Get Involved. Arts at UIS. Alumni Resources. Visit UIS. Search Search. What is Rhetoric? What is Rhetoric: A Working Definition Rhetoric is the way in which you communicate in everyday life. The Rhetorical Situation Purpose Consider what the purpose of the writing is. Audience When writing anything, consider who is being addressed. Topic What are you writing about? Writer Writers, just like their audience, are influenced by a number of things, like their age, location, perspective, bias, culture, experiences, and expectations.
Context The context describes the circumstances surrounding the writing which include the time when the text is written , location where is the text placed , events surrounding the writing, and the culture. Why is Rhetoric Important? In this example the author is equating the character of a car with the character of the people who built the car. Begging the Claim: The conclusion that the writer should prove is validated within the claim.
Arguing that coal pollutes the earth and thus should be banned would be logical. But the very conclusion that should be proved, that coal causes enough pollution to warrant banning its use, is already assumed in the claim by referring to it as "filthy and polluting. Circular Argument: This restates the argument rather than actually proving it. In this example the conclusion that Bush is a "good communicator" and the evidence used to prove it "he speaks effectively" are basically the same idea.
Specific evidence such as using everyday language, breaking down complex problems, or illustrating his points with humorous stories would be needed to prove either half of the sentence.
In this example where two choices are presented as the only options, yet the author ignores a range of choices in between such as developing cleaner technology, car sharing systems for necessities and emergencies, or better community planning to discourage daily driving.
Ad hominem: This is an attack on the character of a person rather than their opinions or arguments. In this example the author doesn't even name particular strategies Green Peace has suggested, much less evaluate those strategies on their merits. Instead, the author attacks the characters of the individuals in the group. Ad populum: This is an emotional appeal that speaks to positive such as patriotism, religion, democracy or negative such as terrorism or fascism concepts rather than the real issue at hand.
In this example the author equates being a "true American," a concept that people want to be associated with, particularly in a time of war, with allowing people to buy any vehicle they want even though there is no inherent connection between the two.
Red Herring: This is a diversionary tactic that avoids the key issues, often by avoiding opposing arguments rather than addressing them. In this example the author switches the discussion away from the safety of the food and talks instead about an economic issue, the livelihood of those catching fish.
Medium The delivery method, which varies by type of text: Alphabetic Text for example, written speech, newspaper editorial, essay, passage out of a novel, poetry Images for example, TV commercials, advertisements in magazines or on websites Sound for example, radio or TV commercials, a website advertisement, speeches Multimodal texts YouTube videos, performances, digital stories Context The time, place, public conversations surrounding the text during its original generation and delivery; the text may also be analyzed within a different context such as how an historical text would be received by its audience today.
Claim The main idea, thesis, opinion, or belief of an argument that the author must prove. Warrant The connection, often unstated and assumed, between the claim and the supporting reason s , or support. Rhetorical Triangle The elements of the rhetorical situation interact with and influence one another.
Ethos The authority or credibility of the author. Did you analyze ethos enough in your essay? Have you looked at what experiences or claims to authority qualify this author to speak or write? Have you considered the design or appearance of the text you are analyzing? Does it look professional? What can you say about the author based on the appearance of the text alone? Pathos Emotional appeals to the audience to evoke feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow.
Have you analyzed pathos enough in your essay? How might the author change his strategy if he was trying to establish a bond with a different audience?
Have you considered your own personal reaction to the background music of this advertisement? What kinds of feelings do the colors that the author uses provoke? What other images in the text provoke an emotional response? Why would the author include these images? Conducting research and using factual proofs logos is effective, but it also shows readers that the author has done homework and knows about the topic.
This knowledge, the sense of authority, helps writers be more effective. The logical, pathetic, and ethical appeals work in a dynamic combination with one another.
It is sometimes hard to separate one kind of proof from another and the methods by which the writer achieved the desired rhetorical effect. For example, if a writer uses data, which are likely to cause readers to be emotional, the data can enhance the pathetic aspect of the argument. The key to using the three appeals, is to use them in combination with each other, and in moderation. It is impossible to construct a successful argument by relying too much on one or two appeals while neglecting the others.
For example, another Greek philosopher and rhetorician Plato saw rhetoric as a means of discovering the truth, including personal truth, through dialog and discussion. According to Plato, rhetoric can be directed outward at readers or listeners , or inward at the writer him or herself. In the latter case, the purpose of rhetoric is to help the author discover something important about his or her own experience and life.
The third major rhetorical school of Ancient Greece whose views have profoundly influenced our understanding of rhetoric were the Sophists. The Sophists were teachers of rhetoric for hire. The primary goal of their activities was to teach skills and strategies for effective speaking and writing. Many Sophists claimed that they could make anyone into an effective rhetorician. In their most extreme variety, Sophistic rhetoric claims that virtually anything could be proven if the rhetorician has the right skills.
The legacy of Sophistic rhetoric is controversial. Some scholars, including Plato himself, have accused the Sophists of bending ethical standards in order to achieve their goals, while others have praised them for promoting democracy and civic participation through argumentative discourse. What do these various definitions of rhetoric have to do with research writing? Or, perhaps you did not understand very well whom your writing was supposed to appeal to.
It is hard to commit to purposeless writing done for no one in particular. Purpose Good writing always serves a purpose. Texts are created to persuade, entertain, inform, instruct, and so on. In a real writing situation, these discrete purposes are often combined.
Recall any text you wrote, in or outside of school. Think not only of school papers, but also of letters to relatives and friends, e-mails, shopping lists, online postings, and so on. Audience The second key element of the rhetorical approach to writing is audience-awareness. The key principles that every writer needs to follow in order to reach and affect his or her audience are as follows:.
Writing Activity: Analyzing Audience Every writer needs to consider his or her audience carefully when writing. Otherwise, you writing will be directed at no one in particular. As a result, your purpose will become unclear and your work will lose its effectiveness.
Identify any recent writing task that you faced. You may consider the writing task you applied in the first exercise.
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