Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #1:

● Exigence: need definition of government policy

● Writer: Contracting Officer
● Primary/ Intended Audience: Government Analyst at X Agency
● Secondary/ Peripheral Audience: Enemy Officers
● Author's Purpose/ Goal: To see if policy prohibits certain acts of war
● Context/ Background Info: Ally outpost in war zone is struck, leaving many wounded
or dead, leading to contracting officer looking for possible counterattacks.

Textual Genre #1: Email requesting breakdown of policy

Hello Senior Analyst Pink,

This is Contracting Officer Yellow and this is an urgent request. My outpost in Fort Sunshine has
been attacked by enemy militia. We lost 36 lives, with 15 others wounded from a bomb attack
during the night.This act of war will not go unpunished and in retaliation we wish to obtain the
B-1 fighter jet in order to avenge our soldiers. We have the militia’s location which is in a 5
miles radius of a small city in Bulgaria, population of around 5,000 citizens. I understand that
this artillery is known to cause heavy damage, and I look to you to confirm that our policies
allow such machinery in inhabited areas?

Best regards,
Corporate Officer Yellow
COyellow@nxa.gov

Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #2:

● Exigence: to define government policy due to emergency situation
● Writer: Government Analyst at X Agency
● Primary/ Intended Audience: Contracting Officer
● Secondary/ Peripheral Audience: Enemy Officers
● Author's Purpose/ Goal: To define the policy requested in order to provide the
contracting officer with the best information possible so they can make the right
decision
● Context/ Background Info: Contracting Officer looking for possible counterattacks
through government policies from enemy attack on ally base/outpost.

Textual Genre #2: Email answering request for breakdown of policy

Good Afternoon Contracting Officer Yellow,

I am deeply saddened to hear about the events that occured at Fort Sunshine, and I wish to
express my deepest condolences. Fort Sunshine was an outpost that we hear at Agency X have
supplied to before, so this news has greatly affected everyone hear at the base. I regret to inform
you however that the B-1 fighter jet is currently on the banned list for warfare. We acknowledge
that the B-1 fighter jet has a high damage radius, able to cause damage of up to 10 miles. We
therefore cannot allow for the use of the jet because of the militia’s close vicinity to the
neighboring city.

We do have good news to relay to you. The G-37 fighter jet is a suitable replacement and can
send it out to you as soon as possible. The G-37 fighter jet comes with built in machine guns,
which will be less catastrophic than the B-1 fighter jet’s rockets. If you wish to use the G-37
instead we can have it shipped out to you.

Once again we are sorry for the loss and hope that we were able to benefit you in anyway. Thank
you for your understanding and have a safe day.

Sincerely,
Senior Analyst Pink
SApink@nxa.gov

Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #3:

● Exigence: Input on situation within email in a certain time period
● Writer: Team Supervisor/ Director
● Primary/ Intended Audience: Analysts within team
● Secondary/ Peripheral Audience: Supervisor's superiors/ higher ups
● Author's Purpose/ Goal: Account for team's timeliness and capabilities
● Context/ Background Info: The supervisor must be in a report to their higher ups,
showcasing that the team is capable of getting in important information in a timely
manner.

Textual Genre #3: Informational Email

Good Morning to all GS-13 Analysts,

This is Director Smith contacting you all about our monthly war report. Last month we had a
94% proficiency rate, which was our high for the year. I think we can do better and would like to
show my supervisor that our department is capable and ready. The assessment for the month is to
put our input on a project being worked on by the X agency in Baltimore. They want us to look
at possible defects in their mission and what their rate of success would be. Their overview is in
the pdf I have attached at the bottom of this email. This must be in by 4:00 p.m. today and I will
take our inputs back to my supervisor.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and keep up the good work.

