According to Bowdon and Scott, the distinction between professional writing and other kinds of writing, such as creative and academic writing, is that professional works are produced for “actual, concrete audiences who will use them to make decisions or perform actions”. From this I extrapolated that professional writing is simply much more serious than other forms. It must be accurately researched and edited such that it does not broadcast any misinformation. Professional writing is written for an audience that uses the piece as a basis for further action to be taken. It is important for the author of a professional piece to write with this in mind, for lacking to do so can result in a large portion of individuals who read the piece determining an action based on misinformation. The study of rhetoric helps further explain this question.
Some professional writing has the intent of persuasion. This is an example of implementing rhetoric in professional writing. I think intending to persuade an audience in a professional piece accentuates the importance of providing accurate information within the piece. Professional pieces are read with the mindset that they are providing an informed message written by someone knowledgeable on the topic. This, in combination with a persuasive tone, can be dangerous. Readers will be more apt to agree with someone they believe to be knowledgeable in the topic. This helps to further differentiate professional writing from other kinds of writing. Other kinds of writing do not have this factor to worry about. If a non-professional piece intends to persuade an audience, they are not expected to be an entirely credible source. In my experience, readers put less stock in pieces without professional credentials. Because of this, there is less of an impact of writing a misinformed piece.
Another use of rhetoric in professional writing, according to Bowdon and Scott, is that professional writing has an emphasis on its intended audience. This can be exemplified through the hypothetical comparison of a New York Times article and an article found in PubMed. The intended audiences are vastly different, and so each article will have an entirely different style and content to accommodate such. Professional writing is different from other styles of writing because it has to take this into account. Professional writing has an intended audience, and must have a piece that keeps this in mind. Success in a professional piece will be seriously hindered if it is written without keeping so in mind. If a New York Times article had the style and content of an article found on PubMed, it would not be a successful piece simply because the audience the New York Times has a much different background and interest. The majority of readers within the New York Times audience would either be unable to understand, or be wildly uninterested in, such a piece.
Because my public interest narrative from last week had a mainly scientific focus, my professional writing piece would be based on providing a piece produced with that in mind. I would have to keep the rhetorical aspects of intended audience and use of persuasion in mind to create a successful professional piece. Knowing there is a persuasive nature to my piece, I would make sure to broadcast only credible and accurate information so as to avoid misinforming my readers and influencing their opinion with inaccurate details. Thinking about these aspects of rhetoric will help my piece be more successful.
I completely agree with your statement about how professional writing seems so much more serious than other forms of writing. It seems intimidating because if you make mistakes, or speak in a way that is not how your intended audience wanted you to speak, you will lose credibility. This is not good due to the fact that your professional audience will not be willing to read your piece anymore and will be less likely to listen to the arguments you are attempting to make. It appears as if you must do as much research on your topic as possible, which is not a bad thing because it will make your arguments stronger, rather than writing freely on a creative piece where you would not be as motivated to find minute details to include in the writing or project you are working on. Another topic you talk about is the audience, or the people that you are expecting to read your piece. I just wanted to add to this by saying that some professional pieces use collaboration with other people on different levels of authority in order to have everyone in the audience understand almost like an interpreter. For instance, if one is presenting the piece in an office meeting at work, there might be employees there, superintendents, and other big bosses as well. Maybe the piece was talking about how much the employees got paid and if it was fair or not. The piece would probably be more persuasive if it was written by both a superintendent who witnesses the work of the employees as well as a handful of employees to plead their case, in order for the big bosses to see both sides of the story.
In response to your blog post, I must respectfully disagree with your claim that profession writing is more serious than other types of writing, because it is written for “an actual, concrete audience”. I think the seriousness of creative writing and professional writing depends on the context of the piece. I would argue that all communication depends on rhetoric, although we rely on it more of less subconsciously in casual conversation and creative writing. Have you ever watched a television show or movie and thought, “The character would never do that. Why are they doing that?”. That character wasn’t following logic, the author wasn’t being persuasive, the audience wasn’t moved by the pathos, you might even begin to question the ethos of the author if you have several of those moments.
Keeping an audience in mind serves both profession and creative writing. Anyone whose creative writing has been critiqued during a workshop can attest to the fact that the audience does not always understand your meaning on a first draft. What is clear to you as the writer, can be muddled or completely missed by the reader.
I will respectfully disagree with you on the claim that readers “put less stock in pieces without professional credentials” and that “there is less of an impact of writing a misinformed piece.” The rise of “click-bait” articles, the popularity of ‘lifestyle brands’ like GOOP and the pseudoscience of climate change denial, anti-vaxxers, etc. point to the lasting impact of misinformation.