Think about Your Rhetorical Situation
THINK ABOUT YOUR GENRE
• Have you been assigned a specific genre? If not, do any words in the assignment
imply a certain genre? Evaluate may signal a review, for example, and explain why
could indicate a causal analysis.
• Does your genre require a certain organization? A process analysis, for instance, is
often organized chronologically, whereas a visual analysis may be organized spatially—
and an annotated bibliography is almost always organized alphabetically.
THINK ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE
• Who is your intended audience? An instructor? A supervisor? Classmates? Members
of a particular organization? Visitors to a website? Who else might see or hear what
you say?
• If you have a choice of medium, which one(s) would best reach your intended
audience?
• What do you want your audience to think or do as a result of what you say? Take
your ideas seriously? Reflect on their beliefs? Respond to you? Take some kind of
action? How will you signal to them what you want?
• How much does your audience know about your topic? How much background
information do they need? Will they expect—or be put off by—the use of technical
jargon? Will you need to define any terms?
• What about audience members you don’t or can’t know? It goes without saying that
you won’t always know who could potentially read your writing, especially if you’re
writing on a site that anyone can access. The ability to reach hundreds, even
THINK ABOUT YOUR PURPOSE
• How would you describe your own motivation for writing? To fulfill a course
assignment? To meet a personal or professional commitment? To express your ideas to
someone? For fun?
• How do your goals influence your choice of genre, medium, and design? For example,
if you want to persuade neighbors to recycle, you may choose to make colorful posters
for display in public places. If you want to inform a corporation about what recycling
programs accomplish, you may want to write a report using charts and data.
THINK ABOUT YOUR STANCE
• How can you best convey your stance in your writing? What tone do you want it to
have?
• How will your stance and tone be received by your audience? Will they be drawn in by
it?
THINK ABOUT THE LARGER CONTEXT
• What else has been said about your topic, and how does that affect what you will say?
What would be the most effective way for you to add your voice to the conversation?
THINK ABOUT YOUR MEDIUM AND DESIGN
• If you get to choose your medium, which one will work best for your audience and
purpose? Print? Spoken? Digital? Some combination?
• How will the medium determine what you can and cannot do? For example, if you’re
submitting an essay online, you could include video, but if you were writing the same
essay in print, you’d only be able to include a still shot from the video.
• What’s the most appropriate look for your rhetorical situation? Plain and serious?
Warm and inviting? Whimsical? What design elements will help you project that look?
• Should you include visuals? Would any part of your text benefit from them? Will your
audience expect them? What kind would be appropriate— photographs? videos?
maps? Is there any statistical data that would be easier to understand as a table,
chart, or graph?