Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2018

Epideictic Rhetoric Born Digital: Evolution of the Letter of Recommendation Genre

Elizabeth Tomlinson West Virginia University ; Sara Newman Kent State University

Abstract

The letter of recommendation (LOR) plays a significant role in the application process for many professional positions, offering descriptive rather than quantitative information from a third party about an individual’s potential fit within the hiring organization. Such letters, however, increasingly appear online, emphasizing existing problems within the genre and creating others involving trust, reliability, and confidentiality. Typically, the response has been that such digitization of the LOR minimizes its significance or standardizes it. This article analyzes the digital LOR genre as an exemplar of epideictic rhetoric situated within a Perelmanian framework and demonstrates how the digital LOR operates rhetorically, enhancing the adherence between candidate, writer, audience, and institutional values and providing a means of evaluating candidate fit. The article also offers a rhetorical heuristic that captures how audiences can more fruitfully read the epideictic, digital LOR, thereby demonstrating how to optimize the digital platform’s benefits and still use the LOR to its best rhetorical advantage.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2018-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651917729862
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Topics
classical rhetoric rhetorical criticism genre theory
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

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  2. Wright (2019)
    “The Caprices of an Undisciplined Fancy”: Using Blame to Negotiate the “between…
    Rhetoric Review
  3. Sharp (2019)
    Agency, Authority, and Epideictic Rhetoric: A Case Study of Bottom-Up Organizat…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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