Bitzer defines rhetorical situation as “thoughts on a circumstance”.

*Persuasion – although he sees it as more than such, discourse requires persuasion.

*Fleshed – discourse requires fleshing out your points to make sense

*Discipline – you must be able to remain calm, and to the point

A Rhetorical situation in my own definition is a situation that causes thought. A situation that causes inner discourse and “rhetoric” between yourself (or and yourself) and another party. Rhetoric allows room for questioning and bring forth discourse the option for dialogue.

An example of rhetoric would be the discussion on life and how we got here. There are different sources that provide different answers and each source has a writer (purpose), a reader (audience) and text (genre(which we also discussed before hand where I said I believe it to be objective)). Rhetoric brings forth the “exigence purpose” and causes discussion that requires us to be persuasive, by fleshing out our views and remaining disciplined as such.

Before I read “Bazerman”, I have to give my own definition of “Genre”. Genre to me is a theme, but what that theme entails can diverge into multiple passages. Your theme can be intended for one to multiple audiences, and can diverge into “sub-genres”. Is your audience children as a whole? Or is it intended for children with autism? Maybe children with ADHD, it can vary. A book about how to cope with a traumatic home will not have the same effect on a child from a privileged standpoint. An experience I have with this on a daily basis is with (for example) rap music. Rap music has always been generalized systemically as “gangster”, raunchy, inappropriate (typically in a racist context). Or as spoken word, poetry, or an activists tool. Now a days you can find multiple sub genres stemming from what we know as rap, and which one pertains to a different audience (Trap, Emo, Lyrcial, etc). I use this example to make the point a little more relatable under the current social climate. Genre can be a lot of things, but at the core its a theme intended for a specific audience.

After reading Bazerman I see now the emphasis is more on interpretation and not so much on intent. Meaning that while a project may be intended for a specific audience it can be interpreted multiple ways, therefore, having multiple meanings. However, I am not sure I agree with that. If a project is intended for a specific audience, but someone from outside that realm decides to interpret it as “speaking to them” that is entirely subjective. I do believe genre is objective. An example of poor interpretation would be the bible. Multiple religions or individual people claim to have the proper idea of what the bible is trying to say, but wouldn’t you think a book as important as “the word of god” at one point did in fact have an objective point and an intended audience. However, I could argue my counter point myself with my own specific example. If Trap music was created as a way to simply have a “hot beat” and talk about drugs, I as a person who has no experience there, will interpret it as such. However someone who had to do that to survive may see it as “the voice of their past” I could go back and forth with myself on this but I do believe our ideas of Genres far diverge at the core premise. I believe Bazerman see’s it as “Subjective” where as I see at as “Objective”. All I can do is learn, hear other viewpoints, and continue to think on it…

What is writing? I associate writing as a few things. It can be a way to tell a story, a way to relay information, or a way to vent as well.

What is successful writing to me? Writing is successful to me as long as it causes me to feel emotions (whatever the intended emotion may be), helps educate me or complete a task that requires the information, or helps me get some kind of resolution emotionally through venting (diary).

What kind of writer do you see yourself as? It’s been a while since i’ve done any writing outside of professional etiquette, but back in high school I was in to creative and descriptive writing. I would like to reawaken that ability and am hoping being in school will make that happen!

5-8 key terms that define writing:

-Emotion

-Information

-Understandable

-Descriptive

-Thorough