Concept

 Individuals write within a particular situation and make strategic writing choices based on that situation.

Essential Question: 

What are the components of the rhetorical situation?

Directions:  Read this out loud with your "elbow partner."

Knowing why something was written and who it's for is important for both reading and writing.

As a reader:

• It helps you really get what the author is trying to say.

• You can figure out if the writing is good or not.

• If you don't know who the writing is for or why it was written, how can you tell if it's doing a good job?

As a writer:

• You can see how your ideas fit in with what other people have said about the topic.

• You know who you're talking to and why you're writing.

• You know what you want to achieve with your writing.

• If you don't know this stuff, how do you know what to write or how to write it?

 Elements of the Rhetorical Situation 

Whether a tweet, text, email, or essay, all written communication takes place within a rhetorical situation. The rhetorical situation of a text collectively refers to the exigence, purpose, audience, writer, context, and message. Writers make key decisions about what to say and how to say it based on their specific situation.

The Communication Situation

Every essay and every speech become part of an ongoing conversation. Yet each operates within a unique rhetorical situation, which includes the 

• exigence (the problem the essay or speech addresses; the impetus)

• purpose (the goals the writer or speaker wants to achieve)

• audience (receivers of the message who often have a variety of values and beliefs)

• writer or speaker (a unique voice with values and beliefs)

• context (the time, place, and occasion)

• message (the substance of the writer’s or speaker’s main points)

Discuss

Click on the document below.  Open it in a new window.  Read the directions.  Complete.