English 1101 Introduction
Rhetoric and Rhetorical Situations
Kavita Surya
When the term rhetoric comes to mind, you may think of someone trying to persuade you to do what they want, especially in political or other governmental spaces. For example, on the news, you may often hear about politicians using rhetoric to convince you that they’re the best candidates for office, or to follow a particular cause. And recently, political figures, as well as public health departments and organizations, have been accused of utilizing rhetoric to misrepresent the effectiveness of COVID-19 precautions, such as vaccines and masks.
Rhetoric, however, can be defined and applied in much broader contexts. Most commonly, rhetoric has been described by the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, as “the ability in any particular case to see [and apply] the available means of persuasion” (37). In modern-day times, rhetoric and composition scholar Andrea Lunsford considers rhetoric to be “the art, practice, and study of human communication” (79). And so, rhetoric is not just limited to persuasive arguments made by politicians, journalists, and organizations. You may cite statistics supporting your claims that coral reefs are disappearing. Advertisements (and influencers on social media) try to convince you to buy products and services. You may have written essays for acceptance into colleges or to receive scholarships. Your friend may convince you to watch a particular television show. Or you may post an update on social media about a loved one’s recovery from an injury or illness. In sum, rhetoric is vital to all aspects of our lives and involves the use of various types of language (e.g., spoken, visual, written) to facilitate action by you or others.
As these definitions and examples of rhetoric suggest, communication does not happen in a vacuum of your ideas and your expression of them. All communication occurs in a rhetorical situation comprised of various elements. While these elements have been articulated in numerous ways,
we utilize those described by the Purdue Online Writing Lab (or Purdue OWL) in modified form below:
- Text (an actual instance or piece of communication) – In your first- year writing courses, a text most commonly refers to a document that is written or typed, like an essay, or this textbook. However, a text can also be any type of communication in any type of media, such as gestures, graphics, speeches, and more.
- Author (users of communication) – Authors can be one or multiple people (as in multiple individual authors or organizations). Authors are influenced by their own backgrounds in the communicating
of texts, such as race, ethnicity, and class, as well as their beliefs and experiences.
- Audience (recipients of communication) – Like authors, audiences are influenced by their own backgrounds in how they receive the messaging of texts.
- Purpose (the varied reasons both authors and audiences communicate) – While authors may compose texts for various purposes, audiences also have various purposes underlying why and how they respond to these texts. For instance, you could turn in assignments in this course to obtain a satisfactory grade, but you might ignore a text message from a friend after an argument.
- Setting (the time, place, and community/conversation surrounding a moment of communication) – As an example, a social media post regarding violent acts against African-Americans and Asian-Americans both reflects and furthers larger and ongoing conversations about how people of color are treated in the United States.
You likely consider one or more of these elements every time you communicate, even if you’re not aware of it, then adjust your language use accordingly. For example, you may use more formal language when emailing your professor for an extension on an assignment versus texting a friend about how your date went, or even what you missed in the same class in which you just emailed your professor for an assignment extension.
In your first-year writing courses, you will learn more about writing in various rhetorical situations to enhance your abilities to write appropriately for the situations you may encounter. For instance, in your Rhetorical Reading Responses, you may be asked to identify authors, audiences, genres (types of writing) and purposes of texts you read, while also being asked to consider some or all of these, as well as other elements, in the essays and other texts you write. And in English 1102 especially, you may discuss:
- the use of various rhetorical appeals to the credibility of yours and other authors’ claims, to the logical organization of those claims, and to the emotions of one or more audiences (or more specifically, communities).
- how writing can be integrated with visual, auditory, and other modes to compose texts.
Ultimately, we hope that highlighting the importance of considering rhetoric and rhetorical situations in English 1101 and 1102 can assist you with writing and otherwise communicating academically, professionally— and in all other areas of your lives.
Reflection Question
Think of a piece of writing you have composed. The piece of writing does not have to be an academic one, like an essay, and can be from any part of your life, such as a text message or social media post. How have elements of the rhetorical situation (author, audience, purpose, and setting) informed your writing of this text, including your background as author, as well as the backgrounds of your intended audience(s)?
Works Cited
Aristotle. On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. Translated by George A. Kennedy, 2nd ed., Oxford UP, USA, 2007.
Lunsford, Andrea A. “Rhetoric and Composition.” Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and Literatures, edited By Joseph Gibaldi, 2nd ed., Modern Language Association of America, 1992, pp. 77-100.
Purdue Online Writing Lab. “Author and Audience.” Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2020, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/ academic_writing/rhetorical_situation/author_and_audience.html. Accessed 11 May 2021.
Purdue Online Writing Lab. “Elements of Rhetorical Situations.” Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2020, owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/ academic_writing/rhetorical_situation/elements_of_rhetorical_ situations.html. Accessed 11 May 2021.
Purdue Online Writing Lab. “Purposes.” Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2020, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/rhetorical_situation/purposes.html. Accessed 11 May 2021.
Purdue Online Writing Lab. “Setting.” Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2020, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/rhetorical_situation/purposes.html. Accessed 11 May 2021.
Purdue Online Writing Lab. “Text.” Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2020, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/rhetorical_situation/text.html. Accessed 11 May 2021.