Persuasion In Technical Communication: Applying Elaboration Likelihood Model To Marketing Brochures  

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) is a cognitive theory offering insights into persuasion and attitude change that technical communicators can apply to persuasive documents. The two routes to persuasion that ELM postulates (central and peripheral) closely parallel and expand a concept with which many technical communicators are familiar: attention and attraction in document design. By applying ELM to writing and designing marketing brochures, writers can identify and address the many variables that influence the central and peripheral route persuasion processes and, thereby, create more persuasive, effective documents.

Shuffield, Cathy A. STC Proceedings (1994). Presentations>Rhetoric>TC>Persuasive Design