Rhetorical situation

Rhetorical Situation The rhetorical situation consists of a few different elements that the writer must consider when planning and writing an effective essay. The reader must consider his or her place within the rhetorical situation as they critically read a work in order to better understand the work 's general argument. A rhetorical situation has four components which include audience, purpose, persona and context. The audience includes the readers who your essay is implied to, the purpose is the reason for your writing, the persona is the way the author is presenting themselves in their writing, and the context includes the factors that influence writing such as their background history. These components are what make up a rhetorical situation and without them there is no rhetorical situation.  One of the first components of the rhetorical situation includes the audience, which is who the writing is directed to. In this case, the audience would be our professor. According to the CSUS Student Writing Handbook, “Sometimes teachers will play the role of “interested reader” and read your writing just to find out what you’re thinking or to get to know you better as a writer and a thinker” (29). When our professor reads our writing it gives them a better understanding of the writer, their thoughts, and imaginations expressed in words. Every kind of writing has its own audience they imply to and therefore it is important for a writer to know who their audiences are. Knowing your audience helps you to make decisions about what information you should include, how you should arrange that information, and what kind of supporting details will be necessary for the reader to understand what you are presenting. Audience also influences the tone and structure of the document. In Craik’s article, “Memory Changes In Normal and Pathological Aging,” he states, “Declining memory abilities are reported by virtually all older adults and give rise to the

Cited: Bazerman, Charles. “A Relationship between Reading and Writing: The Conversational Model.” College English 41.6 (1980), 656-661. Craik, Fergus I. M. “ Memory Changes in Normal and Pathological Aging.” Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 53.6 (2008): 343-345 Melzer, Dan, et al, eds. Student Writing Handbook. Sacramento, CA: Sacramento State University, 2009. Well written draft showing strong CCA of the RS and its components. See my margin comments for specific revision instructions toward the quality grade of the portfolio draft. My margin comments begin with [b]. Remember that the (quality) score of the final portfolio draft depends upon revision of this draft even if this draft got a very high (completeness) score. Margin annotations are missing. 47