1. Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing Chapter 1-Concept 3
Baron, Amanda
Gonzalez, Anabel
Kadery, Nazifa
Padilla, Paula
Rodicio, Lillian
Santiesteban, Carolina
Vasquez, Celinnet

2. What is Rhetoric?
“The study of how people use language and symbols to influence the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of others.”
In simpler terms: The art of persuasion.
Ex: Politicians use specific language in their speeches in order to persuade an audience on an issue or topic of debate.
Everyday life => trying to convince your mom to let you go to a party.

3. GAP
Writers should consider three different topics to think rhetorically:
Genre
Audience
Purpose

4. Purpose What is the author trying to accomplish?
Writing may have 6 different rhetorical aims: To express, to explore, to inform, to analyze and synthesize, to persuade, and to reflect.
“Almost all writing is compelled by some sort of motivation or exigency.”
Exigency/ Exigence= an event or occasion that motivates a writer to begin writing.
Exigency can be internal or external.

5. Rhetorical Aim Closed Form Open Form To inform or explain
To analyze, synthesize, or interpret
To persuade
To reflect
Open Form
To express or share
To explore or inquire
To reflect

6. Changing your Reader’s View
“Focus on the change you want to bring in your audience’s view of the subject.”
Ex. To express my opinion about healthcare
Ex. To persuade others to recycle
Ex. To inform about a rare disease
Writing an explicit purpose statement directly expresses the change you want to bring about in your readers’ POV.

7. Audience Who is your audience? (Ex: Single Reader)
Once the audience has been identified, consider some of these analytical questions:

8. Length; designed; open or closed form
QUESTION
DETERMINES
EXAMPLE
How busy is the reader?
Length; designed; open or closed form
College essays need to be short and concise because college professors have many essays to read.
What are their motives for reading?
Length of introduction and type of writing
If the reader has requested a document, you only need a short intro and don’t have to go into much detail.
What is your relationship with the reader?
Formal or informal tone
Writing to family vs. writing to a committee or organization
Do they share the same beliefs and values?
Tone and structure; persuasive or not
Writing to a religious group without being prejudiced.
*** ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS WHEN WRITING TO A PARTICULAR AUDIENCE***

9. Genre
Genre- “refers to categories of writing that Follow certain conventions of style, structure, approach to subject matter, and document design.”
Influence in writing a letter, report, article, etc. comes from precedents set by previous published material in that specific genre.
Ex. writers for the NY Times are expected to write differently than writers for Teen Vogue
Writers are more likely to be successful if they write conventionally, following guidelines.
Ex. Scholars who write using closed form prose are conventional and more likely to have their work published versus those who write using open form.

10. Examples of Genre Personal Writing Academic Writing Popular Culture
Public Affairs, Civic Writing
Professio-nal Writing
Literature
Diary/ Journal
Scholarly Article
Articles for Magazines such as “Seventeen”
Newspaper editorial
Resume
Novel
Blog
Research Paper
Reviews of Books, films, plays, music
Political blog
Brochure
Play
Literacy Narrative
Textual Analysis
Advertisements
Letter to the editor
Instruction booklet
Short Story

11. Bibliography
Allyn & Bacon, Guide to Writing, (p.15-21)