From NORTON FIELD GUIDE TO WRITING, 3rd edition.

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Rhetorical Situations

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1. Purpose
 To explore thoughts and emotions
 To express ourselves
 To entertain
 To record words and events
 To communicate with others
 To try to persuade others

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Identify Your Purpose
 What the primary purpose of the writing task is
 To entertain
 To persuade
 To Inform
 To demonstrate your knowledge or writing ability
 What are your own goals
 What are your audience’s expectations
 Do they affect the way you define your purpose

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Thinking About Purpose
 What do you want your audience to think? Feel?
 What does this writing task call you to do?
 What are the best ways to achieve your purpose?

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2. Audience
 Affects your audience in various ways
 What you write, how much you write, how you phrase
it, choice of genre
 Audience will interpret your writing according to
expectations and experiences
 Remember: You may make assumptions in your
writing, but you need to supply evidence and back-up

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Identify Your Audience
 Known
 People who you are familiar with as well as people you don’t
know
 Unknown
 Most difficult because you can’t be sure what they know and
what they don’t know or how they will react
 Multiple
 Most common

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Thinking About Audience
 Whom do you want to reach?
 What is your audience’s background – their education and life experiences
 What are their interests?
 Is there any demographic information that you should keep in mind?
 What potential circumstances may affect their reading?
 What does your audience already know – or believe – about your topic?
 What is your relationship with your audience?
 What does your audience need and expect from you?
 What kind of response do you want?
 How can you best appeal to your audience?

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3. Genre
 Kinds of writing
 Each as a particular convention for presenting
information
Identify: Does your situation call for a particular genre?

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Thinking about Genre
 What is your genre, and how does it affect what content
you can or should include?
 Does your genre call for specific strategies?
 Does your genre require a certain organization
 Does your genre affect your tone?
 Does the genre require formal/informal language?

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4. Stance
 Attitude towards your topic
 Identify Your Stance
 What is your attitude? Objective? Critical? Curious?
Opinionated?
 Affected by your purpose
 Tone is created through the words you use and the way you
approach your subject and audience

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Thinking About Stance
 What is your stance and how can you best present it to
achieve your purpose
 What tone will best convey your stance
 How is your stance likely to be received by your audience
 Should you openly reveal your stance

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Writing in Academic
Contexts
Add your voice to a larger conversation.

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Key Features
 Evidence that you’ve already considered the subject.
 A clear, appropriately qualified thesis.
 A response to what others have said.
 Good reasons supported by evidence.
 Acknowledgement of multiple sources.
 Carefully documented sources.
 A confident, authoritative stance.
 Indication why your topic matters.
 Careful attention to correctness.

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Academic Rhetorical Situations
 What genre does the assignment require?
 What do you see as your instructor’s purpose for this
assignment?
 What is your purpose – apart from fulfilling your instructor’s
expectations?
 Who is your audience?
 How can you convey a confident, authoritative voice?