Writing and Rhetoric ch 6

So we were assigned to read chapter 6 and make a post on here and so i did and now i am. I found this section to be very helpful, before i was a little confused on how to actually formulate an argument, i thought i was just supposed to pick an audience and then write a bunch of facts about the subject that maybe would persuade them. However this is not how to do it, the chapter explains how it is important to use different topics like defining, comparing, contradictions, or precedents to formulate what it is that is being argued. The chapter also explains how to decide where to start an argument, it says to focus on the audiences stases. A stasis is a place where an argument can stand. The four stases are fact, definition, quality, and procedure, depending what the audience believes about a subject determines where to start the argument. It uses the example of a congressman in the sense to look to see if they believe in what you are arguing and if they don't you wouldn't start at the fact stasis but instead you would open the argument with a definition. Using these helps to make sure that the argument is focused because if not you are speaking past the audience and in turn making them uninterested.