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Oscar Hernandez

Professor Beadle

English 115

9 December 2019

How to Write an Effective Article using the Rhetorical Strategies:

A Case Study of the Works of Brooks, Hill and Lyubomirsky

In today’s modern world, many people are becoming less happy due to a variety of

factors such as an increase in the global population and an increase in the time spent using

electronic devices. The three authors, David Brooks, Graham Hill, and Sonja Lyubomirsky

provide their own arguments as to how one can be happier. Although their approaches to the

topic are different, they all use different rhetorical strategies to help support their argument. The

article titled “How Happy are You and Why” by Sonja Lyubomirsky presents the most effective

argument out of the three because she uses all rhetorical strategies effectively to support her

claim while Hill relies heavily on his personal experiences and Brooks lacks an emotional

connection to his audience.

Throughout her article, Lyubomirsky argues that some people tend to be happier than

others as genetics has a huge role in how happy one can be, along with intentional activity. She

uses the rhetorical strategy of Logos, which is evident in her use of Pie charts and bar graphs. In

her pie chart, she demonstrates the factors that lead to happiness and how much of an impact

they have on it. Meanwhile, her bar graph displays happiness in different generations which can

help the reader gain a better understanding of how happy people truly are. The data that she
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provides in her article is crucial in making her argument more effective as it shows that not only

is she well informed about the topic that she is discussing but she has evidence to back up her

claim. Another rhetorical strategy that she utilizes is Ethos which can also be seen through the

data that she provides. The scientific data that she uses helps establish credibility in her article as

the sources of that data are credible sources. For the bar graph, data is taken from Proper Insights

& Analytics, and throughout the rest of the article, she provides more scientific discoveries taken

from credible sources. She also establishes credibility through her qualifications which are

mentioned in the biography present before the article which shows the audience that she is

qualified to speak about the things in the article. The use of Ethos in her article helps make her

argument more effective as she has credible sources to support her claim which makes her more

credible which allows the readers to trust in what she has to say more. Finally, she uses the

rhetorical strategy of Pathos, which is evident in the use of her case studies. In one of them, she

writes, “Randy endured a lot as a child. He lost two people close to him to suicide, at age twelve

his father and at age seventeen his best friend… today Randy is one of those happy people that

make everyone around them smile and laugh” (pp. 181). This quote demonstrates how

Lyubomirsky utilizes these personal stories to get the reader to react in a more emotional way to

her reading. By using the personal experiences in her article, she can get the reader to relate to

the people in her case studies which makes them trust agree with her claim more. While

Lyubomirsky uses all three rhetorical strategies to support her argument, David Brooks does not

use them all which causes his argument to be less effective.

In David Brook’s article titled, “What Suffering Does”, he argues that although there is a

negative connotation with suffering, it can be positive as it is valuable in shaping the way people

are. As the article begins, it is evident that Brooks uses the rhetorical strategy of Ethos in the first
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lines, “Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself in a bunch of conversations in which the

unspoken assumption was that the main goal of life is to maximize happiness…” (pp. 284). This

quote is important as Brooks describes how he has spoken to many people prior to writing the

article to gain more information about the topic which makes him more credible. Even the

diction that is used throughout the article, the more advanced vocabulary that is used, as well as

the serious tone, helps add to his credibility. Before the article begins, there is a biography which

mentions how Brooks has taught as prestigious universities such as Yale and Duke which further

adds to his credibility. Brooks also uses the rhetorical strategy of Logos as he incorporates a

variety of historical examples such as, “Abraham Lincoln suffered through the pain of

conducting a civil war, and he came out of that with the second inaugural. He emerged with the

sense that there were deep currents of agony and redemption…” (pp. 286). This quote serves to

show that Brooks’ use of Logos helps make his argument more effective as these historical

examples help support his claim and at the same time help establish his credibility. Besides

relying heavily on ethos, one of Brooks’ main flaws is that there in little to no use of Pathos in

his article. The lack of this rhetorical strategy means that he has no emotional connection to his

audience and that can lead to a less effective argument. His overwhelming use of ethos in the

article, such as the use of more sophisticated language and tone, leads to having a certain

audience, a more educated one, which means that his article is meant for a small group of people

whereas the articles of Lyubomirsky and Hill are for the general population. Like Brooks, Hill

also does not use the rhetorical strategies to their full potential leading to a less effective article.

In his article, “Living with Less. A Lot Less”, Graham Hill argues that being less

materialistic leads to being happier. Hill uses the rhetorical strategy of Pathos throughout the

entirety of the article as he talks about his own experiences. This can make his argument more
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effective as he relies more on his emotions and therefore can connect with his audience easier.

He states, “…in a frenzy of consumption, bought a brand-new sectional couch (my first ever), a

pair of $300 sunglasses, a ton of gadgets…” (Hill, 308-309). This quote shows how he went out

an purchased new products, and these are experiences that everyone has in common, so he is able

to connect more with his audience by including this in his article. By talking about his own

experiences with being materialistic, he is able to make his audience relate with him more easily

which can help strengthen his argument. Hill also uses the rhetorical strategy of Ethos as he

establishes his credibility through talking about how he has dealt with the issue he is writing

about. Unlike Brooks, Hill uses more simplistic language which means that more people can

understand what he is trying to argue, making his article more effective which is evident in the

quote provided earlier. Although Hill did utilize Logos by providing facts such as how the size

of American home had increased drastically during the past sixty years, most of his article was

dominated by his experiences If he relied less on his own experiences and used more facts, then

his article would have been as effective as Lyubomirsky’s article. Another of his major flaws is

that most of his audience has never been in the same situation as him and for that reason they

cannot relate with him. Hill discusses how buying many products never made him happy but

once he stopped, he became more content with himself. The fact that he uses language that is

simple and easy to understand means that he is trying to appeal to a large audience, but they will

not be able to relate to him as many people have not been fortunate enough to be in a similar

situation.

Sonja Lyubomirsky’s article was the most effective out of the three as she uses all the

rhetorical strategies in a perfectly balanced manner to help support her argument. To make an

argument more effective it is important that the rhetorical strategies are utilized especially in a
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balanced way. If one was to rely heavily on one of the rhetorical strategies, they miss out on the

opportunities in making their argument more effective by utilizing the others. It is also very

important that one considers the audience, the audience should be able to relate with what the

reader is saying, as it will help the audience be interested in the subject matter of the article.

Hill’s mistake was that he relied to much on his own experiences whereas Brooks lacked an

emotional connection to his audience. The two of them made their own arguments less effective

due to the way they used the rhetorical strategies. Unlike those two, Lyubomirsky had the most

effective argument simply because of the way she wrote her article, all three strategies were

used, not relying on one, which allowed for her audience to better understand her claim.
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Works Cited
Brooks, David. “What Suffering Does?” Pursuing Happiness. edited by Matthew Parfitt and
Dawn Skorczewski. Bedford St. Martin 2016. Pp. 284-287.
Hill, Graham. “Living with Less. A Lot Less.” Pursuing Happiness. edited by Matthew Parfitt
and Dawn Skorczewski. Bedford St. Martin 2016. Pp. 208-313.
Lyubomirsky, Sonja. “How Happy Are You and Why?” Pursuing Happiness. edited by Matthew
Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski. Bedford St. Martin 2016. Pp. 179-197.