Re: Rhetoric And Technical Writing?

["Dan Heath" <dheath76 -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I disagree. I think that communication is inherently rhetorical. Our writing
is loaded with hidden agendas.

We use standards to persuade our audience that our organizations hold to
certain values (consistency, professionalism). We use warnings to persuade
our audience to use our products responsibly. We write usage guidelines to
persuade our audience to use the products in the manner in which they are
intended to be used. All of these are stylistic decisions with unspoken
persuasive goals.

If our writing is effective it can greatly aid our customers' satisfaction
with the product and their perception of our organization.


On 3/22/06, Tony Markos <ajmarkos -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
>
> --- Me Too <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
>
> ...the actual use of training in rhetoric would be
> applicable in only a small fraction of technical
> documents. After all, technical docs are almost never
> intended to influence ways of thought or persuade
> people on how to decide things.
>
> Tony Markos responds:
>
> I feel this way also, but I have been wrong before.
> Anyone care to estimate the percentage of time that
> rhetoric would "come into play" in a tech comm
> project?
>
>
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