The Rhetorical Situation

What Is Rhetoric?• Argument• Communication• Presenting your view of

the world to others

Components of the Rhetorical Situation

• Author – speaker, message sender

• Audience – receiver, must participate

• Context – time, place, attitudes, etc.

• Purpose – why you are communicating

• Topic – what you are communicating about

• Genre – medium, way of communicating

Author

• Beliefs, values• Experience• Ethos – credibility• Personal choices

Audience

• Real• What does the

audience value?• Interesting• Original• Makes sense• Length• Trust/ integrity

Audience

Where on the line does the audience fall?

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• Completely agree Unsure/uniformed/uninterested Completely Disagree

Context and Exigency

• Situation that calls for change• Situation calls for rhetoric and argument

Purpose

• Persuade

• Inform

• Analyze – look closely at

• Entertain

• Describe

• Ask for something

Topic

• What you are communicating about

Genre

• Website• News clip• Documentary• Magazine Article• Newspaper Article• Books – novel, fiction,

scientific, biography

Rhetorical Strategies

Ethos Appeals to Credibility

• Position

• Education

• Knowledge/ background

• Experience

• How one presents oneself

• Present research of others, responsibly and accurately

• Published and where published

• Proofread/ professional presentation

Pathos:Appeals to Emotion and Values

• Health

• Family

• Patriotism

• Education

• Hunger

• Taste

• Money

• Emotions like anger, fear, sadness, joy, etc.

Logos:Appeals to Logic

• Makes sense• Logic• Facts and figures

Logical Techniques

• Sign - A sign of something else - Someone who is extremely thin might be a sign of malnutrition

• Induction - Many examples to prove a point - To say that global warming exists means showing examples from many countries, not just one or two

• Cause - One thing logically causes another - HIV virus, if untreated, causes AIDS virus

• Definition - Be sure to define your terms! Remember, poverty in one country may be defined differently than in another country

• Analogy - Comparing one thing to another - This depends on both things being similar - For example, immigration laws in some states may work in this state.

• Deduction - Start from a general principle and work down - All cats are mammals. Whiskers is a cat. Whiskers is a mammal.

• Statistics - Numbers, percentages, ratios, results of studies, etc.

Organization and Structure

• Cause & Effect• Comparison• Chronological• Emphatic• General to Specific

Language

• Language is used to convey emotion, logic, and credibility!