Sincerely,
Director Smith
DASmith@nxa.gov

pdf.osdnafi

Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #4

● Exigence: The need for a financial audit
● Writer: Auditor outside of X Agency
● Primary/ Intended Audience: X Agency
● Secondary/ Peripheral Audience: Taxpayers/ Stockholders
● Author's Purpose/ Goal: To ensure financial stewardship and accountability of federal
government.
● Context/ Background Info: This can include specific request to verify specific
practices or events that have occurred.

Textual Genre #4: Audit Request

Dear Financial Advisor Beckham of X Agency,

We received no response on our last audit request detailing the agency's financial transactions
from December 1, 2016-February 28, 2017. This was a precautionary audit request due to the
fact that reports are out of a miscalculation of assets being purchased and wanted to make sure
that all financial statements were correct. Please note that we are in need of all your purchases
through this time period and acquisitions. If we do not receive the information by March 31,
2017 then we will admit an administrative subpoena or the audit will be estimated.

If there are any additional questions or concerns please contact the information below.

Sincerely,

Phil Philermon
Auditor
PHILermon@gmail.com
(276)4569020
Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #5:
● Exigence: Agency needs to let go of an employee
● Writer: Director/ Supervisor from X Agency
● Primary/ Intended Audience: Analyst from X Agency
● Secondary/ Peripheral Audience: Higher Ups to Director/Supervisor
● Author's Purpose/ Goal: To let go of an employee in the best tone possible
● Context/ Background Info: Employee, or analyst in this case, gave up private
information or screwed up on policy request.

Textual Genre #5: Firing an employee

Dear Suzan Witherspoon,

You have been an essential part of our agency for 13 years, and have been well complemented
by many of our colleagues. You jumped from a GS-8 to a GS-11 within just 5 years which was a
great accomplishment on your behalf. Your transition from an assistant administrator to a senior
analyst was swimmingly. Your war reports for the past 1 ½ have been excellent at 90%
proficiency.

Although your time with the agency has been great, I regret to inform you that your contract has
been terminated. We were overlooking the departments background history for criminal records
and we found that you were imprisoned for 3 years due to a domestic assault. We feel that it is in
our best interest to disable you from the group. We do not condone domestic violence here at X
agency and hope you can understand our concern.

We wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Sincerely,
Kelly Foottoe
DAKellyFT@nxa.gov
(214)8971124

Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #6

● Exigence: To relocate an employee in order to create a position
● Writer: Department Advisor for X Agency
● Primary/ Intended Audience: Employee being relocated from X Agency
● Secondary/ Peripheral Audience: Relocated department
● Author's Purpose/ Goal: To try and make the employee as comfortable as possible
with their new position
 ● Context/ Background Info: A department is in need of a new analyst, and another
department is overloaded with analysts. This will cause the one department to place
one of their analysts in another department to help them fill a need.

Textual Genre #6: Employee Relocation

Hello Senior Analyst Rickson,

I hope you are having a wonderful day thus far, this is your Department Advisor Stan Stanley.
Since you’ve been with X agency you have been an incremental part of this department’s
success. You have been one of the best employees working with our troops and you have also
been an office gem. We have a very important change we have to inform you about.

We know how much you’ve wanted to work with the big guys and now is your opportunity. You
are being relocated to the Hexagon in Washington, D.C. I know this seems drastic and sudden
but you are not required to appear for another 4 weeks. You will start out as a Senior Analyst but
from what I am told they will want to shift you around because of your versatility.

We have appreciated your time here at X agency and believe you will be very successful in your
new position. Thank you for all the work you put in, we wish you the best of luck and if you
have any questions you know where to find us.

