Hello, students and growing writers! This is Sara Wink, one of the many teachers of Composition here at Purdue Global. I wanted to stop by with a Seminar Snippet for Unit 1. This snippet has to do with the rhetorical situation, something that we really do need to consider whether we are critiquing a communication or creating a communication. Now, what on earth is involved with the performance situation? Well, the rhetorical situation pertains to the different elements involved with this moment of communication.

For example, the audience—you know, the folks that are hearing what you say or reading what you're saying, the ones receiving the info. We’ve got to think about the audience in order to make sure that how we share our words is going to connect with them. Just think about folks who speak to children a certain way are probably going to adults a different way. The way we ask a two-year-old to use the bathroom is probably not the same way we would ask—well, I don't know if we have to ask adults this, but the audience is going to affect the words we use, the tone we use.

Let's just say you are the writer here. You're the speaker or the one getting that information out there, the one sharing your words. How are you doing this?

This is where text comes into place. Text isn't just a thing you send on your phone, nor is it the thing you always type up. Text is whichever way we are sharing our words. Yes, it can happen in a text message on the phone. Yes, texts can be emails, or books, or articles. Text also be speech; after all, that's how we're sharing our words if we're sharing our words by talking to someone. The text is the phone conversation. That's the way we're getting the words across. Maybe the text is a movie, or a video, or a TV show. That's how the information is coming out. It's through that media presentation, or a song, or a speech. Those are all texts. Those are all different ways we share the words.

Now purpose is another very important part of the rhetorical situation. Why are the words being shared? There has to be a purpose, there has to be a reason. Whether we are trying to persuade folks to agree with what we think about something, maybe we're trying to persuade a kid finally take a bite of broccoli (still failing on that one). Maybe we are trying to educate so they better understand what it's like to see things from our experience. Maybe we are trying to entertain someone with our words. Maybe our goal is to make them laugh, to lift them up, to encourage, to support. But no matter what that goal is, there is a goal, so in our rhetorical situation we must be mindful of the purpose of the why we are sharing what we’re sharing. If we have no sense of purpose, then our words have no sense of worth or urgency. Why should our audience listen if there is no purpose?

Now context and setting—I want to bring up setting first, and then we can talk about context.

Setting can be taken in a couple of ways here. So setting, we could be thinking about where are we actually sharing our words because it's one thing if we’re sitting on a park bench with a friend (and hopefully it's not -10 degrees outside while you’re doing that) and you two are chatting and you're sharing your ideas a reform you’d like to see at your local school. That kind of setting makes the communication pretty informal—it’s just you and a friend talking. It’s not like you feel pressured to be choosy with your words or tone. Now let’s change the setting up. You’re sharing your idea for reform at your local school, but you’re sharing it in front of the school board, in front of other families on a stage behind a podium. That kind of setting may very well change the way you hold yourself, the words you choose, and the tone you take. That setting can influence how you communicate.

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