HU2642 Reading Response: Wysocki & Lynch

Continuing the retrospective reading theme for me, Wysocki and Lynch brought me back to the first semester of my first year freshman days in UN2001 Revisions, which is now known as “Composition.” Back then, the HDMZ was still called the CCLI too and homecoming week involved hobos, but the university has done its best to keep 1984-like control over such information (there was once a time when paper towels were easily dispensed in every bathroom and EasyNaps were just baskets filled with napkins as well). Back then I was frustrated by flexible syllabi/calendars (I once considered extended deadlines a bad thing), the idea of revising, and tailoring my argument to a specific audience (I specifically recall asking if the professor was telling me I should change my opinion on an issue because the audience was a bunch of old nuns). Of course, I actually learned a lot from that section of Revisions, unlike what fellow students have expressed about other sections. I also figured out that the Humanities department wasn’t entirely full of hippies, contrary to what I learned during Orientation Week, though the kid rolling cigarettes in class made me wonder for a while... But I digress, and I’ve only written one paragraph.

In the first chapter of Compose, Design, Advocate the authors provide a simplified version of Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation and outline important points to consider when forming an effective argument. Specifically, they list 7 issues:

• Purpose
• Audience
• Context

• Rhetorical Strategies
• Medium
• Arrangement

• Feedback/drafting

They also state that an important matter to consider is “how communication creates relationships among composers of communication and their audiences” (26). Chapter 2 essentially provides detailed questions to pose when identifying these different aspects of an argument/situation. Thus, these two chapters will become slightly more useful within the context of Intro to Digital Media once we have identified a specific exigence to form our arguments around. Just remember, when crafting your argument ask yourself, “Is my audience a bunch of old ladies and nuns?” because that context may affect your rhetorical strategies, choice of medium, and arrangement, but not necessarily your purpose (though it may change how you present that purpose to the audience).