As we briefly discussed in class the first day, key terms give you a vocabulary by which you can begin to understand writing, create a writing identity, and learn new knowledge about writing. In this in-class assignment, you are going quickly investigate key terms. Begin by defining the key terms audience, genre, and rhetorical situation in your own words and use Bitzer as support. Some of these terms Bitzer did not explicitly defined, but I want you to still draw from him--this is you beginning to synthesize. Next explore the key terms relationship within the context of writing, specifically good writing.What key terms do you think about before you write? Why? How do you define yourself as writer, in other words, what does your writing identity look like? Conclude by issuing a decree: what do you believe is important about writing and where do you believe this belief came from?
Your response should be as long as it needs to be. Don't rush through. Think. Muse. Reflect.
This is extension of your blog post for homework, so think of it as furthering your thinking through the use of key terms. Your homework worked with rhetorical situation in a more global sense, and I want this post to be about you as an individual writer.
The rhetorical situation, audience, and genre are all very closely related terms because they all influence each other. For example, the audience directly influences the rhetorical situation, because it is created in the perception of the audience. Because of this, I think that one can't really exist without the other. The genre is also very closely related to the audience, because a genre will be chosen based on the the characteristics of the audience and the rhetorical situation. You aren't going to use the fantasy genre when addressing rhetorical situations such as the War in Iraq.
ReplyDeleteThe key terms that influence my writing most are tone and creativity. I like to write in a way that tells that reader that I'm the one whose writing. I do this by trying to bring creative ideas into the writing. Sometimes the ideas succeed in both creating the tone I want and proving a point. However, there are also times when things don't work out how I thought they would. Furthermore, it's just plain easier to write when you aren't using mundane words to describe a mundane topic. Even if you are assigned such a topic, you can usually bend or modify the idea and put your own spin on it in a way that makes writing infinitely easier.
I view my myself as a writer that likes to play with ideas for the purpose of entertainment. I find that if I enjoy what I'm writing about then my audience will also enjoy it. It is true that sometimes this isn't the case, and my audience absolutely despises what I'm writing about or can't connect to my idea, but for the most part it holds true.
Audience is simply the "thing" that is going to be subject to a type of rhetoric. I say thing because the audience is not necessarily always a person. If I am in the middle of the woods, singing a song, the forest is my audience. If I am performing a speech in front of our class, the class is my audience. If I am telling a secret to my best friend, my best friend is the audience. Therefore, the audience is simply whatever is subject to the rhetoric that is being presented. A genre refers to the category of writing that we are writing about. The genre can also be compared to a discourse community. A discourse community is a group that has some kind of purpose, and discourse/communication is used to achieve it. There are many discourse communities, like the writing discourse community, the science discourse community, etc, so the genre of writing applies to that specific discourse community. Lastly, the rhetorical situation is the situation that invites discourse, or rhetoric. I agree with Bitzer in that the rhetorical situation must come before the rhetoric. The rhetorical situation, with its exigence, audience, and constraints, are what brings the rhetoric to life.
ReplyDeleteBefore I write, I make sure that I choose my discourse community wisely. I learned this last quarter. The discourse community requires specific sources. For example, I try to make sure that if I'm writing to a vampire discourse community, I don't define the word vampire, because I have to assume that they already know what I'm talking about. By they I mean the audience. Therefore, when I write, I make sure that I am writing to the correct audience. Then I make sure to build my argument in a linear fashion, and I go from there.
Honestly, I don't really have a writing identity just yet; I'm still working on it. I've never been a great writer but I believe it is slowly, but surely, improving.
In terms of what I believe is important about writing and where I believe it came from? I'm actually not sure. It's almost impossible to define writing in a way that everybody agrees with. However, I do think that something important about writing is definitely the fact that something called it to existence - some rhetorical situation brought the writing to life. Also, there are so many surface things that are important about writing as well. For example, writing is improved with the proper syntax and diction, along with maybe how it is gathered into a book, physically. All of these aspects are important to writing, but I don't know if I can choose just one thing that is the most important. I think that all of these things just came from the many writers from around the world that have shaped writing into what it is today. It has been modified over and over again. What is important now may not have been important in the past. For example, we now believe that we need politically correct statements in our writing, whereas a hundred years ago it did not matter. Overall I really think writing is a dynamic art that is going to change depending on society and the time period it was written in.
