In Tania Smith’s article title, “What is Rhetoric”, helps define the word ‘rhetoric’ in the simplest terms. As the article continues on from her initial base work of defining rhetoric, she explores the facets and ways in which everybody directly and or indirectly uses. Smith notes that rhetoric must be defined by its “function, not by a communication medium, topic, or social location.” Smith does a proficient job at properally explaining the basis to that of rhetorical communication whether that be writing, proclaiming a speech, seeing a poster, or even sending out a tweet to your 500 followers. Although Smith does not delve to deep into the details of rhetoric’s history and the ins and outs of the different discourses and aspects of rhetoric, she is able to very effectively lay-out the framework of rhetoric in layman’s terms.
When asked to rhetorically analyze an underlining function of Smith’s article, I believe she’s essentially laying a base for the reader to go on and further explore the function of rhetoric in everyday life situations. She even ends the article with a Wiki link to rhetoric and will continuously revisit the article to answer questions down in the comment section.
Maxwell Randolph
