
Rogerian arguments: Developed by psychiatrist Carl Rogers, Rogerian arguments are based on the assumption that having a full understanding of opposing position is essential to responding to it persuasively and refuting it in a way that is accommodating rather than alienating.
Satire: An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it.
Scheme: A pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect.
Second-hand evidence: Evidence that is accessed through research ,reading, and investigation. It includes factual and historical information, expert opinion, and quantitative data.
Sentence patterns: The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.
Sentence variety: Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect.
Simile: A figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things.
Simple sentence: A statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause.
Source: A book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information.
SOAPS: A mnemonic device that stands for Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, and Speaker. It is a handy way to remember the various elements that make up the rhetorical situation.
Speaker: A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.
Straw man: A fallacy that occurs when a speaker chooses a deliberately poor or oversimplified example in order to ridicule and refute and idea.
Style: The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech.
Subject: In rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing.
Subordinate clause: Created by a subordinating conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent clause.
Syllogism: A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor).
Synedoche: Figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole.
Syntax: Sentence structure.
Synthesize: Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex.
Text: While this term generally means the written word in the humanities it has come to mean any cultural product that can be "read" - meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated. This includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, political cartoons, fine art, photography, performances, fashion, cultural trends, and much more.
Thesis: The central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer.
Thesis statement: A statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit.
Tone: The speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience.
Topic sentence: A sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph that announces the paragraph’s idea and often unites it with the work’s thesis.
Toulmin Model: An approach to analyzing and constructing arguments created by British philosphore Stephen Toulmin in his book The Uses of Argument (1958). The Toulmin model template: Because (evidence as support, therefore (claim), since (warrant or assumption), on account of (backing), unless (reservation.
Understatement: Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect.
Voice: In grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice). In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing.
Warrant: In the Toulmin model, the warrant expresses the assumption necessarily shared by the speaker and the audience.
Zeugma: Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous meanings.
ad populum (bandwagon appeal): This fallacy occurs when evidence boils down to "everybody's doing it, so it must be a good thing to do."
Alliteration: Repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence.
Allusion: Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a work of art.
Anaphora: Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.
Antimetabole: Repetition of words in reverse order.
Antithesis: Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction.
Appeal to false authority: This fallacy occurs when someone who has no expertise to speak on an issue is cited as an authority. A TV star, for instance, is not a medical expert, even though pharmaceutical advertisements often use celebrity endorsements.
Appositive: A word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun.
Archaic diction: The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language.
Argument: A statement put forth and supported by evidence
Assertion: An emphatic statement; declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument.
Assumption: A belief or statement taken for granted without proof.
Asyndeton: Omission of conjunction between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.
Attitude: The speaker’s position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone.
Audience: One’s listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed.
Authority: A reliable, respected source—someone with knowledge.
Backing: In the Toulmin model, backing consists of further assurances or data without which the assumption lacks authority.
Begging the question: A fallacy in which a claim is based on evidence or support that is in doubt. It "begs" a question whether the support itself is sound.
Bias: Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue.
Circular reasoning: A fallacy in which the writer repeats the claim as a way to provide evidence.
Cite: Identifying a part of a piece of writing as being derived from a source.
Claim: An assertion, usually supported by evidence.
Claim of fact: A claim of fact asserts that something is true or not true.
Claim of policy: A claim of policy proposes a change.
Claim of value: A claim of value argues that something is good or bad, right or wrong.
Classical oration: Five-part argument structure used by classical rhetoricians. The five parts are:
- introduction (exordium): Introduces the reader to the subject under discussion.
- narration (narratio): Provides factual information and background material on the subject at hand or establishes why the subject is a problem that needs addressing.
- confirmation (confirmatio): Usually the major part of the text, the confirmation includes the proof needed to make the writer's case.
- refutation (refutatio): Addresses the counterargument. It is a bridge between the writer's proof and conclusion.
- conclusion (peroratio): Brings the essay to a satisfying close.
Closed thesis: A closed thesis is a statement of the main idea of the argument that also previews the major points the writer intends to make.
Close reading: A careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language, sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural elements of a text.
Colloquial/ism: An informal or conversational use of language.
Common ground: Shared beliefs, values, or positions.
Complex sentence: A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
Concession: A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding.
Connotation: That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word’s literal meaning (see denotation).
Context: Words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning.
Counterargument: A challenge to a position; an opposing argument.
Cumulative Sentence: Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on.
Declarative sentence: A sentence that makes a statement.
Deduction: Reasoning from general to specific.
Denotation: The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition.
Diction: Word choice.
Documentation: Bibliographic information about the sources used in a piece of writing.
Either/Or (false dilemma): A fallacy in which the speaker presents two extreme options as the only possible choices.
Ethos: A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see logos and pathos).
Faulty analogy: A fallacy that occurs when an analogy compares two things that are not comparable. For instance to argue that because we put animals who are in irreversible pain out of their misery, we should do the same for people, asks the reader to ignore the significant and profound differences between animals and people.
Figurative language: The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect.
Figure of speech: An expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning.
First-hand evidence: Evidence based on something the writer knows, whether it's from personal experience, observations, or general knowledge of events.
Hasty generalization: A fallacy in which a faulty conclusion is reached because of inadequate evidence.
Horative Sentence: Sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action.
Hyperbole: Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.
Imagery: Vivid use of language that evokes a reader’s senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing).
Imperative sentence: A sentence that requests or commands.
Induction: Reasoning from specific to general.
Inversion: A sentence in which the verb precedes the subject.
Irony: A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result.
Juxtaposition: Placement of two things side by side for emphasis.
Logos: A Greek term that means “word”; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and pathos).
Logical fallacy: Logical fallacies are potential vulnerabilities or weaknesses in an argument. They often arise from a failure to make a logical connection between the claim and the evidence used to support it.
Metaphor: A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison.
Occasion: An aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing.
Open thesis: An open thesis is one that does not list all the points the writer intends to cover in an essay.
Oxymoron: A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms.
Paradox: A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.
Parallelism: The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns.
Parody: A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule.
Pathos: A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos).
Periodic Sentence: Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.
Persona: The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing.
Personification: Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects.
Polemic: Greek for "hostile." An aggressive argument that tries to establish the superiority of one opinion over all others. Polemics generally do not concede that opposing opinions have any merit.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc: This fallacy is Latin for "after which therefore because of which," meaning that it is incorrect to always claim that something is a a cause just because it happened earlier. One may loosely summarize this fallacy by saying that correlation does not imply causation.
Premise: major, minor Two parts of a syllogism. The concluding sentence of a syllogism takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the minor premise. Major premise: All mammals are warm-blooded. Minor premise: All horses are mammals. Conclusion: All horses are warm-blooded (see syllogism).
Propaganda: A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.
Purpose: One’s intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.
Qualifier: In the Toulmin model, the qualifier uses words like usually, probably, maybe, in most cases, and most likely to temper the claim, making it less absolute.
Quantitative evidence: Quantitative evidence includes things that can be measured, cited, counted, or otherwise represented in numbers.
Rebuttal: In the Toulmin model, a rebuttal gives voice to possible objectioins.
Refute: To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.
Reservation: In the Toulmin model, a reservation explains the terms and conditions necessitated by the qualifier.
Rhetoric: The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the “available means of persuasion.”
Rhetorical Appeals: rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling. The three major appeals are to ethos (character), logos (reason), and pathos (emotion).
Rhetorical modes: Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but are not limited to narration, description, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition, exemplification, classification and division, process analysis, and argumentation.
Rhetorical triangle (Aristotelian triangle): A diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, audience, and subject in determining a text.
Rhetorical question: A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.
Rogerian arguments: Developed by psychiatrist Carl Rogers, Rogerian arguments are based on the assumption that having a full understanding of opposing position is essential to responding to it persuasively and refuting it in a way that is accommodating rather than alienating.
Satire: An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it.
Scheme: A pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect.
Second-hand evidence: Evidence that is accessed through research ,reading, and investigation. It includes factual and historical information, expert opinion, and quantitative data.
Sentence patterns: The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.
Sentence variety: Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect.
Simile: A figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things.
Simple sentence: A statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause.
Source: A book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information.
SOAPS: A mnemonic device that stands for Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, and Speaker. It is a handy way to remember the various elements that make up the rhetorical situation.
Speaker: A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.
Straw man: A fallacy that occurs when a speaker chooses a deliberately poor or oversimplified example in order to ridicule and refute and idea.
Style: The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech.
Subject: In rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing.
Subordinate clause: Created by a subordinating conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent clause.
Syllogism: A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor).
Synedoche: Figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole.
Syntax: Sentence structure.
Synthesize: Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex.
Text: While this term generally means the written word in the humanities it has come to mean any cultural product that can be "read" - meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated. This includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, political cartoons, fine art, photography, performances, fashion, cultural trends, and much more.
Thesis: The central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer.
Thesis statement: A statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit.
Tone: The speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience.
Topic sentence: A sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph that announces the paragraph’s idea and often unites it with the work’s thesis.
Toulmin Model: An approach to analyzing and constructing arguments created by British philosphore Stephen Toulmin in his book The Uses of Argument (1958). The Toulmin model template: Because (evidence as support, therefore (claim), since (warrant or assumption), on account of (backing), unless (reservation.
Understatement: Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect.
Voice: In grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice). In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing.
Warrant: In the Toulmin model, the warrant expresses the assumption necessarily shared by the speaker and the audience.
Zeugma: Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous meanings.