Topic:

Determining the rhetorical situation

This topic page includes introductory information, a list of readings, and questions to guide your
reading and prepare you for class discussion; it may also include an individual or group
assignment, which may or may not be graded.

References to ABO are to Alred, Brusaw, and Oliu (2015).

Introduction
Writing instructors will often refer to the rhetorical situation. This term has its roots in an article
by Llyod Bitzer (1968), though broadly speaking the concept goes back at least as far as Aristotle.
When you are writing a text (or creating a communication in another mode), the rhetorical
situation consists of everything you know about the situation into which you are introducing your
text. It includes at least the following four things:
1. The writers purpose.
2. The audience or readers.
3. The material and social context.
4. The available media or modes of communication. (We will talk often this semester about
W.O.V.E.NWritten, Oral, Visual, Electronic, and Nonverbalmodes, but even that list is
arguably not complete.)

These four things can interact in sophisticated ways. For example, part of understanding your
audience is knowing what they think you think the rhetorical situation is. In other words, they are
also thinking about your purpose (as well as their own), what they think you know about them,
and their own views of the material and social context.

Context is a critically important component, and there are several questions you should answer
when preparing to write. Consider those in the ABO entry for context. It is important for a
communicator to be imaginative at this stage, to think about the audience members, what they
may just have been doing before receiving the communication, what their feelings and beliefs
might be, etc. Cultural and physical factors can influence your audiences view of the context. For
example, a visually impaired audience member might not be in a position to take note of some
material characteristic of the environment that you think is patently obvious.

A social context can also give rise what is sometimes called a genre, which is really just a typified
formal response to a recurring rhetorical situation (Miller, 1984). So, for example, if everyone in
your lab writes lab reports in a certain way (and has done so for years), you might want to use
that report format even though you think that another report format would be more efficient. The
expectations of your audience can thus function to constrain your communicative choices. But we
will also talk about how you can overcome conventional approaches if you lay the proper
groundwork.

Readings for this topic

Read the following entries (probably best in this order) from ABO:
Checklist of the Writing Process, p. xxi.
2015 Brian N. Larson

Topic: Determining the rhetorical situation

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preparation
purpose
audience
readers
context

Review each of the following communications and consider what might have been the audience,
purpose, and context for it:
The syllabus for this course.
University of Minnesota Brand Policy:
http://www.policy.umn.edu/Policies/Operations/OPMisc/BRANDING.html
Hammering on lesson on acoustic guitar. View this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9xjT9zVVQU
Department of Defense, Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with
a Repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell": https://www.scribd.com/doc/274876149/Department-
of-Defense-2010-DADT-Report The front materials and executive summary (through page
17).

Reading questions
1. According to ABO, the writers purpose can often best be summed up with answers to
which two one-word questions?
2. As you read the definition of audience, you will notice that many words are in bold text
and underlined. This formatting indicates that there are entries for these terms elsewhere
in ABO. Select a couple of terms from the definition of audienceincluding at least
readersand go to read their definitions. Come to class prepared to summarize the entry
for one of these terms. Do you think the entry for readers adds much to the entry for
audience? The entry identifies an approach for segmenting a text for diverse readers,
including managers, technical specialists, and decision-makers: Which segments does ABO
say will be useful to each group?
3. The ABO entry for context describes two stages where the writer should address context.
What are they? What do you suppose is the key benefit of signaling context?

Classroom activities for this topic

Discuss: As an analyst, what distinguishes the rhetorical situations in the examples for you?
Is it easier or harder for the writer when the rhetorical situation is less well understood or
known?

Assignments for this topic

None.

Works cited
Alred, G. J., Brusaw, C. T., & Oliu, W. E. (2015). Handbook of Technical Writing (11th edition).
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Bitzer, L. (1968). The rhetorical situation. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 1(1), 114.
Miller, C. R. (1984). Genre as Social Action. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 70(2), 151167.
http://doi.org/Article
2015 Brian N. Larson

Topic: Determining the rhetorical situation

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