Rhetoric in Technical Writing

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Rhetoric in Technical Writing

• Prepared by Julia Romberger
• For English 334

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What will I discuss in this presentation?

• The Rhetorical Triangle
• Application to Professional Writing
• Relevance to Class Projects

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What is the rhetorical triangle?
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Rhetorical Triangle
Context Context
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Audience

• When considering your audience you need to
  determine
• What they already know
• What they are interested in knowing
• What they need to know

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Communicator or Writer

• As a writer you need to be aware of how your
  audience perceives you -- your Ethos.
• Ethos is connected to
• Your authority
• Your competence
• Your professionalism

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Working your Ethos

• How can you improve your Ethos?
• Convincing arguments
• Use of adequate evidence and research
• Awareness of your audiences needs
• Professional presentation

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Message and Purpose

• A document or message may have one or more
  purposes
• To earn or maintain good will
• To persuade
• To inform
• To amuse, please, or entertain
• The ultimate purpose of workplace writing is to
  effect positive action and improve relations
  between people.

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The Document

• A document is structured according to a genre
  common to technical writing such as
• Memos, Reports, Power Point Presentations
• A technical document might contain
• Arguments and Rationales
• Evidence and Data

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Context

• Context is the situation surrounding the
  documents origination. It is linked to
• The need that spurred the writing of the document
• The position of the writer relative to the
  audience
• The tone of the workplace
• Expectations of the person who initiated the
  writing of the document

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How does this connect to the workplace?
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Understanding Rhetoric can

• Help you develop effective, persuasive documents
  of various types
• Help you meet your audiences expectations
• Improve your professional profile

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How is this linked to projects in this class?
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The Professional Writing Programs goals are to

• Teach students how to apply the Rhetorical
  Triangle to a variety of writing situations
• Context
• Audience
• Writer
• Purpose
• Teach students the basics of genres of technical
  writing and the need for flexibility within those
  genres