The audience is the person or group of people to which a writer addresses his work. Every writer must think about what types of people they are hoping to communicate with. This is important not only in rhetoric when a writer must appeal to the common beliefs of his/her audience, but also in fiction when a writer must understand what types of works his/her audience expects. This also brings genre into play. Most writers write in a specific genre, or category of writing. Their audience becomes accustomed to this specific genre and so a consistent audience is formed. This is why people have favorite authors or types of authors; they like that particular genre. For example, J.K. Rowling is a children’s writer known for her series on witchcraft and magic. However, she now wants to write a book for adults. By changing the genre of her work, she is also changing her audience. Adolescents and teens may not be as willing to read her new book as they were to read the Harry Potter books that were written specifically for them in mind. Bitzer talks about the importance of an audience in writing rhetoric. Rhetoric calls for change or action so the rhetoric would need to be addressed to people who have the means of changing the rhetorical situation. To continue on the civil rights and abolition discussion, the rhetoric written to end slavery was not addressed to African Americans because at the time they were not able to bring forth any change. The rhetoric was addressed to people in power and people who had the means to end slavery.
ReplyDeleteBefore I write, I think about my audience and what point I’m trying to convey. If analyzing someone else’s work, I try to distance myself from my reaction to it in means of whether or not I liked it, and instead try to focus on what point they were aiming at and if that point was or was not successfully portrayed. As a writer, I do not think that my style is unique or super unusual. I think the most specific thing about me as a writer is that when I write something, I have to write from beginning to end. I can’t write a body of a paper before writing the introduction, and when I sit down to write, I usually don’t get up again until it is finished. I hate leaving unfinished work because I worry that I will lose my train of thought. Because of this, my writing tends to be fluid and very structured, but I also know that it always needs to be proofread multiple times because I tend to look over errors in my goal to finish.
I believe the most important thing about writing is being true to yourself. You should always write for yourself before others. I recognize that this is not always possible, especially in college, because if given the choice most of us wouldn’t write at all. However, when we are forced to write, I think that we should express our own opinions and beliefs and not change them based on who we are writing for.
How a writer defines key rhetorical terms is an explicit indication of how she views the craft of writing. Some writers exhibit an obvious disdain for the audience but that does not mean that they do not love their audience. I would define the term audience as the target of a given piece of writing. This will come across as an oxymoron but sometimes a writer appeals to an unintended audience and this can make the reader feel abused even though that is not the writer’s intention.
ReplyDeleteAlong those same lines, genre is the style that the writer chooses. The advent of the Internet has given birth to many new genres in every art form – especially writing. Before the Internet there was a certain process that one had to go through in order to be published. If the publisher did not like your style or your content or target audience you could not get published. For better or for worse, the Internet has given a voice to millions – a state of affairs, which I am sure has the literary gods incensed.
If a writer were a painter, then the rhetorical situation would be the subject of her masterpiece. The rhetorical situation is the framework in which a writer works. This can be a period of time, an event in history (or the future) or a person. The definition does not end there for the rhetorical situation is as a the guiding light of a lighthouse to a sailor lost at sea.
The terms audience, genre, and rhetorical situation are ideas that impact my writing, but I never consciously question what they are in every situation. They are something that I do not consider, but they impact my writing. Audience is different in most every situation. It is the person or people with which the writing is directed. But the definition is not constrained only by the people who hear it, but their beliefs, and the social currents that surround them. Genre is the type of writing with which a point is conveyed. Unlike Bitzer's beliefs, I believe that many different genres can be effective rhetoric. A poem, or fictional story can make the same effective point as an eloquent speech. For me rhetorical situation is similar to the definition by Bitzer, however, the exigences he described are far too narrow. I believe situations such as love and death are very significant exigences that can contribute to a rhetorical situation.
ReplyDeleteMy writing identity shifts with the genre with which I pursue. In informative essays and research papers I struggle to really own a subject. It is a struggle to personalize a situation and give a paper the personality that really describes it as my own. Writing O Chem labs every week really is not helping. However, when given the opportunity to write a satire or simply about a subject of my choosing, maybe a story I chose to put on paper, writing seems so much easier. My writing identity for class papers is limited to the formats and lessons I was given in school. I hope to bring my personal creativity into my papers and make them more colorful, more like my own personality.
I do not consciously think of literary terms before I write. I consider audience and other things, but this is a subconscious process.
