watch?v=f61SPxeIEgU 
[00:00:00.93] NARRATOR: A Smart Move: Responding to the Rhetorical Situation. One of the most important moves you can master is learning how to respond to the rhetorical situation. Every time you sit down to write, you are faced with a different situation. Before you begin, think about the situation and how it affects the way your message will be perceived. 
[00:00:25.21] The primary parts of the rhetorical situation include the purpose, the audience, and the context. The purpose is your reason for writing. What do you hope to accomplish through your words? Do you want to make someone laugh? To explain something? To inform or to teach? Each of these purposes would require you to write in a different way. 
[00:00:52.81] The audience is the group that will read your work. Who are they? What are their backgrounds and values? What do they want? Keeping the audience in mind as you write will help you accomplish your purpose. 
[00:01:07.34] The context is the setting in which your writing is created or read. What is the world around you like? What generated the need for this piece of writing? As a writer, you won't want to have the same tone when you write in an academic context, like writing a paper for class, as you would in a social context, like posting to a personal blog. 
[00:01:31.66] Good writers think about the rhetorical situation every time they write and adjust their writing accordingly. By mastering this move, you'll be better prepared to write in a way that works for your context, reaches your audience, and accomplishes your purpose.