Example 1
Summary:
This presentation is designed to introduce your students to a variety of factors that con- tribute to strong, well-organized writing. This presentation is suitable for the beginning of a composition course or the assignment of a writing project in any class.
Contributors:Ethan Sproat, Dana Lynn Driscoll, Allen Brizee Last Edited: 2012-04-27 10:46:02
Example 1: “I Have a Dream” Speech
A lot of what was covered above may still seem abstract and complicated. To illustrate how diverse kinds of texts have their own rhetorical situations, consider the following examples.
First, consider Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Because this speech is famous, it should be very easy to identify the basic elements of its particular rhetorical situation.
Text
The text in question is a 17-minute speech written and delivered by Dr. King. The basic medium of the text was an oral speech that was broadcast by both loudspeakers at the event and over radio and television. Dr. King drew on years of training as a minister and public speaker to deliver the speech. He also drew on his extensive education and the tumultuous history of racial prejudices and civil rights in the US. Audiences at the time either heard his speech in person or over radio or television broadcasts. Part of the speech near the end was improvised around the repeated phrase “I have a dream.”
Author
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most iconic leader of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. He was an African-American Baptist minister and prominent civil rights activist who campaigned to end segregation and racial discrimi- nation. He gained inspiration from Howard Thurman and Mahatma Gandhi, and he drew extensively from a deep, rich cultural tradition of African-American Christian spiritualism.
Audience
The audiences for “I Have a Dream” are extraordinarily varied. In one sense, the audi- ence consisted of the 200,000 or so people who listened to Dr. King in person. But Dr. King also overtly appealed to lawmakers and citizens everywhere in America at the time of his speech. There were also millions of people who heard his speech over radio and television at the time. And many more millions people since 1963 have heard recordings of the speech in video, audio, or digital form.
Purposes
Dr. King’s immediate purposes appear to have been to convince Americans across the country to embrace racial equality and to further strengthen the resolve of those already involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Audiences’ purposes are not as easily summa- rized. Some at the time may have sought to be inspired by Dr. King. Opponents to racial equality who heard his speech may have listened for the purpose of seeking to find ways to further argue against racial equality. Audiences since then may have used the speech to educate or to advocate for other social justice issues.
Setting
The initial setting for the speech was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washing- ton, DC on August 28, 1963. The immediate community and conversation for the speech http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/625/08/ Page 2 of 9
Purdue OWL: The Rhetorical Situation 9/11/13 7:53 PM was the ongoing Civil Rights Movement that had gained particular momentum with the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, which Dr. King helped direct. But the enduring nature of Dr. King’s speech has broadened the setting to include many countries and many people who have since read or listened to his speech. Certainly, people listening to his speech for the first time today in America are experiencing a different mix of cultural at- titudes toward race than as present in America in 1963.
Other Analysis
Dr. King’s speech is an example of a rhetorical situation that is much bigger than its ini- tial text and audience. Not many rhetorical situations are as far reaching in scope as Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The following example of a research paper may be more identifiable to students reading this resource.
Summary:
This presentation is designed to introduce your students to a variety of factors that con- tribute to strong, well-organized writing. This presentation is suitable for the beginning of a composition course or the assignment of a writing project in any class.
Contributors:Ethan Sproat, Dana Lynn Driscoll, Allen Brizee Last Edited: 2012-04-27 10:56:23
Example 2: Research Paper for a High School or College Class
One of the most common rhetorical situations that people reading this will face or have faced is a research paper for some sort of class. Consider the following fictional example of the rhetorical situation surrounding a research paper written by a 19-year-old female university student from China who is attending her first year of classes at Purdue Uni- versity in Indiana, USA.
Text
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The text in this example is a 12-page research paper that argues for more efficient ways of harnessing hydroelectric power. The paper uses the Xiaolangdi Dam on the Yellow River in China as an example of what could be done better. Alternately, when the stu- dent prepares her paper to present at a conference, the text at the future conference would be her actual verbal presentation and any presentation aids she chooses to use (such as a PowerPoint or a handout).
As a paper for class, the medium is a stack of twelve computer-typed white sheets of pa- per. As a conference presentation, the medium is the author’s spoken voice accompa- nied with a digital PowerPoint display.
As a paper for class, the student uses a computer with a word processing program to ac- tually type the paper. Using a computer not only makes the paper neat and readable, but it is also required. The actual physical tool used to write the text greatly affects how the text is received. She also uses the conceptual tool of research that she’s learned in class to help her find the material she needs. As a conference presentation, the student uses a computer and a digital projector to display the necessary images at her presenta- tion. She also uses the conceptual tools of public speaking that she learned in her first- year communication and speech course at Purdue University.
Author
The author for this research paper is a 19-year-old female university student from China who is attending her first year of classes at Purdue University in Indiana, USA. She struggles at times with the mechanics of written English. She is an only child. She is studying agricultural engineering. All this has affected how and what she writes.
Audience
There are two audiences for this paper. The primary and most immediate audience for this paper is the student’s instructor. Her instructor is a 25-year-old female PhD student from New Mexico, USA, studying in English at Purdue University. This instructor http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/625/08/ Page 4 of 9
Purdue OWL: The Rhetorical Situation 9/11/13 7:53 PM teaches the first-year writing course that the student is writing the research paper for. The student also hopes that she can eventually develop her paper into a conference pre- sentation, so she writes her paper with both her instructor and a future conference audi- ence in mind.
The instructor has previous experience working with students whose first language is not English. The future conference audience will have had immediate background in the other presentations at the conference.
