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Understanding Rhetoric - Compatibility Mode

The document discusses the concept of rhetoric, emphasizing its role in persuasion and the importance of analyzing texts and visuals within specific rhetorical situations. It outlines five basic elements of rhetorical situations: text, author, audience, purpose, and setting, while also highlighting the influence of genre and various factors affecting both writers and audiences. Understanding these elements aids in critical reading and writing, as well as in analyzing visual rhetoric.

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3 views17 pages

Understanding Rhetoric - Compatibility Mode

The document discusses the concept of rhetoric, emphasizing its role in persuasion and the importance of analyzing texts and visuals within specific rhetorical situations. It outlines five basic elements of rhetorical situations: text, author, audience, purpose, and setting, while also highlighting the influence of genre and various factors affecting both writers and audiences. Understanding these elements aids in critical reading and writing, as well as in analyzing visual rhetoric.

Uploaded by

liamavinashgreen25
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Understanding

Rhetoric

And Visual Rhetoric


ENGL 401
• Rhetoric is the art of observing in any
given case the available means of
persuasion.
-Aristotle 333 BC

What is rhetoric?
So when we use rhetoric
to analyze a text or
graphic, we ask…
• What is the writer’s position/stance? (son vs. community leader
vs. fellow student, etc.) What is their purpose?

• Who does the writer see as their readers? Where is this piece
published? When was it published? What do we know about the
readers based on this information? Who is the audience?

• What does the writer assume the readers already know? (What
does the writer assume about the readers’ culture, language,
background, politics, education, etc.?)

• What do we know about the genre that the writer is using and
what are the purposes of that genre?
• There is no one singular rhetorical situation that applies
to all instances of communication. Our efforts to
communicate occur within countless individual rhetorical
situations that are particular to those specific moments of
communication.

• All writing and all texts are socially embedded events.


They don’t just stand alone on the page. They are acts of
social communication with many variables in play.

To remember…
Each individual rhetorical situation does share five basic
elements with all other rhetorical situations:

1. Text (i.e., an actual instance or piece of communication)


2. Author (i.e., someone who uses communication)
3. Audience (i.e., a recipient of communication)
4. Purpose (i.e., the varied reasons both authors and
audiences communicate)
5. Setting (i.e., the time, place, and environment
surrounding a moment of communication)

Five basic elements…


• Genre = Category or type of writing
Examples: fiction, autobiographical story, news article,
review, letter to the editor/editorial, rhetorical analysis,
criticism, persuasive essay, essay, business proposal,
memo, instruction manual, etc.

• Genres hinge upon purpose and the needs/expectations of


the projected audience.

• We ask: What are the expectations that come with this


kind of writing and this kind of form?

Genre/Purpose
What are the factors that are impacting the writer and their
situation and goal:
• Age
• Experiences
• Gender
• Location
• Political beliefs
• Parents and peers
• Education

Writer
Writer’s Purpose
• Many of the same factors which affect the writer also
affect the audience
• Age
• Social class
• Education
• Past experience
• Culture/subculture
• Expectations

Audience/Readers
• The “situation” which generates the need for writing
• Affected by the
• Time period or timing
• Location
• Current events
• Cultural significance

Context
• Writer
• Purpose
• Audience
• Topic
• Context
• Culture

All of these together =


The Rhetorical Situation
An awareness of the
rhetorical situation
helps readers to read
critically and closely, but
it also helps us as writers
Reading Visuals
Using the lens of the rhetorical situation to
analyze visuals…
• Thick Description
• Purpose/Goal?
• Audience?

• How about pathos,


logos, and ethos?
• When I started teaching, we used “his/her” and
even “her/his” instead of “they” or “their.”

Contexts Change

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