by Chuck Parker
In “Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity,” from Naming What We Know (2015), Kevin Roozen claims that writers often fail to recognize the complex combination of social and rhetorical aspects that impact the effectiveness of their writing. He believes that all writing (even forms of writing addressed to oneself) is social in nature; that is, there is always some intended audience with a specific need or expectation.
For example, Roozen explains that even a note to oneself is not composed in isolation, as the temporal nature of the note means that a future self must interpret it. However, he insists that the social nature of writing is merely one of two necessary components that make writing effective. He asserts that a writer must also understand the rhetorical aspect of their writing in order for it to accomplish its intended purpose fully.
According to Roozen, authors must recognize both the rhetorical and social aspects of their writing.
In retrospect, I find that I, too, have made the mistake of ignoring the social aspect of my writing, particularly in my professional work. Roozen provides some helpful advice when he states that when a writer “consider[s] their potential audiences and purposes, … [this] can better help them understand what makes a text effective or not, what it accomplishes, and what it falls short of accomplishing” (Roozen).
As a writer, Roozen is asking me to take a step back and examine my writing from the perspective of my intended audience. In a professional setting, there are consequences when writing falls short of accomplishing its goal.
An author often does not know for certain who will read their work, what medium they will be using, or what setting they will be in when they read it.
Dianna Booher, a bestselling author focusing on business communication, provides further support that poor writing skills result in a lack of credibility within an organization. She offers a piece of helpful advice: write a summary for the intended audience first, then add the necessary details (Booher). This approach may be key to targeting the audience. A concise summary of the intended message with the social aspect in mind can provide the framework for developing the rest of the work with an appropriate, consistent tone.
“In a professional setting, there are consequences when writing falls short of accomplishing its goal.”
The timing of Roozen’s lesson and Booher’s advice is helpful to me, as I am in the middle of several writing projects, each with a different purpose and targeting a unique audience:
- My yearly self-evaluation report, to be read by my supervisors.
- A section of the new strategic plan for my organization, with three distinct target audiences (leadership, employees, and funding agency).
- A collaborative manuscript describing the outcome of a recent workshop, with the scientists in my field as the intended audience.
- A slide deck detailing my recent work, which will be presented to my peers in two separate forums.
In each of these writing projects, my purpose is clear, but my audience is complex. Therefore, I must find a tone that conveys my work to the unique audience in terms that most, if not all, will understand without losing my intended message. Before finalizing these projects, I will review each of them from the perspective of my audience to ascertain that my writing effectively conveys the intended message to the target audience.
Sources Cited
Booher, Dianna. “Is Bad Business Writing Killing Your Career And Business?” Forbes WomensMedia, 18 November 2019. www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2019/11/18/is-bad-business-writing-killing-your-career-and-business/
Roozen, Kevin. “Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity.” Naming What We Know, edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle. Project MUSE, 2015, pp. 17–34. muse.jhu.edu/book/40635
