Longaker & Walker's definition of
rhetoric is simply “the study and the practice of persuasion”,
whereas the definition(s) we had in class were more nebulous.
Additionally, none of us hit on the importance of persuasion as the
basis of all civilization!
The rhetorical analysis of the VW “Why”
ad and Dr. Martin Luther King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in
Longaker & Walker's text were reassuringly similar to some of the
professional and technical writing coursework I've done so far.
Audience analysis is critical in creating effective business media,
and has been a major part of many classes; it requires adopting a
rhetorical perspective. Even within a single organization
communicating to an identical audience, if the type of message (or,
the exigence) changes, the switch in context affects the audiences
reciprocity and has to be accommodated.
Thinking about rhetoric as being able
to create the right kairos is interesting as an aspiring grant
writer, since virtually all of an organization's success relies on
it. What is your value, why are you relevant, justify your
existence—dozens of times a year. You have to analyze the potential
sponsor and approach them according to their history of giving or
stated goals; selling the value of art education programs which take
place in an independent art gallery to the Harley-Davidson Foundation
requires a much different, more outcome-based approach than the
empathetic style you'd apply when writing to a family foundation.
Even though you'd probably use the exact same set of facts,
statistics get less traction than heartfelt quotes from program
participants when the grant allocation is being decided over a family
dinner.
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