Audience is the people any type of writing is written for, and those that the writing will influence/inform/persuade the most. Bitzer defines the rhetorical audience as those who will be “influenced by discourse” and are “mediators of change.” Within the context of rhetoric, the audience has to be made of these type of people because the nature of rhetoric is to bring about change.
ReplyDeleteGenre is the specific category a piece of writing fits into. Bitzer talks about the genre of rhetoric and what characteristics a piece of writing must have in order to be included in that genre.
Rhetorical situation is the situation that influenced rhetoric to be created in order to change or modify that situation. Bitzer states that “a situation is rhetorical insofar as it needs and invites discourse capable of participating with situation and thereby altering its realuty.”
Within good writing, writers always need to be aware of the interests of their audience, the purpose and characteristics they want to include in their writing, and the various situations surrounding them that are influencing what they are writing.
When I write the most important thing I think about when I write is focus. No matter what point a person is trying to make, if what they are writing is not focused and constantly related to their topic, the writing loses credibility and any type of interest factor they may have had. Also, the voice of the author is very important, as there doesn’t seem like much of a point to write if your individual voice is lost in the process. As to how I would define myself as writer, I’m not entirely sure how to do that. I believe writing is something that should always have the author’s presence, and should convey thoughts and ideas in order for the audience to be able to dissect and draw their own conclusions on the topic or situation being presented.
Bitzer defines the audience as the specific target group of the writing piece. The audience are the specific group that you are tryingto influence in order to achieve your intended rhetoric. In my opinion genre is the overall category that the writin alls under. For example, Bitzer discusses poetry and scientific works specifically, and each of these are a genre. Under the poetry genre you may have haikus or rap or specific poems, but the genre is what characterizes all of these writings together. Then rhetorical situation is the events and details and scenario that your discourse originally stemmed from. In Blitzer's opinion, the rhetorical situation is what shapes the discourse which results in rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteWhen I personally write I definitely consider rhetoric, for my writing usually has a purpose or desired effect. I also consider audience. I will change what I write depending upon the professor. Some professors are very biased and give good grades based upon your ideas, not your quality of writing. Since the grade is the end result and affects my future, I would change the ideas that I argued base upon what that teacher was looking for in order to succeed. I also always consider tone. I used to struggle with changing between humor and serious and sarcastic within my papers because my thoughts had all of those dimensions. It didn't translate to paper though, often becoming confusing and jumbled, so now when I write I make sure to pay attention to the tone of what I am writing and try to pick what will work best for my point.
I would consider my writing identity to be informative. I like to learn and make connections between concepts that may not have been in the reading or book. I then inform my audience of these connections and hope to persuade them though my points to agree with what I am saying. I decree that it is important to create original thought it writing.
Audience is the people you are writing to. This group should be very specific in its nature and the entire piece of rhetoric should address the concerns of this group and be tailored to it specifically. The audience is the only group of people that can be influenced by a rhetorical discourse. Genre deals with what the rhetor thinks will be the most effective means of conveying the message they want to convey. Sometimes this may be satire, while other times this may be a very scientific report on an issue backed up with facts. The rhetor decides how they think the audience will best receive and message and then adjusts their genre accordingly. Finally, the rhetorical situation is the conditions in which you are writing. Bitzer says that exigence, constraints, and audience all influence the rhetorical situation. To me, rhetorical situation is really quite simple: it is the situation in which you are writing and it completely influences the reason you are writing the rhetoric and the way in which you do it.
ReplyDeleteGood writing is very conscious of the three key terms we defined and ensures that they are all very obviously cared for in the writing. For a piece of writing to be good, you must ensure that you know exactly who the audience you are writing to is. When you know the characteristics of this audience you are able to convey your ideas much more effectively. In addition, great care must be paid to determining the most appropriate genre to convey your message in. The right choice of genre can make all the difference in having an effective discourse. Finally, good writing is extremely conscious of the rhetorical situation in which you are writing. I believe that all rhetoric stems from rhetorical situations, in order to have something to write about (and to do it well) you must know the rhetorical situation well.
Unfortunately, while it seems like I must think about these terms every time before I write, I rarely do. When I am writing a large piece of persuasion writing I generally consider these terms, but do not spend much time thinking over them. I also think that there is a good chance that I do not even realize that I am thinking about these key terms, but I almost do it subconsciously. However, when I write short pieces that do not necessarily have a goal of persuading someone, I generally start writing and don’t even consider my rhetorical situation, genre or audience. In school, especially, many times the genre and audience are very cut and dry and are spelled out in the assignment.
