Why is rhetorical situation important?

In order for a writer to successfully create a discourse that meets the situation’s needs, they must understand all parts of the rhetorical situation. By identifying the parts, specifically the exigence, the writer will be able to identify the goal and write accordingly. This, in turn, will help effectively create the change invoked by the situation. Rhetorical situations also continue to occur and thus create a “standard rhetorical discourse”. By understanding this situation, one can look back at these previous discourses and derive what kind of vocabulary, grammar, format and style the previous authors used. The writer can then apply these expectations and conventions  to their own discourse to create the best rhetorical discourse for the situation. For example, as a college student who will eventually enter the workforce, a rhetorical discourse that will be very relevant to you is the genre of resumes. What most student do when faced with the obstacle of creating a resume is to surf the web,  find several other resumes and model theirs after these samples. These students, maybe without realizing it, have identified the components of the genre and used its conventions to create their own discourse. By identifying all three parts of rhetorical situation, you will be able to create a successful and effective resume yourself. Therefore, previous author’s creations will help shape your own writing. Overall, by comprehending the rhetorical situation, the writer can put together all the elements and create an effective discourse.