To most of us it sounds surprising to use personal testimony in this type of essay, but trust me, it can throw an impression that nothing else in an essay service can. Are you still wondering why we use such testimonies in our cause and effect essay? Continue reading this then.
Testimonies in essay writing can serve multiple purposes, however, most powerfully, they really tend to accentuate the emotional appeals of readers. They are the most powerful tool to make the audience agree with the thesis statement.
Why Would Personal Testimonies Be Used In A Cause-And-Effect Essay?
Personal testimonies are used in such an essay to depict the feeling of physical, emotional, and actual happenings. By doing this, the writer is in close coordination with the audience and they not only feel connected to the writer, but also agree to what the writer wants to convey the cause and effect essay topic. Hence, the writer has to be inventive in his approach to make the audience feel what the writer is conveying. Personal testimonies can be used to:
- Prove or disprove the effectiveness of a cause or effect. This can be used as anecdotal evidence.
- Provide elaboration in your essay through personal experiences.
- Help revise our paragraphs
- To narrow the topic down of your essay
- Identify the purpose of the overall essay.
Ensure the following to include your testimonies:
- Use of solid language
- Story telling
- Do consider connotations
- Visual appeals
Let’s discuss these in decent details:
Use Of Solid Language
A strong and concrete language is what will make your testimonies succeed in its goals. This can be done through the use of clear grammar, strong vocabulary, and use of words such as “it is evident”, “the powerful belief is that”, “the case clearly states that”, etc. action-oriented verbs and title of the subject is really useful too. So do the parallel sentence elements contribute to the goodness of testimonies. Also this use will show the audience how your emotions influence your decisions .
The advice would be to “show” rather than “tell” the readers because this is what values the most. So, when you are emphasizing on something very useful, try not to let your evidence in the essay go without relatable, and clear testimonies.
Story Telling
By storytelling, we do not mean to fantasize, exaggerate, or dramatize something. Storytelling means you relate something to your audience. Wondering why? It encourages the audience to identify themselves with someone who is “like-them”. It can be very effective but not always. Because if we emphasize something over and over again, it loses its effect. Hence, we have to be very careful while telling a story to the audience as a testimony because this can affect our perfect essay writing as well.
Do Consider Connotations
Not just denotation should be considered, connotation should also be given serious attention. Connotation might not be a formal definition, but still, it’s the most powerful definition of a word, phrase, or terms. It doesn’t matter to use denotation only when the audience gives considerable attention to the word choice.
For example:
Banning the use of CFC for the betterment of the environment also “sounds economic” because of the availability of good substitutes. However, at the same time, it proved “fatally flawed” to the equipment in which it is used.
Both of the words, connotation and denotation fits perfectly here and does its job exactly; as you can see it yourself.
Visual Appeals
Make sure the testimonies that you use are emotionally appealing to the audience. But how can it be appealing? Through the use of elements that are more visual. Such as the use of words “calming”, “spicy”, “rough”, “loud”, etc.
If you want your testimonies to be approved and sound strong, it should appeal visually to the audience. This kind of appeal can be used for a much broader topic and even professional audience as well, as it can be extremely important in many cases.
Considerations Before Using Testimony
Before giving your testimony, ask the following from yourself:
- Am I quoting the testimony relevantly and accurately?
- Is the testimony a biased one? If yes then in what way is it biased?
- Is the testimony I am providing given by an expert, respected, and competent person? Or if it is personal experience, how am I going to state it in an effective way?
- What is the currency of the testimony that I’m using?
- What will be the response of the audience toward the testimony that I’m using?
Types Of Testimonies To Be Used In Cause-And-Effect Essay
There are usually two types of testimonies, but more often, a personal testimony is added to the list in addition to the other two. Let’s look into the list:
- Expert testimony
- Peer testimony
- Personal testimony
Let’s dive into their details:
Expert Testimony
As the name suggests, expert testimony is given by a person who is, or considered as expert by his training, education, skills, certification, or experience in a particular area. Similarly, it is considered that experts have knowledge beyond that of a normal, typical person, so their testimony does carry a considerable weight. However, even if the experts have knowledge in a particular area, his testimony can also be called into question or can be held questionable by some evidence, facts, or other experts. However, the use of such testimony is always a good idea. Furthermore, knowing how to write a cause and effect essay outline will strengthen the overall value of the testimony.
Peer Testimony
Peer testimony is the opposite of experts’ testimony. It is given by a person who does not have any experience and skills in a particular subject matter. Hence, the people who provide peer testimony are referred to as “anti-authority”, because they will hold the authority into question or their view might be opposite to the authorities.
The person providing the testimony, however, can not be an expert in that area. But he might have the experience or personal connection with that issue in hand. Critical, but peer testimony can be a very powerful tool to persuade the audience, especially when the testimony is provided by a well-known or liked person, celebrity, leader etc. but, be aware that it can be held into question anytime.
Personal Testimony
Although personal testimony is regarded as peer testimony, the separation has to be done because of some dis-similarities. You might have an experience with an issue at hand such as you might have faced the consequences of global warming or ozone hole in the face of drought or skin burn respectively. Stating these testimonies can be very effective and powerful as you have the live experience of the issue at hand.
Conclusion
The use of personal testimonies in cause-and-effect essay topics can be for many different reasons. The most obvious of these are to sound realistic, elaborative, and agreeable. Although a great idea, testimony can be held into question sometimes. Avoiding this situation requires us to have a good grip on our language, be appealing visually to the audience, use denotation as well as connotation as required.