Defining Your Rhetorical Situation

A rhetorical situation occurs every time anyone communicates with anyone else. When writing, it’s important to know and understand the rhetorical situation (audience, purpose, context). To prepare to write, think about the specific rhetorical elements listed below and ask yourself some of the brainstorming questions. Doing this will help you define your own rhetorical situation so you can produce interesting and insightful papers.

Author (who)

• Brainstorming Question:
  • Which of your identities will you inhabit as you write this assignment?
• Examples:
  • Student in this class?
  • Member of a specific family?
  • Part of a particular cultural group?

Audience (to whom)

• Brainstorming Questions:
  • Who is your primary audience?
  • How will you shape your writing to best connect with this audience?
  • Do you need to consider any secondary audiences?
• Examples:
  • My class community?
  • My instructor?
  • Will I want to share this narrative with others outside of class? If so, with whom?
  • How will I shape my language to communicate with these audiences?

Purpose (why)

• Brainstorming Question:
  • Earning a grade is a valid purpose, but what other reasons do you have for writing this piece?
• Examples:
  • Informing readers?
  • Persuading readers to see a situation differently?
  • Entertaining readers?
  • Reflecting on a deeper meaning?

Means (how)

• Brainstorming Question:
  • Your instructor will probably provide the means for your assignment: compose a text that conforms to the expectations of the assignment, but how can you make it your own?
• Examples:
  • May I include visual elements?
  • What program should I use to create the document (Microsoft Word, for example)?
  • How can I structure or arrange my paper?
  • What genre should I use?
  • How does genre affect the content, style, structure, etc.?
  • What tone or style should I use?

Context (when/where)

• Brainstorming Question:
  • How will the time period or location change the way you develop your piece?
• Examples:
  • What is happening right now in my city, county, state, area, or nation or the world that relates to my paper?
  • Does anything about my college or university connect with this piece of writing?
  • What occasion gives rise to the need or opportunity for this paper?

Culture (community)

• Brainstorming Question:
  • What social, cultural, or environmental assumptions do you, your subject, or your audience have?
• Examples:
  • How will I negotiate between my identity and communication style and the expectations of others?
  • What values or customs might influence my writing?
  • How do the allusions, historical references, or kinds of words used place my paper in a certain time and location?