Sincerely,
Department Director Stanley
DDStanley@nxa.gov
(313)9023456

Metacognitive Moves Reflection Essay

Metacognitive Moves from Textual Genre #1: An Email Requesting the Breakdown of a
Policy
My interviewee told me that her agency conducts many throughout the workday/workweek. She
also said that not only do analysts have to conduct many of these emails, but other job positions
too. This is what lead me to making this scenario where contracting officers have to get in touch
with government analysts. I started out by giving my interviewee a pseudonym and making her
the primary audience in this case because she normally would be. When I began the email, I
stated “This is an urgent request” instead of formally introducing myself because I wanted to
evoke some sort of sympathy and emotion from my reader (as the Contracting Officer). I then
put in some numbers to hyperbolize the situation, which is what a Contracting Officer would
most likely do in such a situation in order to allow the intended audience to fully understand the
magnitude of the situation. Next I went ahead and created a fictional fighter jet, one that would
cause a lot of damage but would also be known for being very effective. After that I had to
include the surrounding areas which were possible to be hit if we lead out an attack, which is
important information for the government analyst to know when reading over the policy. I left
off with a request for a breakdown of a policy regarding the use of the jet. Finally in my
salutation I made sure to include a government email, which I incorporated in all of my textual
genres.

Metacognitive Moves from Textual Genre #2: Email Answering Request for the Breakdown of
a Policy
I figured that I would base a response from the first textual genre in this one. This is more of
what my interviewee would be saying, which I feel more comfortable with giving my view on
what they would say. I also looked back to the “Response” chapter in the book, starting on p. 257
which gave me some good advice in making my textual genre. There were some key things in
this
chapter that I made sure to incorporate, firstly making sure not to give false information since
this was an informative response. I used some key words from the chapter such as thanks,
inform, and acknowledge. I also tried to mix in words like understanding, condolences, and as
soon as possible. I felt these would be good words to use in such a tragic situation, showing
sympathy towards the Contracting Officer and the base. I also implemented some empathy
stating that the Agency has worked with this specific outpost before and that the loss of some of
our soldiers had a great effect on everyone back home. I tried my best to ease into relaying the
bad information about the fighter jet. In this scenario the fighter jet was not to be used in such a
close radius to the small city. I then went on to provide the Contracting Officer with some good
news, telling him that we (X Agency) could lend him a different fighter jet which was less likely
to damage the neighboring city. I also gave this new “G-37” fighter jet some nice features to try
and persuade the Contracting Officer into using it. This way I can seem as more helpful to him
and give him some sense of hope and togetherness.

Metacognitive Moves from Textual Genre #3: Informational Email

This textual genre was one specifically pointed out by my interviewee. She told that this was a
specific scenario that they go through monthly, not in this exact manner, but very similar. I
wanted to make it more understandable to the audience and so I tried not to use any agency
jargon. In this textual genre, there normally would be a good amount of jargon, especially
according to my interviewee. She says that there is jargon for almost anything in her work place,
even the communication sources that they use. This email was sent out to all the analysts in a
certain operation level. By that I mean that there are different levels of analysts and the higher
numbered groups are more essential to major situations. They have more input and are promoted
based on performance just like most other jobs. Sending the email was the Director of this
level,who oversees all of their activities and relays the information to his/her higher ups. I started
the email off with a very straight-forward sentence because if the analysts are doing this every
month then they are expecting such an email. That is also why I decided to give the email
somewhat of a lighter tone because it is a routine scenario. I also incorporated the proficiency
rate of the team, to show them where they are at while also giving them the notion that there’s
room for improvement. My interviewee tells me that a lot of times the Agency will communicate
with another base in a different area. For this I chose to integrate a “X Agency” base located in
Baltimore to allow an interaction with another base. I did not include the details of the project in
the email text, instead putting it into a fake pdf where the analysts can oversee it. This
government agency has a lot of classified information, and that includes inside of emails this
way, putting the project information in a pdf will offer a little bit of safety in case the email is
retrieved by a hacker. Finally I added in a deadline to show the team that this is still a very
important email, and that all of their inputs are not only mandatory but crucial to the agencies
growth. One last thing I added in was that I appreciated everyone on the team and wished them
to have a good day, in order to maintain that trust and friendship which should lead to continued
success.