Purposes
The author has a few different purposes for writing this paper. First and foremost, writ- ing this paper is a class requirement and she must do well on it to get a good grade in the class. Secondly, she has chosen to write her paper about a hydroelectric dam near her home in China because she feels strongly about clean, hydroelectric power. Thirdly, she feels she needs continued practice writing in English (which is not her first lan- guage), so she looks forward to the feedback she’ll get from her instructor in hopes she can improve the way she writes. Her attitude is hopeful and earnest as she writes the paper. But she is also worried because she fears she may not have enough mastery of the English language to write the paper well.
The instructor wants the student to master certain writing processes and principles and will be reading the paper with these concerns in mind. The future conference audience will likely want to hear more about the impact of different energy sources on the envi- ronment. The instructor retains a helpful but expert attitude toward the student’s paper. The future conference audience fosters an interested and egalitarian attitude toward the student’s presentation. Notice how each of these attitudes can affect the way that the student’s research is received.
Setting
Because of the split nature of the student’s purposes, the settings for the paper are split http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/625/08/ Page 5 of 9
Purdue OWL: The Rhetorical Situation 9/11/13 7:53 PM as well.
As a research paper, the text is situated within the fifteen-week structure of a typical American university semester. Also, the student’s research about hydroelectric dams and the Xiaolangdi Dam in particular reflect the most current information she can lo- cate. When she presents her research at a conference a year or two later, she will need to make sure her research is still up-to-date.
As a research paper, the text occurs within the confines of the curriculum of the stu- dent’s first-year writing class. As a conference presentation, the text occurs within the specific confines of a presentation room at an academic conference.
As a research paper, the student’s text is part of a small conversation between her and her instructor in the small community of a first-year writing class. As a conference pre- sentation, the community and conversation of her text got substantially larger: the com- munity and conversation possibly involve a worldwide community of engineering and agricultural experts, researchers, and professionals.
Other Analysis
Research papers are common texts for students to prepare. It is important for students to be able to see their own writing projects in their own rhetorical situations. When they do so, students will be better able to communicate within the constraints of the rhetori- cal situations they find themselves in. The last example of a rhetorical situation is about a very common sort of text that many people may not have considered in rhetorical terms.
Summary:
This presentation is designed to introduce your students to a variety of factors that con- tribute to strong, well-organized writing. This presentation is suitable for the beginning of a composition course or the assignment of a writing project in any class.
Contributors:Ethan Sproat, Dana Lynn Driscoll, Allen Brizee http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/625/08/ Page 6 of 9
Purdue OWL: The Rhetorical Situation 9/11/13 7:53 PM
Last Edited: 2012-04-27 11:04:00
Example 3: Grocery List
Finally, consider a simple (and fictional) grocery list. Identifying the basic components of text, author, audience, purposes, and setting reveals that even a simple text like a gro- cery list has its own specific rhetorical situation. This list was written by an elderly re- tired woman who sends her husband on an errand to the grocery store.
Text
The text is the grocery list itself. The grocery list is a handwritten list of five items. The list reads, “1% milk, whole wheat bread, non-fat grated mozzarella cheese, cookies for the grandkids (you decide), 8 bananas.” Notice how the varying specificity reflects the author’s varying attitudes of seriousness about what her husband buys. She is specific about everything except the cookies, which she is fine with letting her husband decide.
The grocery list is written on the back of an old receipt in black ballpoint pen ink. The author writes small to get the whole list on the back of the receipt. She relies on her years with her husband to know other specifics that are otherwise omitted from the list (e.g., whether he should get a quart or gallon of milk or whether he should get one or two loaves of bread).
The husband carries along his reading glasses, but even still has difficulty reading the small handwriting on the grocery list. The husband also relies on the conceptual tools he’s developed over decades of marriage to his wife. For instance, he knows that there is no more milk in the refrigerator at home, so he should buy a whole gallon of milk.
Author
Let’s say that this particular list is written by an elderly retired woman who sends her husband on an errand to the grocery store. She gives him a list of things to buy. Her http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/625/08/ Page 7 of 9
Purdue OWL: The Rhetorical Situation 9/11/13 7:53 PM background includes a few decades of marriage to her husband and all the experience (from her perspective) that suggests to her that she needs to give him a list to make sure he doesn’t forget anything.
Audience
The audience for this grocery list is the author’s husband who is an elderly retired man. He runs errands for his wife on occasion. Similar to his wife’s background, this husband has a few decades married to his wife and all the experience (from his perspective) that tells him he doesn’t really need the list his wife wrote him.
Purposes
The author’s purposes in writing the list are straightforward. She wants to make sure that her husband does not forget anything that she sends him to the grocery store to buy. Her attitude while writing the list is direct and serious. She doesn’t want him to forget anything!
The man who is the audience of the grocery list wants to buy the groceries quickly. While he does not mind running errands for his wife (and wants to be the kind of man who does nice things for his wife), he wants to hurry back and watch a ball game on television. This man’s attitude is slightly annoyed because he might miss the start of his game.
Setting
Let’s say this grocery list was written a year or so ago. It was written in the small home of the retired couple in Seattle, Washington, USA. It was thrown away in a garbage can outside the grocery store while the husband carried the few groceries back to the car. The community and conversation is narrow and intimate including only the elderly re- tired woman and her husband . . . that is unless someone different finds the list and dis- http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/625/08/ Page 8 of 9
Purdue OWL: The Rhetorical Situation 9/11/13 7:53 PM cusses it with someone else. At that point, a different community and conversation has begun discussing the text.
Other Analysis
As should be evident from this example, even something as simple as a grocery list has its own rhetorical situation with an author and audience trying to identify their perspec- tives with each other. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/625/08/ Page 9 of 9