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Rhetorical Situations (Fall 2024)
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Rhetorical Situations
Professor Henning
ENC1101
Introduction to Composition
Definition
The rhetorical situation is the context in which writing, or another type of communication, takes place. This context helps shape what we write, how we write, to whom we write, and so on.
What Are Rhetorical Situations?
"Rhetoric" is a term you will come across frequently in this class and other college classes. Merriam-Webster defines rhetoric in the following ways:
1: the art of speaking or writing effectively: such as
a: the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times;
b: the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion
2: a: skill in the effective use of speech;
b: a type or mode of language or speech; also: insincere or grandiloquent language
3: verbal communication or discourse
Because nothing we or others write exists in a vacuum!
Why Does Analyzing Rhetorical Situations Matter?
The Intersection Between Writer, Subject, and Audience
A Handy-Dandy Diagram
Purpose
Purpose is a writer's reason for writing. The Little Seagull outlines several reasons for writing: "We write to explore our thoughts, express ourselves, and entertain; to record words and events; to communicate with others; to persuade others to think or behave in certain ways" (2).
Purpose
P
I
E
To Persuade, To Inform, To Entertain
Questions to Consider:
Thinking about your audience, genre, topic, stance, and media/design will help you determine and refine your purpose for writing.
What is the primary purpose of the writing task?
What are your own goals for writing?
What do you want your audience to do, think, or feel? Does your audience have certain expectations that need to be met?
What is your purpose?
What does the writing task call on you to do? Do you have to write in a specific genre or by using a specific strategy?
What are the best ways to acheive your purpose? Should you take a particular stance? Use specific design elements? Write in a particular medium?
Audience
An audience is to whom a text is directed. Audiences influence what you write, how much you write, and how you write.
Audience
As a student, your audience is most often your professors. However, don't make assumptions about your audience! It is important to consider your audience with more nuance--doing so is vital to your success in college and beyond.
Who would be the likely audience for...
A grocery list stuck to the fridge?
A 450-page biography on George Washington?
A valedictorian's speech at a high school graduation?
Types of Audiences
A TikTok video by a social media influencer who is showing off a new clothing haul?
An inter-office memo about a corporate policy change?
An FDA recall on a food product affected by salmonella?
Known audiences
Known audiences are those with whom you are familiar, as well as people you don't know personally but whose expectations you are aware of. Some known audiences include yourself, friends, relatives, teachers, and people who share a specific context (e.g., members of the same fandom or those who share a hobby).
Multiple audiences
Known, Multiple, and Unknown Audiences
Multiple audiences are diverse audiences with different expectations; you might be familiar with some, but not all. Some genres of writing that address multiple audiences include business memos, grant proposals, and special event speeches.
Unknown audiences
Unknown audiences, as the term implies, are those with whom you are not familiar. You need to think very carefully about the audiences you know the least about, since you can't be sure what they know, what they need to know, or how they'll react to your text.
Thinking about Audience...
Thinking about your purpose, genre, topic, stance, and media/design will help you determine and refine your intended audience.
Who do you want to reach?
What is your audience's background: their education and life experiences?
What are their interests? Expectations? Motivations?
Questions to Consider
Should you keep in mind any demographic information, such as race, gender, or socio-economic status?
What is your relationship with your audience, and how will this affect your tone?
What kind of response do you want to evoke from your audience?
What does your audience already know about your topic?
Genre
Genres are kinds of writing. As The Little Seagull explains, "Each [genre] has certain features and follows particular conventions of style and presentation" (3).
Genre
Genres help give readers clues about what to expect from a text; in other words, genres work to establish certain expectations.
Let's Go to the Movies!
Academic Genres
Questions to Consider:
Thinking about your purpose,audience, topic, stance, and media/design will help you determine and refine your genre.
What are the key features and conventions of your genre? How do these elements affect what you can/can't include?
Does your genre call for a certain kind of organization?
How does your genre affect your tone, if at all? Should you use formal language? Informal?
Do you have a choice of medium?
Common academic genres include abstracts, annotated bibliographies, arguments, evaluations, lab reports, literacy narratives, literary analyses, profiles, proposals, reflections, reports, research papers, rhetorical analyses, and textual analyses. We will be exploring several different academic genres in this class.
Does your genre require any specific design elements?
Topic
The topic is what you are writing about. In college, sometimes you will be given a topic; other times, you will get to choose your own.
Topic
Keep in mind that your topic, just like any other aspect of your rhetorical situation, is tied to your purpose, audience, genre, and so forth.
Thinking about Topic...
If you have an assigned topic, what do the verbs in the assignment ask you to do? ("Analyze," "compare and contrast," "respond," and "summarize" are some common verbs you'll come across.)
Questions to Consider
Does your topic cover a broad subject area? A limited one?
If you're able to choose your own topic, what interests you? What do you want to learn more about? What issues, controversies, events, etc. do you care about?
Does your topic need to fit into specific constraints (e.g., a specified time, length, or design)?
Thinking about your purpose, audience, genre, stance, and media/design will help you determine and refine your topic.
Stance (& Tone!)
Stance is a writer's attitude toward their topic. The Little Seagull lists "objective, critical, passionate, or indifferent" (4) as a few different stances one may take. Stance is conveyed through tone.
Stance
Moreover, tone is conveyed through the words we use (diction), the way we craft our sentences (syntax), and other techniques.
The way in which you establish and express your stance matters because it affects the way you come across to your audience, which then influences how they read your text.
Who will most likely get the job? Why?
Stance & Tone in Action!
Questions to Consider...
Thinking about your purpose, audience, genre, topic, and media/design will help you determine and refine your stance and subsequent tone.
What is your stance, and how does it relate to your purpose for writing?
Thinking about Stance
How should your stance be reflected in your tone? What kind of language should you use?
How do you want your audience to perceive you and receive your message?
Consider this: We all behave in certain ways in different social situations...and writing is a social situation!
Media/Design
A medium (plural: media) is the way(s) a text is delivered. There are many different types of media: verbal, nonverbal, written, visual, etc. As The Little Seagull explains, "No matter what the medium, a text's design affects the way it is received and understood" (5).
Media & Design
Multimedia & Multimodal Composition
Note: The following definitions come from The Norton Field Guide, 4th edition.
Multimedia:
"Using more than one medium of delivery, such as print, speech, or electronic. Often used interchangeably with 'multimodal'" (G/I-20).
Multimodal:
"Using more than one mode of expression, such as words, images, sound, links, and so on" (G/I-20). Although often used interchangeably with 'multimedia,' multimodal is the term most often used in composition classes (595).
Questions to Consider
Thinking about your purpose, audience, genre, topic, and stance will help you determine and refine your medium and design.
Thinking about Media/Design...
What medium are you using? Print? Spoken? Electronic? How does your medium affect the way you will write and organize your text?
How does your medium affect your language? Should you be more formal or informal?
What's the appropriate "look" for your writing situation? Should it look professional? Personal? Some other way?
What design elements (fonts, images, headers, etc.) suit your writing context?
Will your audience expect/need any illustrations? Is there information that would be better understood visually?