Metacognitive Moves from Textual Genre #4: Audit Request

I was looking to change things up a little and found myself doing a textual genre where the writer
is not apart of or directly linked with the X Agency. This is when I came up with the audit
request which, according to my interviewee, will come from somebody outside of the
organization. Audit requests were a little tricky for me to understand so I went out and googled
what they may look like. Most of my searches were around the same and that’s where my text
took inspiration. Dating was very key in most of these request which I made sure to stand out in
the email. I know the X Agency makes a lot of purchases, whether it be for equipment, materials,
or artillery for the soldiers. This is why I made the scenario where there was a mistake with the
total amount of assets being purchased. Another common theme with these audit requests were
that the audit would be estimated or the agency/company would be ordered a subpoena if they
were not given the information in an orderly time period. I also remembered from class when we
went over leaving open doors with people, not wanting to evoke a false tone. That’s where I left
the statement saying if there were any further questions to contact the information below. I added
in a cell phone number in my salutation to seem more available if there were any concerns.

Metacognitive Moves from Textual Genre #5: Firing an Employee

This was a textual genre that we thought of in our conference, and I really felt like this could
issue a lot of information. When looking to fire someone or relay a negative message, I chose to
look back at our books. I saw that the use of strong words can be really effective, so I put in
words like terminated, disabled, and condone. The scenario I chose was quite different from the
ones offered in the book because it was not a situation where somebody was tardy, misbehaving
while working, or anything like that. I wanted to create a unique scenario which would be seen
as against company rules, but was not known to the agency before hand. Domestic violence is a
very bad situation and I felt that was one the agency should handle as soon as notified. It is
somewhat of a difficult chose to make in that scenario, and in this one I decided to uphold the
company image by letting go of the employee. I tried to ease into the bad news as well by
running off the employee’s accolades/accomplishments.I felt that this also prepared the
employee for something like this to happen. I also think the message I tried to convey was very
firm and to the point, not trying to sugarcoat the situation. I tried “closing on respectful tone”,
said on Chapter 9 in Thill and Bovee, by stating that I wish the employee well in her future
endeavors.

Metacognitive Moves for Textual Genre #6: Employee Relocation

This textual genre piggybacks off the last one, but would be seen as less of a negative situation
that firing an employee. In this case, a relocation could be seen in one of two ways. One it could
be seen as we no longer need you, you’re almost like dead weight to us. Another way of looking
at it though is a fresh start/new opportunity to shine in another agency. I decided to make the
relocation in a more positive tone, this way the new change will feel more comfortable to the
employee. I started off by wishing he was having a wonderful day, a nice gesture to spell the
theme of the email. I tried integrating positive words like wonderful, incremental, and appreciate.
I also gave him a time where he had to be present at his new job, this way he can talk to his
family, get his leaving situation in order,etc. Then I added in some more adjectives to describe
how well he worked, like saying that he was very versatile, anything I could do to make him feel
alright with the situation. Looking back at chapter 3 in the Thill and Bovee book, there is an
emphasis on just thanking the person which, “Hearing a sincere thank you can do wonders for
morale.” It is something simple but I wanted the employee to feel that they will be missed and
show how much they meant to us at the agency. I left off with a note that said “if you have any
questions you know where to find us.” kind of showing a strong relationship between employee
and company.

Rubric for 202D Final Project

Rubric for Rhetorical Situations

Did Not Meet Met Expectations Exceeded

Expectations Expectations
 Company Profile X

Have you provided

relevant
background
information to help
bring your
organization to life?
What’s the name of
this
organization/compa
ny? What’s their
field, industry, or
“line of work”?
Where are they
located? Who is
their clientele?
Exigence X

What prompted the

writer’s need to
communicate?
What’s the urgency
behind the need to
enact this particular
genre? Why this,
why now?
Writer X

Who is the writer?

