Professional writing differs from other types of writing in various contexts. Professional writing is geared to the workplace; it functions as a call to action, as a set of instructions, to persuade, to inform, and even to discuss goals. The form of writing allows different sectors of the workplace to actively communicate, regardless of their differing line of work.
Rhetoric is crucial in professional writing. The way you speak to the general public is going to vary greatly from the way you speak to a well-informed audience, your boss, or even your subordinate. Audience, as Bowden and Scott (2003) argue on page 27, play a large role in rhetorical stance. A speech or paper for a client is going to use more persuasive language than say that to a coworker. When writing professionally, the audience is the most crucial. Your audience is the basis of why you are writing, and therefore needs to determine how you speak and write. The writer needs to consider how much the audience knows, what level of language they understand, what they hope to get from the information, how they value the situation, and why the writer is expressing the ideas. The audience’s needs and values must be considered and reflected in the professional writing realm in order for the piece to be purposeful.
Appeals within the rhetorical triangle also play an important role. Ethos; the appeal to ethics, logos; the appeal to logic, and pathos; the appeal to emotions, all develop the tone of a written piece. Ethos establishes the writer’s trustworthiness (13). As described by Aristotle in the piece ethos is, “like persona, the character a writer projects through text,” (13). How the writer conveys themselves to the audience will influence how likely the audience is to listen to what they have to say, how much they will believe it, and even how they are going to respond to it. Furthermore, the appeal to reason and logic allows writers to validate premises. As the text states on page 15, “The key to an effective argument is persuasive, well-supported reasons.” Logos gives the audience a reason to listen; it supports the writer’s claims. Finally, pathos connects the audience to the writer, “emotional appeals can be used to establish a bond with an audience, create goodwill toward and audience (a connection to ethos), or ensure the safety of an audience,” (14). Despite the professional realm of writing, emotions still carry some weight. Emotional appeal requires a fine line; too much or too little use will likely influence the audience to underwrite its trust in the writer.
As a reflection, water scarcity is not a well-known public issue in my opinion. Water scarcity and water stress within the United States is a real problem that we don’t see often in the media. Generally speaking, the first solution to the issue is investment; specifically in infrastructure. That being said, the information on water scarcity and water stress cannot be proposed like an ASPCA commercial, but rather how the cost of investment now will decrease the cost of maintenance. The audience requires consideration of how you are going to present the issue. Their values, their reasons, and how they perceive you will influence their choice in investment. Rhetoric assists in the realm of professional writing for these very reasons. Generally speaking, your word choice needs to stem from the audience’s experience with your topic. It needs to reflect how they are going to feel; build the connection the article touches on. It needs to consider how they are going to respond to you; give them reason to trust you. It finally needs to give them reason to respond and act; give them validation and reason to act, if a claim is made there needs to be information behind it.
I think your paragraph on understanding the audience you’re writing too is the most important piece of your post, and something that is often overlooked in writing. It just reminded me of the numerous times a professor assigns a piece of writing for the class to read and I mindlessly flip through the pages, trying but failing to understand what the author is really trying to say. It seems like many times the author, or even the teacher who is assigning the reader doesn’t have a true grasp on the level of language it’s audience understands. Especially in the professional writing world, the audiences’ level of understanding must be thoroughly understood in order for the message to be effectively communicated.
Your discussion of the three appeals is also a crucial part of effectively writing and engaging the audience, especially in the professional sector. Ethos, establishing the trustworthiness of the writer forms a sense of understanding between reader and writer. Without ethos, the reader often feels confused and detached (as I have experienced many times myself). Think about how, how many times have you been bored by a plainly written text, that offers nothing creative or even slightly fun? I hate reading pieces that seem to just drag on.
Distinguishing between coworkers and clients is interesting. What do you mean by “more persuasive” for clients? Do we not need to persuade coworkers? I ask this question genuinely! Not a trick! Would be interesting to untangle the “kinds”(?) of persuasion when we consider someone farther away (client) and someone like a collaborator. We want both to do something right? What do we do when we communicate with either party?
I really enjoyed how you broke down the importance of understanding your audience as well as the rhetorical triangle in relationship with having an effective rhetorical voice. I agree with every point that you made; as a rhetorician one must always consider to whom they are talking, while also using ethos, logos, and pathos to connect more with the audience. It is more likely that a general audience will not understand the most technical terms of a message if they are not already well versed in the subject, which is why it is so important to find a voice of authority to project expertise of the subject while also keeping the language simple enough that most people will understand it.
The only part of your argument that I do disagree with is when you said that your voice to a client needs to be “more persuasive” than it would be to a coworker, subordinate, or superior. I understand what you are trying to say, but in a professional setting, no matter who you are talking to, you must always be aware of your voice and how you are projecting information. While you may speak differently to a client, subordinate, coworker, or superior, you always have to be aware of who your audience is and the most effective ways in which to communicate to them.
I think it’s interesting when you talk about audience that you say that you need different levels of persuasiveness when you write to different people. I was wondering if really it is that you have to be more persuasive to one reader than to another or if it’s more like different types of persuasiveness. Like you need your coworker to get something different out of writing than your client, but in writing to them aren’t you still trying to persuade them both?
I find it interesting that you talk about the balance of ethos, logos, and pathos. When I think of those three I think a lot about political elections and am interested in how in today’s politics, it seems that the more pathos, the more likely you are to have support and get votes, to the point where ethos and logos don’t matter as much. We learn we should write with this balance but I wonder how necessary it is, and how much we can get away with; maybe it depends on the audience?
I like that you talk about water scarcity and its lack of publicity, that is something I worry about as well. Why do you argue that water scarcity problems can’t be shown in the same way as an ASPCA commercial? Is it not possible to pull at heart strings with images of people struggling to have enough or have clean water? If you only give the basic monetary argument is that enough to be persuasive? Is there any way to use both pathos and logos in rhetoric when addressing this issue?
I like how you differentiated professional writing from other types of writing. You’re right, in the professional world, you really have to pay attention to what your client wants and how to reach them. I think often times people think you can have the same outline in any professional setting, but that’s not true. The writer really needs to pay attention to what their client knows or doesn’t know–that really plays a part in whether you’re wasting your time or not depending on how you address your client. I think it would be interesting to know how you would further separate persuasive language for a client rather than a coworker.
I also appreciate how you did an overview of logos, pathos and ethos and gave good references. Water scarcity would be an interesting issue to tackle persuasively. Not a lot of people want to consider it a problem, but although it is a known public issue, I feel like people would rather ignore it than try and find a solution. I do feel like a logos or informational based persuasive writing or advertisement would reach an audience better in this case then trying to emotionally manipulate them to feel bad or scared about water usage.