4.1: The Rhetorical Situation

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“The WHAT?”\(^{80}\)

This is a typical response from students when first introduced to the concept of the rhetorical situation. The thing is, most of us intuitively understand rhetorical situations we face every day, but we give them little thought.

Consider this. You [the author] need to ask your parents [the audience] for money [the purpose]. It’s the third time this semester you’ve asked, and it’s right before the holidays [the context]. Should you communicate with a text, phone call, email, or Facebook message, and should it be funny, serious, or heartfelt [text]?

This is a rhetorical situation.

The rhetorical situation consists of:

Author: The writer of the communication
Audience: The receiver of the communication
Purpose: The goal of the communication
Context: The surrounding setting, time, culture, and social discussions on the topic
Text: The genre, organization, and style of the communication
- Genre is the form or shape.\(^{81}\)
- Writing strategies such as narration, description, or compare/contrast help develop and organize the content.\(^{82}\)
- Style is created through elements such as tone, diction, and syntax.\(^{83}\)

The Rhetorical Situation asks students to consider all of the above when they begin to write something.

Returning to the scenario, you decide that the best way to convince your parents to send you money is through an honest email that explains why you are short on money. You choose this genre because you know that your parents will read it at home after work and prefer email to texts. You also thoughtfully write in a style that doesn’t sound demanding but provide clear reasons why you need the money. How could they say no to that?

That’s the power of understanding and analyzing what shapes the rhetorical situation. It helps you create audience-centered communication in the genre and style best suited to achieve your purpose.

Purpose\(^{84}\)

Often, you’ll know your purpose at the exact moment you know your audience because they’re generally a package deal:

I need to write a letter to my landlord explaining why my rent is late so she won’t be upset. (Audience = landlord; Purpose = explaining/keeping her happy)
I want to write a proposal for my work team to persuade them to change our schedule. (Audience = work team; Purpose = persuading/to get the schedule changed)
I have to write a research paper for my environmental science instructor comparing solar to wind power. (Audience = instructor; Purpose = analyzing/showing that you understand these two power sources)

Questions:

Ask yourself, when given a project, these questions:
- What is the assignment’s purpose?

What is its audience?
What is the context of this project?
What will the end product/text/genre look like?

\(^{80}\)Anderson, Dana. “Rhetorical Situation.” Writing Unleashed, Version 1. NDSCS; 2016.

\(^{81}\)More information on Genres in the Genres Chapter.

\(^{82}\)More information on Strategies in the Strategies Chapter.

\(^{83}\)There may be more information on these items in the Nerd Chapter.

\(^{84}\)The Word on College Reading and Writing by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.