Busting a Move: The Art of Rhetorical Modes

A rhetorical mode (also known as a rhetorical move or a pattern of development) simply refers to what you are doing at a particular moment in your writing. You might be describing something. You might be telling a story. You might be summarizing an article. You might be comparing something to something else. You might be showing how one thing influences another (called cause and effect).

All of these “things” have a name, and collectively they are known as rhetorical modes: narrative, description, summary, definition, analysis, and argument. Analysis is often further divided into cause and effect, comparison, contrast, division, classification, and exemplification.

When you write a paper that has multiple paragraphs, you will always incorporate several rhetorical modes. Sometimes a whole paragraph might be dedicated to just one mode (for example, telling a brief story), or it might mix three or four modes.

We don’t switch modes in writing the way we shift gears in cars: “Now I’m narrating. Now I’m defining. Now I’m comparing.” It’s more seamless than that. In fact, most writers don’t consciously think about what mode they’re writing in. It’s more of an after-the-fact realization: as you revise your writing, for example, you might realize you’ve relied a bit too heavily on summary and not enough on description (or whatever the case may be).

When we write full-length essays, we use a variety of rhetorical modes. If you attempt to write an essay in only one rhetorical mode, it will not only be painful to write but painful to read. Learning to use rhetorical modes in essays is kind of like learning to cook: there’s an art to chopping vegetables, to sautéing, to brazing, to zesting, and to arranging the food on the plate. But all of these things combine into one general process we call cooking. It’s the same with writing. There’s an art to telling a good story, describing people and places, summarizing other texts, analyzing things people have said, and backing up a claim with evidence. And we combine all of these things into the general process of writing.

Common Rhetorical Modes:*

*From Susan Ertel, English 0990 Course Packet, 2016, Dixie State University, St. George, Utah