Defi nition

Some might say that the rhetorical situation, an expression coined by Lloyd Bitzer, is the most important concept in writing.

According to Bitzer, all writing occurs within a rhetorical situation, and every rhe-torical situation has three components.

First, a rhetorical situation includes what he calls an “exigence,” or occasion for writing. More specifi cally, such an occasion carries with it both a sense of urgency and a promise that through writing, a composer can make a change to that situation.

Second (and while it may seem obvi-ous), a rhetorical situation includes an audi-ence that can be infl uenced by or react to the writing.

Rhetorical Situation

Third, a rhetorical situation by defi ni-tion has constraints, and they come in two forms. An author may bring certain con-straints to the writing, for example certain beliefs that infl uence how the author under-stands a given issue. Likewise, there are con-straints associated with the situation itself, for instance the frame of mind of the audi-ence or the environment in which they hear or read a text. Both of these constraints are part of the rhetorical situation because they can infl uence audience response and the po-tential of the writer to make change.

Importance in the Field

Although scholars disagree on which comes fi rst—the writing or the rhetorical situation—they agree that effective writers use the con-cept of the rhetorical situation throughout their composing processes. They use it as a way to frame a writing task, for example. And they use it as they compose, to be sure that their writing keeps its intended focus.

In sum, the rhetorical situation is the situation in which we all write—be it a text message; a resume; or a research project and poster.

Resources

Enos, Richard Leo. “The History of Rhetoric.” Coming of Age: The Advanced Writing Cur-riculum. Ed. Linda K. Shamoon, Rebecca Moore Howard, Sandra Jamieson, and Robert Schwegler. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 2000. 81–86. Print.

Lowe, Kelly. “Against the Writing Major.” Com-position Studies 35.1 (2007): 97–98. Print.

Lunsford, Andrea A. “The Future of Writing Programs—and WPAs.” Plenary Address. Conference of the Council of WPA. Grand Hyatt, Denver. 10 July 2008. Address.

Subject

Composer Audience

Context

Text, Genre, Medium

College Composition and Communication

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Rhetoric

Definition Importance to the Field

Resources

For some, rhetoric is a bad thing: the shading of truth as practiced by a shady politician or the “spin” embellishing a story into lies. In this view, rhetoric is opposed to truth or knowledge.

A contrasting view more consistent with its origins understands rhetoric as both a set of practices and a theory helping us to make, represent, and share knowledge.

Aristotle, one of the earliest rhetoricians, focused on how rhetoric helps us compose knowledge and communicate as members of the public—in the forensic (or judicial ) sphere; the deliberative (or legislative) sphere; and the epidictic (or ceremonial ) sphere. From its beginning, rhetoric was intended to serve the needs of a group of citizens at least as much as it was intended to serve individual citizens.

Today, rhetoric is associated with all the places where we write: from the schoolhouse to the courthouse; from a birth certificate to the presidential inaugural address; from a protest poster to a text message.

Key terms provided by rhetoric help us to both understand and compose texts. For ex-ample, the five rhetorical canons—invention, memory, arrangement, style, delivery—can guide composing. Kenneth Burke’s terministic screen helps us understand that a way of see-ing blinds, and Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands helps us recognize that all rhetoric is culturally contextualized. Using such terms to frame in-quiry, writing tasks, and ways of sharing what we have learned makes us better writers and rhetorical citizens.

Baca, Damian, and Victor Villanueva, eds. Rheto-rics of the Americas: 3114 BCE to 2012 CE. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Print.

Bizzell, Patricia, and Bruce Hertzberg, eds. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001. Print.

Gaillet, Lynée, with Winifred B. Horner, eds. The Present State of Scholarship in the History of Rhetoric: A Twenty-first Century Guide. Rev. ed. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2010. Print.

Lunsford, Andrea A., ed. Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the Rhetorical Tradition. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1995. Print.

Richardson, Elaine B., and Ronald L. Jackson II, eds. African American Rhetoric(s): Interdis-ciplinary Perspectives. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2004. Print.

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