Global Perspective*

The term Global Perspective is used by teachers, editors, writers, and critics to refer to the practice of talking about a document or revising a document at the holistic level.

Synonyms are

• the Rhetorical Perspective
• Macroscopic Level.

The antithesis to the Global Perspective is the Local Perspective (AKA Linguistic Level, Microscopic Level, or Sentence Level).

[ *Alternative Titles: Rhetorical Perspective. ]

---

When editors, writers, and critics employ a global perspective, they are not concerned with individual elements of discourse–e.g.,. diction, usage, mechanics, grammar, phrases, sentences. Rather, when reading globally, readers are concerned with the overall effectiveness of a document:

1. Rhetoric
   • Is the text responsive to its rhetorical situation?
     • Has the student organized the text around the needs of the audience, the instructor giving the assignment, the client needing work done?
     • Is the text unified around a consistent purpose, thesis, research question?
     • Is the author’s rhetorical stance, voice, tone, persona clear and consistent throughout the text?
2. Substance
   • Does the text have substance, a firm foundation in textual or empirical research?
3. Organization
   • Is the document organized well? Does it consistently follow a deductive or inductive order? Should sections of the text be moved in order?

Related Concepts

In Writing Studies,

• the practice of editing is synonymous with engaging in a local perspective.
• the practice of revision is closely associated with engaging in a Global Perspective.
• faculty encourage students to engage in revision long before they even consider editing.