What’s their name,
what
organization/compa
ny are they
affiliated with, and
what’s their
role/position?
Audience (Primary X
and Peripheral)

Who is the
intended/primary
audience for this
genre? What’s their
name, what
organization/compa
ny are they
affiliated with, and
what’s their
position/role?

Additionally, what
other
peripheral/secondar
y audiences might
play a role in how
we can understand
this genre? Might
other people be
interested in the
message that’s
being
communicated?
Could the writer
have additional
people in mind
beyond the specific
person(s) that
they’ve contacted?
Purpose X-

What’s the writer’s

goal? Is it
realistic? Have
they identified a
concrete, actionable
outcome that they’re
hoping to achieve?
 Context / X
Background Info

What additional
information is
necessary to make
the most sense of
this rhetorical
situation? Do the
writer and their
audience have a
“history” of sorts?
Is there an
upcoming deadline?
Has a company’s
policy or personnel
recently gone
through changes?
Is there a current
“hot topic” that’s
circulating
throughout the news
cycle that makes
this communication
more urgent?
Notes and Score (X/5)
3/5

Rubric for Textual Genres

Did Not Meet Met Expectations Exceeded

Expectations Expectations

Genre X
Identification

Did you
(accurately)
name/identify each
unique genre that
you enacted?

Alignment with the X-

Rhetorical
Situation

Does the genre that

you created/enacted
accurately reflect
the rhetorical
situation (for each
genre) that you laid
out?
Genre-Specific X
Conventions

To what extent did

each textual genre
include its most
important
conventions?
Remember: when
we think of
“conventions,” we
think of the unique
characteristics,
features, patterns,
or ingredients of a
particular genre.
(e.g. a specific
subject or an e-
signature line for an
email)
 Rhetorical X+
Strategies

Has the writer used

various rhetorical
strategies to
persuade their
reader/audience in
the most effective
way possible?
From jargon
(technical
terminology), to
particular details
(e.g. the specific
amount of $ due for
a claim; timelines
for a call to action),
to communication
with internal vs.
external audiences,
have you (the
student) brought
each genre “to life”
in realistic ways
with your language-
based decisions?
Organization/Struc X/X-
ture

Is the writer’s
communication
organized/structure
d in a clear and
logical manner?
Does the
organizational
strategy best
support the writer’s
goals of each
particular genre?
 Mechanics + X/X-
Punctuation

Have you
demonstrated a
control of
mechanics and
punctuation? Are
you using complete
sentences (unless
intentionally
avoiding them for
stylistic reasons)?
Notes and Score (X/15)

12/15

Rubric for “Metacognitive Moves” Reflection

Did Not Meet Met Expectations Exceeded

Expectations Expectations

Focus on “Moves” X

What writerly
decisions did you
make in this project?
Did you identify
numerous,
consequential
“moves” that you
made for this
project? Did you
articulate what you
did and why you did
it? (Or didn’t do it?)
do that
 Examples of X
“Moves”

Is your analysis of
your moves
connected to your
language? Have
you quoted yourself
to provide concrete
examples?
Learning and X+
Insights

The whole point of

engaging in a
metcaognitive
reflection (like this)
is to better
understand what
you’re learning and
to communicate that
with others. What
insights are you
gaining about
written
communication?
About language?
About rhetorical
situations? About
genre? About
organizational
structures?
Interview X
(wanna hear more
Think back to your details)
interview.
How/when/where/w
hy did you draw
from insights that
came out of your
interview? Indicate
how your interview
 informed this 202d
project.

Connection to X
Assigned Readings

Per the syllabus, did

you make specific
connections to our
assigned course
readings? What
ideas, concepts, or
strategies informed
your project?  I’d
like to see you
paraphrase and
“quote” at least 5
different times from
at least 3 different
readings/chapters.!  
Notes and Score (X/15)

13.5/15

28.5/35 – 5 (laaaaaate) = 23.5./35. I’m looking forward to seeing your revised work, Harveyman123.
This is an excellent start. Keep it moving. [Symbol]