Cognate strategies are ways of framing, expressing, and representing a message to an audience; these strategies are techniques designed to pass on knowledge to the audience. Cognate strategies are interdisciplinary, in a sense that they could be applied to numerous different mediums. Furthermore, they could be used with the speech, writing, or other electronic media, like graphic design, in this context “cognate”, might mean universal or general.
The nine cognate strategies are classified along three subgroups:
Ethical appeal—Ethos: the source's credibility, the speaker's/author's authority
Emotional—Pathos: the emotional or motivational appeals; vivid language, emotional language and numerous sensory details.
Logical—Logos: the logic…show more content… The tone is the general impression the audience will receive from the speaker or writer, and they will decide fairly quickly whether to listen, or simply find something more stimulating to do. (McLean, 2010).
Example:
When I have to explain certain things, or problems to the other people; I strive to be aware of the tone of my voice, and my body language. I control my speech to be smooth, and I avoid a sudden stops and unnecessary fluctuations in the voice. Likewise, I pay attention to the choice of the words, and expressions, when I apply it to the writing.
2. Clarity
When we think about the clarity either in speech, or in writing, most of the time we refer to a way by which to send the message to the audience. That way, must be clear of any obstructions, mispronounced or misspelled words, create barriers between the speaker and the audience; more than that, any ideas which are not explained clearly, will create confusion, and not clarity. Together with the spoken and written word, any visual elements might clarify or cloud the message; so can jargon, slang, and noise in the room. (McLean,…show more content… Additionally, I avoid using confusing expressions, or non-standard usage of the English language, which might be difficult to comprehend by non-American speakers.
3. Credibility
It certainly helps to build a credibility with audience by displaying a personal relationship with the topic at hand; if you write on the subjects related to IT, or a business, you will sound credible if you are an expert in one of those fields. (McLean, 2010).
Example:
Some of the writing that I have done had been on the topic of a job-site safety; I might consider myself acquainted with the subject, since I have attended a number of seminars, and classes related to that field.
4. Expectation
The audience will expect something tangible from the writer or speaker. If the writer decides to write on the subject of “Building websites with a WordPress”, the reader won’t be expecting any humor in the text, or a personal stories concerning the writer’s last vacation’s adventures; at least not in excessive amounts. (McLean, 2010).