To me the most important part of writing is accomplishing the task I am given to the best of my abilities. I have never really written anything outside of school, and thus, my main goal is to merely accomplish the assignment well.
In the context of writing and the rhetorical situation the audience is the group that the rhetor is attempting to communicate to. The genre is really a set of implicit guidelines that shape the way the rhetor communicates the message. Bitzer would call these implicit guidelines “restraints,” in that they help the rhetor to determine what is and isn’t acceptable based on the composition of the audience or the arena in which the author’s rhetoric is being circulated. Rhetorical situation is the problem, challenge or obstacle that stimulates the creation of rhetorical discourse. As I mention in my previous blog post, rhetorical situation is the question and rhetorical discourse is the answer.
ReplyDeleteKeeping these terms in mind, good writing considers the audience that the author/rhetor is trying to appeal to and the subsequent constraints that go along with that audience. Before I write a serious paper I think about what my central argument is and then I consider how I can most effectively structure and layer my points to have the greatest effect on the reader. After I’ve decided how to effectively structure my writing, I put my ideas on paper, trying not to think about it too much. Finally I go back and make sure that it’s concise and doesn’t have any major spelling or grammar issues. I like to think of my writing as being persuasive. It’s easiest for me to write papers in which I’m discussing or evaluating something. I believe that the best writing is effective communication, as determined by the writings’ ability to effectively convey the intended message to the intended audience.
The first key term I think of when starting to write is audience, the people that I am trying to make my argument or appealing to. Right off it influences my diction and tone as how I write a diary entry to myself is very different than an essay on ecotourism to a strict professor. My syntax then comes next in my train of thought as a direct result of the audience that I am trying to appease. My diction, genre, and sentence structure stems straight from the style of writing or genre that I am trying to achieve. Usually I then begin writing, usually trying to come up with a clever introduction or just get my flow and style for the middle of the paper. It is then, after trying to muddle through the paper that I take in more consideration the rhetorical situation. The rhetorical situation as defined by Bitzer is the connection the content has and hopefully will have between the content and audience.
ReplyDeleteI work best when I talk out loud about the rhetorical situation, purpose, and my desired result for the paper. As a writer I hope to make connections between the subject matter and not only other disciplines but also a worldly thread. I am optimistic and for me my writing always ties back to what my writing can say about the bigger picture wither that be human nature or a solution to a problem from personal insecurity to larger, global problems like global warming. Often my writing incorporates not only other classes I am in but also life experiences. I thrive to make connections in my writing and that is why I need to usually talk out loud. In order to organize and synthesize my thoughts, I have to spring ideas off myself – finding the connecting links by hearing the subject matter out loud.
Audience constitutes the people who witness and engage in a discourse. Bitzer specifies that a rhetorical audience must be capable of enacting a change that the speaker desires, otherwise they would not be part of that audience, or the discussion would not be rhetoric because it could not bring about a change. Genre is the classification of a written work that gives an audience an idea of what they are about to read before they actually read it. In this context it was important to see how rhetorical situation could affect different genres but most importantly, nonfiction. A rhetorical situation is a situation that makes rhetoric possible and necessary. According to Bitzer rhetoric will not exist without this. It is composed of something that needs change, people willing to enact a change, and constraints which control how a change can take place. Before writing I always consider themes of the work that I am writing about so that I can tie them into the point I am trying to make. I also think about diction and syntax, specifically because I try to be picky about what words I use and sometimes have problems with syntax that turns my writing into a confusing string of awkward wording. I am a very structured writer; I have a set of guidelines for how I write that I may follow a bit too extensively but it is how I know to work. I also have a unique process for writing. My best papers do not involve me sitting down and writing a paper from start to beginning, but rather writing junks of the middle and skipping around as I come up with new ideas. I just have to remember to proof read at the end so I don't have unfinished ideas. I have been trying lately to shorten my sentences because I have a tendency to write lengthy sentences and I seem to have a love affair with commas. I believe I once put 13 commas in one sentence, but I am slowly recovering from that. I think that the most important thing for writing is explaining in detail what you mean by a statement and why it is important rather than summarizing. This belief came from my English teacher my sophomore year of high school who drilled that into my head for an entire year.
ReplyDeleteAudience is the directed association of people the composition is aiming to reach. Thinking in terms of who these people are, why they are interested in or are receiving the discourse, while incorporating tone, diction, content, and the appeals of pathos, logos, and ethos is critical. Bitzer mentions how the rhetoric is meant to persuade the audience. A rhetor utilizes the appeals of pathos, ethos, and logos to connect with the audience.
ReplyDeleteThe genre is identified as the surrounding setting that the rhetor is being presented in. The audience and genre are in a type of symbiotic relationship, enhancing and hindering each other. Bitzer mention contraints in the rhetorical situation. I can see how the overall atmosphere of the presentation of a discourse can set boundaries as to what can and cannot be placed in the content, appearance, and presentation of the rhetoric.
The rhetorical situation as Bitzer states is “A complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of exigence.” I see the rhetorical situation as the stage that the rhetor is built upon. The circumstances that yield the need for the action of discourse, a change in reality, alludes back to the rhetorical situation as the preliminary effector.
Key terms I look to use before I delve into before writing, apart from the above, are organization, tone, and purpose. I make the mindful decision to search out and employ these terms because they are essential in constructing a solid foundation to expand upon. I especially struggle with outlining and setting a blueprint of what my writing will entail; however, I feel organization, as defined by me, is more than just step-by-step mapping of how the ideas will flow. I find organization to encompass the facets of how I am trying to depict the message I am trying to get across, playing off of genre and audience.
The audience of a work is, as Bitzer defines, those who are influenced by the work into action or affected in their worldview because of this work. Genre is the category that a work is classified in so as to make it easier to find audiences that will be more responsive to that writing. The rhetorical situation is the overarching influence that prompts the work to be written.
ReplyDeleteWhen I begin to write a paper, and even before during the planning stages, I consider the rhetorical situation that sets the stage for my paper. Usually I don’t think too much about the audience and the genre of the work as much because the majority of my rhetorical writing is in a specific class where the audience and the genre are already defined for me. The audience and genre I am provided usually is a determining factor in the rhetorical situation presented, which in turn influences my writing so that I may adjust it to fit in the different factors.
I see my own writing identity as one geared more towards fictional narrative rather than non-fictional rhetorical responses to the world around me. While I do see myself being influenced by the real world, the rhetorical structure I write about is usually self-contained within the logic and history of the story itself. I know lots of facts and trivia that others may consider useless in the real world, but I find that this extensive knowledge of nearly nothing lends itself well to my disconnected fictional writing style. I find myself more influenced by a fact I read two months ago than I am by the news that I watch in the morning.
I believe that the most important part of writing is getting a message across in a way that other will understand. Whether this be in the format of a research paper or a fictional narrative, any work of writing will find a certain niche for the audience to fill. This belief stems from the writings that I have read over my lifetime and the deeper meaning (or lack thereof) that I have seen.
Audience is a necessary component for rhetorical discourse. It constitutes of a group of people who are able to receive information and consequently take action upon it. Bitzer defines audience as “persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and being mediators of change.” Genre provides restriction to the rhetorical discourse; writing must stay within the specific limits of the addressed topic. Similarly, Bitzer describes constraints as a necessary element of the rhetorical situation. These constraints are parts of the situation that have the power to regulate the audience’s ability to modify the exigence, or issue at hand. The rhetorical situation requires both the audience and genre in order to function. Rhetorical situation provides the context for writing rhetoric. In order for a rhetorical piece to inspire action, there must be a specific audience willing to listen and be influenced. In addition, there must a specific category that the rhetorical discourse falls under in order to limit the information the utterance references. As a result, rhetorical situation, audience, and genre all work together in order to create rhetorical discourse. They are all essential components for good writing, specifically rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteI believe that a good writer must think about these terms before he begins to write. Writing must address a specific audience; without that audience, there is no one to act upon what a writer advocates for. In addition, genre allows a writer to categorize his writing and more appropriately direct it to a certain audience. These two conditions form the rhetorical situation, which must be present in order to for rhetoric to be formed. There must be a context before rhetorical discourse is created.
I am a very technical and precise writer. I provide enough information in order for my reader to understand what I intend to communicate. Concise, yet thorough, pieces are my strength. However, I lack creativity in my writing. I overlook literary techniques that could make my writing even stronger. In addition, my writing is often monotonous to read; I lack variety in sentence length and paragraph structure.
It is important to sufficiently write about what you intend to communicate; however, I also believe it is crucial to communicate this information in a creative and interesting manner. Readers must be engaged in order for them to act upon what a writer advocates for. Therefore, carefully constructed writing that is interesting to read and rich in individual voice is the most effective form of written communication.