What is the rhetorical situation?

It consists of the key elements that bring forth a written or spoken word. These key elements play a part in the who, what, when, where, why, and how of a spoken or written message.

For example, as a teenager, you may want to talk to your parents about extending your curfew.  The purpose is clear; to persuade them.   Before you use your rhetoric to persuade them to extend your curfew, you would need to know how your parents think. What do you know about your audience (parents) that could help you in your efforts to persuade them?  Are they boomers?  How were they raised? In what ways do you think they will respond?  Would your mother have a different response than your father?

You would also want to consider when would be a good time to present this idea. Approaching mom right after a long day at work probably would not work in your favor. This means you’d need to consider the context. What is happening in your life or in your parents’ lives that might affect how your message is received?

There are a few other considerations such as how you have grown as a person, from a child to a responsible teenager. This will help to build your case in your attempt to persuade.  Also, how will you present your ideas?  What form or text would be most effective?  Will it be a text message, a letter, or a discussion?  All of these factors come into play as you, the writer/speaker, present ideas to your audience, your parents.

 

The rhetorical situation includes the context, writer, purpose, audience, and message. Each element determines the very nature of a text and how it is presented.

The Context

The context consists of the time, place, and events that may influence the writer or the audience.  For instance, what was going on in the world or in their world, politically, socially, spiritually, or culturally, at the time the writer was prompted to share their message?  What events occurred within a group, culture, or the writer’s life that sparked the need to write? What have others written about the topic?

The Writer

The writer is, of course, the person who “picked up the pen”.  But when we think about the writer, we want to think about their background and experiences. Who are they as a writer and as a person? Where are they coming from?  What are their credentials? With which communities do they identify?

The Purpose

The purpose describes the reason why the writer is writing a specific text.  Does the writer want to inform, persuade, or entertain the audience?  Or does the writer want to instruct and educate?  Perhaps the writer will encourage the audience.  There may be several purposes.

The Audience

The audience includes the people whom the writer had intended to reach. Therefore, it’s essential to describe them.  What is it that they need from the writer? What groups, cultures, or demographics do they stem from?

The Message (Topic)

The message is what the writer wants the audience to know or receive and comprises the ideas laid out by the writer to establish their purpose. Knowing the details of the message can be difficult if the writer does not know who they are as a writer, their target audience, or their purpose for writing.

The Text

The writer also needs to determine in what genre the message will be best received and how to organize it so that the audience will clearly understand it. Different formats can be used to communicate the message: a video, speech, textbook chapter, letter, text message, social media post, or essay. All are forms of text that a writer can choose from to be most effective in their communication.

 

Example

Sometimes your rhetorical situation can be quite complex, especially when school assignments ask you to write in different contexts for an unfamiliar audience. In these situations, you might wonder who the audience is—the audience that is written on the page or your instructor? In these cases, you will have to balance your teacher’s expectations and still conform to the expectations of the imagined audience.

Below is an example of a prompt and how the rhetorical situation is broken down for it.

Prompt: You are in a composition 121 course, and your assignment asks you to write an evaluation of an argumentative article of your choice by rhetorically analyzing the decisions the author has made. Based on this evaluation, argue why the article is or isn’t convincing for its intended audience. This evaluation should directly respond and engage with the author who wrote the article.

Purpose

This writing assignment’s purpose is to evaluate a piece of writing rhetorically. Since this paper is meant to engage with the writer of the article, an underlying purpose would likely be to offer constructive feedback on what they have written in a respectful way.

audience

In this case, the audience will be the author of the article you have chosen to read. This means you will have to frame your criticisms carefully so you do not upset your reader or give the wrong impression. Consider your instructor as a secondary audience because while they have asked that you write to this specific person, your instructor will ultimately be grading your work based on the requirements of the assignment.

Topic

The topic of this paper is just one argumentative article and how well that article articulates its argument to its intended audience. This topic is narrow, but it also provides many avenues to explore, in detail, the author’s rhetorical choices.

Writer

With this college-level assignment, you are asked to interact with someone who has published their work in a professional setting. As a college student, this could be intimidating, considering that most college students may not have much experience engaging with rhetorical concepts and evaluating professional writers. However, this assignment is the perfect opportunity for you to present yourself in your writing as a professional student who is thoughtful and critically engaged.

Context

No piece of writing exists in a vacuum, but is always a piece of all that exists around, what has come before, and what will follow. This paper exists within the culture of your university, of American culture, of scholarly writing, and of the contemporary milieu. These factors will influence the way your paper is evaluated.

 

Sources:

“The Rhetorical Situation.” University of Illinois Springfield Learning Hub, 1 Jan. 2025, https://www.uis.edu/learning-hub/writing-resources/handouts/learning-hub/rhetorical-situation. Accessed 16 July 2025.