What's a Rhetorical Situation?

When writers write, they write to accomplish a goal related to an intended audience and a specific, narrowed topic. The way those three elements are mixed and matched is called the Rhetorical Situation. That means when writers write, they have to keep the Rhetorical Situation in mind from start to finish, or from prewriting to publication.

Three Parts of the Rhetorical Situation

• Intended Audience
• Narrowed Focus
• Purpose, Mode, and Strategy

Let's look at some examples of how changing the Rhetorical Situation changes how a writer writes, from the words the writer chooses to the citation style used to identify source content.

Example 1: Writing a Business Proposal

Intended Audience

When writing a business proposal, it's essential the writer understands the intended audience.  The person reading the document can make or break the business opportunity!  A banker will want to read about the financial acumen of the entrepreneur and will be interested in reading how the business will make enough money to pay back a loan. That information, therefore, will be essential, and it will need to be well researched in order to satisfy the level of knowledge of that banker, which is probably quite a high level of knowledge.  However, the banker will be less interested in reading an extensive list of sources on an MLA Works Cited page than perhaps a professor in an MBA program would be.

Narrowed Focus

That business proposal will need to have a narrowed focus, as well. A plan to open "some sort" of business will not impress the banker-reader. The banker-reader is going to want to know about a specific type of business, with a specific type of structure, located in a specific place.  The more details the writer provides, the more the banker-reader will be able to imagine the business operating on a day to day basis.  The writer will need to use concrete language and provide details about all facets of the business's model.  On the other hand, if the plan's purpose is to attract a business partner, perhaps the goal is to brainstorm ideas with that person.  That partner-reader will require a different type of proposal than that of a banker-reader. A change in either the purpose or the reader changes the entire document!

Purpose, Mode, and Strategy

The purpose of any business plan is to persuade, which means the mode for this proposal must be the persuasive or argumentative mode of writing. Within that mode there are a few strategies the writer can use to organize information. First and foremost, the writer must investigate whether or not the reader provides a template for proposals.  If so, the template should be followed as closely as possible. If not, there are other strategies for organization that can be used, like the problem-solution strategy. Every piece of information in this mode, to meet this persuasive purpose, must be aimed at convincing the reader to do or believe in the writer's plan. The writer wants the banker-reader to offer a loan or the partner-reader to join in the process of creating and opening a business.

Example 2: Planning to Write about Gardening or Earthworms

The following video explains the Rhetorical Situation and how it's used to plan a project during the prewriting stage of the writing process. Again, if any part of the Rhetorical Situation changes, the entire document must change.

Want to read more about quality writing?  Try

Adding Coherence to an Essay
Write a Unified Essay
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Copyright Amy Lynn Hess. Please contact the author for permission to republish.