ENGL 1100: What Is The Rhetorical Situation?

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ENGL 1100: Task 1.4 Wiki Draft. Section 3.2: What is the Rhetorical Situation? Summary: Considering the context or situation that influenced the creation of a text is a key part of rhetorical analysis. This context is called the rhetorical situation. There are five components of the rhetorical situation: author, audience, setting, purpose, and text. Author: As the name implies, the author is the individual or organization who created the text being analyzed. It is important to consider the author’s identity, credentials, and perspective to determine their biases and authority on the topic they are writing about. Audience: The audience is the person or group of people who the author is directing the text to and attempting to influence. When …show more content…

The author might use different language or techniques depending on the characteristics of the audience they are targeting. Setting: Another aspect of the rhetorical situation is the setting, or the event(s) that the author crafted the text in response to. The writer may have been speaking out about certain circumstances at the time or promoting their perspective on a widely debated topic. Purpose: Examining the author’s purpose in creating the text involves considering what they intended to achieve through writing in a certain setting and how they wanted to influence their audience. For example, an author could write to persuade, inform, or unite readers. Text: A text can be created in any number of formats such as a poem, news article, image, or song. The author likely chose their medium carefully …show more content…

Considering the text’s rhetorical situation is also a key component of rhetorical analysis because it allows one to recognize what influenced the author to craft the piece in a certain way. The first step in creating a rhetorical analysis is to read critically to develop a basic understanding of the text. The following questions can be used as a guide: Is the author’s thesis or claim well-supported throughout the text? Which rhetorical moves does the author use to convey their point? What is the tone of the text? What are the author’s biases and motivations, and how do they influence how the text comes across to the audience? Who is the audience for the text, and what assumptions does the author make about them? Does the text make sense, seem well-organized, and use sound reasoning? How does the author try to appeal to the audience’s emotions? Are the author’s claims believable, and