Where rhetoric rules…

Welcome to ENGL 106

Roots go back to Ancient Greeks and RomansAristotle developed model of ethos, pathos,

logos

Rhetoric = THE ART OF PERSUASION

PURPOSEWhat is the goal of your

composition?To persuade or argueTo informTo describeTo entertainTo reflect

Compositions may have multiple purposesFor example, to argue a position

effectively and to get a good grade

5 RHETORICAL SITUATIONS

PURPOSE

AUDIENCE

GENRE

STANCE

MEDIA/DESIGN

5 RHETORICAL SITUATIONS

AUDIENCEWhat group of

readers/viewers/listeners is your composition addressed to?

Perhaps most basic, affects all your other choices:

What approach would go over best? How long should it be? What needs to be included and what can be

left unsaid? What tone should you take?

Audience for compositions in this course will vary:

Your classmates and me General audience Entering freshmen in your major

5 RHETORICAL SITUATIONS

GENRE = type of compositionReflection, research paper,

poem, letter, report, email, etc.Each genre has its own

conventionsFor example, reports will be

objective, aimed at conveying information in easily accessible form

Graphic novels will have mixture of pictures and text

Research papers will have citations and quotations from scholarly sources, Works Cited page

5 RHETORICAL SITUATIONS

STANCE = Your attitude towards the topic of your compositionFor example, thoughtful, reasonable,

emotional, objective, critical, etc.Your stance emerges through the tone

you take: confident, sarcastic, humorous, angry, etc

Note that genre often determines stance (won’t write an emotional lab report, for example)

Audience also influences stance (won’t write a humorous note to the bursar about your late tuition payment)

5 RHETORICAL SITUATIONS

Media/DesignMEDIA = How is your

composition being conveyed to your audience?Spoken (oral)PrintElectronic (e.g. website)Others like radio, TV, film,

handwritingDESIGN = What is the visual

“look” of your composition?Font, letterhead, formatting,

images, graphs, charts, colors, etc.

5 RHETORICAL SITUATIONS

PURPOSE?

AUDIENCE?

GENRE?

STANCE?

MEDIA/DESIGN?

Sample analysis: