ENGL 104

GCC

Lightfoot

The Rhetorical Situation*

Rhetorical Situation is a term coined by Professor Lloyd Bitzer to describe the elements that combine to constitute a communication situation. By analyzing and understanding the rhetorical situation, we gain critical insight into the entire context as well as the parts of an argument, and this insight ultimately helps us evaluate its final success or failure.

TRACE A helpful mnemonic device for remembering the parts of the rhetorical situation is TRACE (text, reader/audience, author, constraints, exigence)

Essential Elements of the Rhetorical Situation 1. Exigence is the real life, dramatic situation that signals that something controversial had occurred. It is a problem to be solved. Questions to ask: What happened to cause this argument? Why is it perceived as a defect or argument? Is it new or recurring?

2. Reader/audience: For argument to work, a potential audience must care enough to listen, read, and pay attention. Questions to ask: Who is the targeted audience? Can they be convinced? What are the anticipated outcomes? How do you as a reader compare to the target audience?

3. Constraints include the existing people, events, values, traditions, and beliefs that constrain or limit the targeted audience. Questions to ask: What beliefs, attitudes, circumstances, habits, traditions, etc will limit or constrain audience perceptions?

4. The author writes an argument in response to the exigence. Questions to ask: Who is the author? Consider background, experience, education, affiliations, and values. What is motivating the author to write?

5. The text: The presentation of the argument with characteristics that can be analyzed (such as format, organization, style, language, argumentative strategies, and so on).

*Adapted from Perspectives on Argument by Nancy V. Wood

ENGL 104

GCC

Lightfoot

Questions to ask: What kind of text is it? What are its unique qualities, characteristics, and features?

*Adapted from Perspectives on Argument by Nancy V. Wood