ROGERIAN ARGUMENT

Rogerian argument is considered persuasive because it employs a rhetorical strategy which emphasises communicating from the other person's point of view. Its strength lies in the demonstration that the writer not only understands the reader's position, but also that the writer's position is importantly informed by that understanding. It further shows constant respect for the reader's point of view.  It is persuasive because the writer emphasizes cooperation over conflict and shows the need to build or discover links to encourage trust.

SIGNIFICANCE OF ROGERIAN ARGUMENT TO TPC

Technical prose can be and is overtly persuasive.  The reality is that writers of technical prose write all kinds of persuasive documents: proposals for grants, employment letters, feasibility reports, general reports, user guides and site assessments among others. These documents are directly or indirectly persuasive. It is useful for writers of technical prose do more than just inform and explain issues, they need to persuade the reader to agree with their point of view or to perform the instructions in the sequence they think they should be performed. By doing this they are not being entirely objective.

 Whether as a technical writer you are writing a grant proposal, scientific journal article, lab reports, or user manuals you are representing a point of view, advocating a position, arguing for one way of understanding information or doing something rather than another way. David Locke is of the opinion that there is nothing like an impersonal person- even a scientist- and, consequently, no such thing as purely objective discourse.

Whereas Rogerian argument is not the only persuasive argument since there are others for instance, the Aristotle (also called the traditional argument), which exploits the language's capacity for arousing emotion in order to strengthen position and the Toulim logic which helps shape the content, style and organization of the document; however Rogerian is unique in that it emphasizes the descriptive, dispassionate use of language and is mutually supportive and cooperative. It proves to be successful on highly resistant audiences.