Rhetoric often refers to recognizing and understanding the available means of persuasion. Some frame all communication is an act of persuasion: viewing all communication as persuasive means that even when you are composing a technical manual, for example, you are working to persuade the reader to see things a certain way, to take some specific action, to recognize a particular concern, etc. While the term rhetoric often relates to persuasion, the field of rhetoric has evolved to include understanding how language functions between a speaker or writer and an audience. Rhetoric can also refer to a systemic investigation of how language works to shape the world and to get things done.

Framing all language as rhetoric, or acts of communication as rhetorical, means looking at language and communication in terms of how people intentionally use language to accomplish specific goals. It also means that making choices about effective communication relies heavily on what you want to do. Taking a rhetorical approach to writing involves recognizing that no two writing situations are exactly alike, and that what might work for one situation may not be appropriate in the next. While some things that make “good” writing are consistent across various situations, each time you write, you have to consider the goals, context, audience, etc. of that unique writing situation. A rhetorical approach might be contrasted to something like using a template to write a specific genre or document: rather than learning various conventions and applying those same conventions each time you writing, a rhetorical approach means that you remain flexible and responsive to the requirements or needs of that specific situation.

This text frequently uses the term rhetorical to mean that a text—or an approach to writing and understanding a text—considers the impact it has on an audience and considers how it can work to achieve its context-bound purpose or goal. When describing all the things that surround a given act of creating a text, or the context in which a text was created and is used, we will refer to the rhetorical situation of that text.

The rhetorical situation refers to the various components that surround an act of communication. The rhetorical situation asks that you consider the following components each time you approach a new writing situation:

• Context (specific context of the organization, more general context of the time and culture in which you and your audience and this text will exist)
• Audience (who are you writing for? Who is your primary audience? Secondary? Tertiary? How will your audience interact with this text? Will they read it from beginning to end? Skim for the parts they need? Move back and forth among various sections?)
• Purpose (is the main purpose of this text to inform? To instruct? To persuade? To move your audience to some action?)
• Goal (what is the immediate and longer term goal of this text? How will you know whether the text is successful?)
• Writer (yourself, your team, your organization—what about your own experience, your demographics, your biases, your expertise might inform the way you approach this writing task?)

Understanding the rhetorical situation allows you to make decisions each time you approach a new communication task. Because each task exists in its own unique context, with its own purpose, target audience, etc., each requires a new analysis of that specific rhetorical situation.

Take a look at this resource from the Purdue OWL (online writing lab) regarding the rhetorical situation. Keep in mind that each time you approach a new writing situation, you can begin by assessing and analyzing the rhetorical situation. Doing so allows you to communicate effectively, with your audience, context, purpose, goal, and own limitations or perspectives in mind, even when you come across a new genre or unfamiliar writing task.

Activity theory

Contributed by Evelyn Dsouza

Activity theory is a social scientific framework for understanding systemic human activity: groups of people doing work together. Through the lens of activity theory, we can more readily see the ways that activities are shaped by social interactions–for example, those within an organization or profession–and by the tools we use, including texts, language, and discourse.

In particular, activity theory captures activity systems in a state of motion; while it acknowledges the importance of ongoing histories, it can also open opportunities for intervention by prompting generative questions.

This theory can serve as a complement to rhetoric; both perspectives give us some vocabulary for thinking about communication in context. In addition, it can also help us think about the work of technical communication in more concrete ways by looking at specific aspects of “context.” For example, to help us understand genres as typified ways of responding to a recurring need or social situation, the model of activity theory makes clearer and concretizes the production processes of documents, highlighting their authorship and the division of labor involved, their objects and outcomes, the tools and rules that condition their making and use, and the communities or audiences in which they circulate.

You can read more about activity theory in “Activity Theory: An Introduction for the Writing Classroom” by Kain & Wardle, which is found in the text Writing about Writing.^[1] As you read, consider especially the questions on page 280. Think of the specific kinds of texts that are used in your field. How might these questions relate to your own practice of technical and professional communication? How could they help you navigate new or unfamiliar activity systems? How might asking these questions help you think both creatively and analytically as a communicator?

Importance of a rhetorical approach

Why is it important to understand rhetorical theory in a technical and professional writing course? Tania Smith addresses the connection between rhetorical theory and technical communication by explaining that rhetorical theory can be used to create texts and to critique the texts you read. So, it’s a valuable tool in terms of invention and evaluation, and can be applied to any new communication context. She explains that a rhetorical approach to technical communication is intentional or purposeful. When using a rhetorical approach to communication, a communicator will try to understand the social context of their intended audience, and will be strategic about using language towards a specific purpose. So, a communicator must know whether they are trying to persuade or inform, for example, and they must understand enough about their audience to know what might be persuasive or how they can inform them. She emphasizes that rhetoric–and a rhetorical approach–is not just something used in advertisements or politics, but something that intentional communicators use in every communication situation.

Smith goes on to explain that rhetorical approaches are useful because (as this text emphasizes, too) no two instances of communication are the same. Further, no two audiences are the same. It is as important to take a rhetorical approach to reading and listening as it is when creating texts. While it is useful to learn certain heuristics, which are guidelines or best practices for creating texts, it is important to avoid letting those heuristics become templates. Hermeneutics, which give us the tools to answer the “why” questions about how texts are perceived and how communication impacts an audience, help to balance out heuristics, which allow us to answer the “how” questions. Once again, using rhetorical theory to both receive and create texts allows us to better understand effective, and ethical, communication.

