English 1302

Rhetorical Situation Handout
Lloyd Bitzer coined the term ‘rhetorical situation’ to refer to “all the features of audience, purpose, and exigence that serve to create a moment suitable for a rhetorical response.” For our purposes, the term rhetorical situation designates the circumstances and contexts that come together to make up a communication situation. The elements of the rhetorical situation include:

T EXT – the piece of writing that has been or is being produced.

R EADER/AUDIENCE – the nature and disposition of the people reading the text.

A UTHOR/WRITER – the goal and purpose of the writer, as well as the background, experiences, and values that will determine ethos.

C ONSTRAINTS – the circumstances or perceptions that might influence the audience or the writer’s responses, such as what has already been said on the subject and the general state of the world outside of the specific context of the topic.

E XIGENCE – the event or impulse that impels or causes the writer to want to communicate.

Each of these elements must be examined to determine the most effective means for approaching a writing situation. Once the rhetorical situation can be ascertained, we can address several questions with respect to the writing situation:
* What forms or genres should be applied?
* What kinds of arguments need to be made?
* What support is needed?
* What can be excluded?
* What needs to be emphasized?
* What terms need to be defined?
* What kind of diction and syntax is appropriate?

Establishing the Rhetorical Situation
Exigence: What was the exigence of the author? What was the reason the author felt compelled to write this specific text? Was there a specific need? Did the author fill a void? When did the author write this text? What were the general philosophies under which the author was working? Was the author writing a response? If the author was writing a response, to whom was s / he writing and for what purpose?

Audience: Who was the author’s audience? Was this audience educated? What is the economic or social condition of the audience? What is the general philosophy of government or politics of the audience? What values and beliefs would be common to the audience? What might be the average age of the audience? Would the author’s audience have been composed of mostly males or females? Would the author’s audience have understood the text?

Purpose: What was the author’s main purpose in this text? Was it to persuade the audience to change their minds? If so, would this text have changed the audience’s minds? Was it to get the audience to take some kind of action? If so, would the audience have taken action? Was it to inform? If so, would the audience have gained new knowledge?

Constraints: What were the constraints of the author? How was s / he limited? Was too little or too much time a factor? Were public relations a factor? Were other people a factor? Was lack of correct information a factor? Was the need to inform quickly a factor?

Author: Who was the author? Who did the author believe s / he needed to be (e.g., a dissenter, an informer, a political advisor, a confidant)? Was the author an authority? Did the author sound knowledgeable? Without looking at the name of the author could you determine the author’s gender? Did the author’s gender alter his / her perspective?

Rhetorical Situation Brainstorming Guide
1. Who is making the argument? Could this person’s identity be important in regard to the impact of the argument?

2. Who are the audiences of this argument? List as many potential audiences as you can think of. How does the speaker try to appeal to each audience? (what does he say to them, what reaction does he want them to have?)

3. Are there any constraints on the speaker’s argument? (constraints of time, limitation of knowledge, etc.)? Consider the speaker’s audiences: Does the speaker have to avoid saying certain things due to the nature of his audience(s)?

4. What kind of personality does the speaker have? Describe his personality in detail; try to list as many aspects of his personality as you can; find portions of the text that seem to reflect this personality or an aspect of this personality. How could the speaker’s personality potentially affect his audiences? How does his personality affect you?

5. Try to summarize the most important claims the speaker is making. Consider how he supports those claims: Does he use examples, personal experience, statistics, various kinds of research, his own opinion, etc.? Are these grounds (evidence to support the claims) convincing? Does the speaker seem to anticipate objections to his argument (or in other words does he anticipate objections to his argument (or in other words does he anticipate rebuttals)? Does this strategy help his argument? If the speaker doesn’t anticipate rebuttals, does he need to?

6. What moral values is the speaker using to support his argument? How and to what degree will these moral values sway his audiences?

7. Does the writer have any biases or prejudices? Does the writer rely on stereotypes (common and sometimes erroneous perceptions of a group of people, a place, like a city, etc.)? Are these biases and / or stereotypes justified and accurate in some way? Do these biases hurt or help the argument (they may do both, depending on the audiences).

8. Are there any inconsistencies of logic in the argument? For example, does the speaker contradict himself? Does the speaker use vague, “muddy” terms that are confusing? Are the grounds insufficient to support the claims?

9. How does the speaker combine his appeals to emotion, moral values, and logic? (An argument rarely relies on just one of these appeals; most arguments combine all three.)