College Degrees and Why it is Beneficial in seeking a Degree
The topic I have chosen for the persuasive speech is ‘college degrees and why it is beneficial in the contemporary world.’ Through this topic, I seek to educate or sensitize people on the benefits of upgrading a college diploma into a college degree. The biggest advantage of acquiring a college degree is the opportunities that come with it (Norton & Martini, 2017). A college degree can open many doors with better paying opportunities compared to a college diploma. A college degree leads to higher financial gains.
My target audience is working-class people who were employed using their college diplomas. Many of these people are looking for opportunities to better their lives through better jobs. A college degree is the surest way for this group of people to upgrade their lives (Lopez, 2017). I also target this group because they have already obtained the necessary experience which means when they upgrade their college education into a degree, some of them may automatically qualify for higher job positions based on their prior learning. Figures by the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that people with a bachelor’s degree earn almost $2 million annually, while associate degree holders earn $ 1.5 million annually. Diploma holders and high school graduates earn $1.2 million annually during their careers (Abramitzky et al., 2018). As seen from the figures above, acquiring a college degree rewards better compared to non-degree status.
In this speech, I will use numerous pathos and logos to create an appealing speech. In a persuasive speech, logos are particularly important as they convey a message using facts that the audience can easily understand. I will employ the use of facts, data, charts, and graphs. These instruments will allow me to create a logical appeal to my audience. Besides, the logos will make the speech informative and educative. Concerning pathos, I will use words or phrases that appeal to the emotions of my audience. The work of pathos is to invoke emotions in the audience to direct them towards making reasonable choices based on the speech.
There are numerous ways to avoid defective persuasion. One critical way I will use to get rid of defective persuasion is by leveraging as much evidence as possible. A persuasive speech without any evidence to back up what one is saying is defective. Similarly, I will use only verified evidence and not distorted evidence. This way, the audience can verify my claims, and the facts add to the credibility of my speech. Other ways I will use to avoid defective persuasion is by avoiding the use of isolated examples and examples that are non-representative.
To boost the validity and the believability of my speech, I will use research materials as evidence to support my claims. I have chosen these three research materials for my speech as follows. Perceived Benefits of an Undergraduate Degree (2017) by Norton and Martini. The second article I will use to back up my evidence is Measuring College Value (2018) by CC. Lopez. The last research article research article I will use is The Effect of Changes in the Skill Premium on College Degree Attainment and the Choice of Major by Abramitzky, Lavy, and Segev and published in 2019.
References
- Abramitzky, R., Lavy, V., & Segev, M. (2019). The effect of changes in the skill premium on college degree attainment and the choice of major (No. w26420). National Bureau of Economic Research.
- López, C. C. (2018). Measuring college value. Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 10(1-2), 161-174. Retrieved from https://web.b.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=19472900&AN=130633640&h=ezGBVtctnrKWQ1vkhc%2bhwabna28QRtmVSyhL1yPmwD8DgkzAzBb7x2DqiSwuK0R6z%2b7DlRa%2bi9vh65HBGeVobw%3d%3d&crl=f&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d19472900%26AN%3d130633640
- Norton, C., & Martini, T. (2017). Perceived Benefits of an Undergraduate Degree. Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8(1). https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/cjsotl_rcacea/index