What is in the Rhetoric section?

The Rhetoric section introduces the reader to the rhetorical nature of technical communication. Rhetoric involves practicing the most effective means or strategies for informing or persuading an audience. For technical communicators, writing is the cornerstone of all their communication. However, writing, especially technical writing, requires more than just taking notes and producing a project. It requires that the communicator integrate ideas on a specific subject matter and present the content to an audience. Deciding who is the intended audience, what to write, how to choose the proper delivery method, how best to get the reader's attention, and how to inform or persuade the reader requires making rhetorical choices.

This section also explains Gary Heba's approach, which addresses the idea that technical communicators need to consider becoming more literate in the multimedia arena, and presents Heba's rhetorical model of multimedia communication. Heba suggest that technical communicators not only need to be literate in the traditional sense of reading and writing, but they must prepare to become multimedia literate as well. To become more literate in this new arena, technical writers must continue to develop and expand their communication skills by studying their craft, exploring new ideas, learning concepts and processes, collaborating with others, and finding original and creative solutions to problems.  It is time for professionals in the technical communication field to become multimedia literate.