Rhetorical Purpose

Rhetorical Purpose

Definition: The specific intention or objective behind a persuasive act. It represents the reason a message is created, conveyed, and delivered to an audience. Rhetorical purpose influences the selection of rhetorical devices, appeals (ethos, pathos, logos), tone, arguments, and evidence used to achieve the desired effect on the audience.

and includes the following aspects:

1. Intent & Objectives: Purpose delineates the goals or aims that a communicator seeks to achieve through their message. These objectives could include informing, persuading, entertaining, motivating, or advocating for a cause.

2. Audience-Centered: The purpose is intricately linked to the audience, considering their characteristics, interests, beliefs, and needs. The communicator tailors the purpose to resonate with and engage the intended audience effectively.

Six Rhetorical Purposes

1. Convey specific information (Inform)

2. Convince the audience of something (Argue) 

3. Call readers to action (Persuade)

4. Translate the characteristics and meaning of a subject (Interpret) 

5. Share emotions about a topic (Express)

6. Tell a story (Narrate)

Types of Rhetorical Purpose

Successful communication is designed to achieve a specific rhetorical purpose. Communicators act to achieve one or more of the following goals: express, inform, interpret, argue, persuade, or narrate. The rhetorical purposes most pertinent to the discipline of rhetoric are listed and explained below.

Informative

(To report, explain, or inform. No opinions or judgments!)

The purpose of an informative (i.e., referential) essay is to explain, report, summarize, or inform an audience about a specific topic. Referential essays are informative rather than argumentative or persuasive.

• Objective in nature. The primary purpose is to provide objective information rather than advocate a position or make an evaluative judgment.

• Frequently supported with highly credible source material, such as peer-reviewed journal articles.

• Developed with multiple text structures, including cause and effect, comparison and contrast, description, definition, and exemplification. 

Argumentative

(To make a claim, defend a position, & convince)

The purpose of an argumentative essay is to make a debatable claim and convince readers that the claim is reasonable, accurate, or valid through evidence and logical reasoning. Argumentative essays are often scholarly in nature and rely on credible sources, careful analysis, and consideration of opposing viewpoints. Argumentative compositions may employ all text structures and patterns of development.

• Rhetorical Analysis: A form of argumentative writing used to evaluate how well or how poorly a communicator persuades a target audience. It may also examine how rhetoric constructs knowledge, authority, and belief for a specific audience. It examines how a communicator uses rhetorical appeals, strategies, language, arguments, and evidence and how successfully those choices influence the audience.

• Position Essay: An argumentative composition that presents and defends a clear stance on a debatable issue. The writer supports the position with logical reasoning, credible evidence, and consideration of opposing viewpoints.

Persuasive

(To argue, convince, & call to action)

The purpose of a persuasive essay is twofold: 1. To convince readers that one side of an argument is more accurate, reasonable, moral, or sensible than another (i.e., argue). 2. To call readers to action in favor of that chosen side (i.e., persuade). Persuasive compositions can employ all text structures and patterns of development. 

• 1. • Argument (argumentative) is rhetoric that makes a claim and defends one side of an issue but does not call on readers to act.

     • Persuasion (persuasive) is rhetoric that argues one side of an issue and ultimately calls upon readers to act.

Examples of Calls to Action: vote for a candidate, sign a petition, change a law, contribute money, write a congressman, or go on strike

Interpretive

(To translate, interpret, or decode)

The purpose of an interpretive essay is to translate the characteristics and meaning of a subject into new and perhaps clearer terms.

• Developed with a variety of text structures, including cause and effect, comparison and contrast, description, definition, and exemplification.

• Interpretive essays are best employed when a writer seeks to bring further clarity to a complex subject or issue.

Expressive

(To communicate thoughts & feelings)

The purpose of an expressive essay is to communicate one's thoughts, feelings, ideas, or points of view.

• Often developed with narration, description, and evaluation. 

• Considered less scholarly because they are often subjective in nature, rarely documented with credible sources, and frequently written in the first-person point of view.