Read how Tania Smith describes the relationship between studying rhetoric and studying technical communication in her article “What Connection Does Rhetorical Theory Have to Technical and Professional Communication”, and consider why it’s so important for technical communicators to take a rhetorical approach to communication.^[2]

Along with the reasons that Smith brings up in her article, this text takes a rhetorical approach to technical communication for the following key reasons:

1. There is no “one size fits all” or template way to approach technical communication. Taking a rhetorical approach allows us to treat each new writing situation effectively, considering audience, purpose, and context. In this way, a rhetorical approach is a strategic approach, and framing technical communication as rhetorical allows us to make choices for effective communication with a specific audience.
2. Understanding the rhetorical situation, and taking this approach to technical communication, also allows us to see the field and practice of tech comm as directly engaged in ethics and social responsibility. A rhetorical approach frames communication as action, or as directly linked to the material world. It also frames communication as stepped in culture, values, politics, bias, and frames language as always working with or against systems of power and oppression. As technical communicators, we have a responsibility to promote social justice; understanding the rhetorical nature of language more broadly, and of technical communication in particular, helps us to understand how technical communicators engage social justice.

Take a look at this video on responding to the rhetorical situation.

Throughout this text, you are reminded of the importance of analyzing each rhetorical situation as you begin a writing project. Specifically, this text emphasizes the importance of audience: a technical communicator needs to always be audience focused and keep their specific, target audience in mind. This work happens through audience analysis, understanding the rhetorical situation, and often through collaboration.

In the next section, you’ll learn about the rhetorical appeals and work to identify their usefulness in technical communication. Remember, though, that learning how to recognize and deploy these appeals are part of what Smith describes as heuristics; while they are useful to recognize or name, it is also important to know how these appeals are received by an audience.

Understanding the rhetorical appeals

When discussing rhetoric, the three rhetorical appeals often come up; the rhetorical appeals are foundational concepts of rhetorical approaches to communication. You may have heard of these appeals already: ethos, pathos, and logos.

• Ethos refers to an appeal to character; persuading your reader based on your own experience or expertise is an example of an appeal to ethos. Ethos might look like taking time to explain to your audience that they can trust your opinion based on your years of training, research and experience. Or, ethos might look like an appeal to a ‘good name’ or reputation. Say you are persuading your audience to purchase a Subaru: an appeal to ethos would be mentioning what a great reputation Subarus have, or that it is frequently the consumer’s choice, or that the brand has been around for so many year.
• Pathos appeals to emotion; a pathos appeal connects with your reader on an emotional level. If I want to convince my same audience to purchase a Subaru, then I might appeal to pathos by creating an ad that shows what a good family car Subaru’s are by telling the story of a specific family watching their child grow up in a Subaru. This appeal works by evoking a specific emotional response from the audience and thus persuading them that the Subaru is the right car for their family.
• Logos is an appeal to logic or reason; an appeal to logos might lean on data or logical reasoning. Let’s say that I want to sell that Subaru through an appeal to logos. To do this I might give my audience some specific statistics, or some data, to help them see that Subaru’s are safe or affordable or get good mileage. I might use data alongside reasoning, meaning I would use specific evidence and then explain to my audience how or why this evidence supports my claim that a Subaru is really the best choice for them.

In technical communication, it may seem that logos is the favored rhetorical appeal. Technical communication is often perceived as objective, unemotional, absent of a “point of view.” However, since we’ve already discussed how technical communication is rhetorical, all three rhetorical appeals show up in even the most “objective” instances of communication. When you cite sources, for example, that action might be understood both as an appeal to logos (logic, reason, past research, data) AND an appeal to ethos (are you citing reputable sources, authors, and journals? Are you showing that other credible folks in your field can back up your own findings?). Many technical documents appeal to pathos, as well–consider how you might persuade a reader to care about climate change even as you are presenting information from recent research or reports.

Recognizing these rhetorical appeals allows us to see how technical communication, which is often viewed as objective and “purely informational,” is also inherently value-laden. In other words, technical communication is steeped in cultural structures and systems, and it is never purely “objective” or informational, because any type of communication is connected to a human being, with their own biases, values, and experiences. However, recognizing that technical communication is never neutral is an important step towards recognizing and mitigating bias. While it might seem counterintuitive, framing technical communication as rhetorical can help technical communicators to work towards goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion, because it deconstructs the problematic assumptions that any one instance of technical communication can be neutral or objective. Communicators make choices based on their purpose, the context, and their audience, and must be aware of their own positions, experiences, and world views and be explicitly conscious of how these things shape their approach to communication. By understanding technical communication (and all communication) as impacted by values, world views, frameworks, etc., communicators can make choices about their audience’s needs.

Taking a rhetorical approach to technical communication also means recognizing the relationship between technical communication and ethics (which we discussion further in Section 2). When considering the rhetorical appeals, and making decisions about using them in a text, it’s also important to consider ethics and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Rhetorical appeals can help communicators to persuade their audience, and can frame information so that an audience can understand how that information pertains to them. For example, if a technical communicator is working with an environmental scientist to develop an infographic, it is important to understand not only what information to present to a non-expert audience, but also how to present that information so that the audience feels a connection to the subject matter and can understand the central message.

For a fuller explanation of ethos, pathos, and logos, and how these rhetorical appeals work to persuade an audience, take a look at this resource from our university libraries, Persuasive Strategies.