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Professionals involved in the creation of text-based communication face a number of challenges. These include
overburdened and often uninterested users juxtaposed with the writer’s desire to communicate relevant topical information. Uninvolved users are likely to ignore the message. This may be exacerbated by increases in text length designed to increase the amount and/or detail
of information to be communicated. An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of rhetorical figures in text headings as to how users read and process the text (hereafter, readership, as used in
marketing). To the extent that higher levels of text readership increase
user knowledge and skills, enhance topic-related attitudes, and
facilitate beneficial topic-related behaviors, higher readership should
yield desirable communication outcomes. Headings with rhetorical
figures were hypothesized to enhance readership, particularly under
conditions generally associated with relatively low readership,
namely, lower perceived information relevance and longer text. Results
generally support rhetorical figures’ abilities to enhance readership,
especially with longer texts.
View all 34 works published by IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication |
Rhetorical Figures in Headings and Their Effect on Text Processing: The Moderating Role of Information Relevance and Text Length
http://www.ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/47/22133/01029956.pdf
 access restricted (by the publisher) to members/subscribers/customers only
 peer-reviewed
Huhmann, Bruce A., David L. Mothersbaugh and George R. Franke
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
2002
Abstract: Professionals involved in the creation of text-based communication face a number of challenges. These include
overburdened and often uninterested users juxtaposed with the writer’s desire to communicate relevant topical information. Uninvolved users are likely to ignore the message. This may be exacerbated by increases in text length designed to increase the amount and/or detail
of information to be communicated. An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of rhetorical figures in text headings as to how users read and process the text (hereafter, readership, as used in
marketing). To the extent that higher levels of text readership increase
user knowledge and skills, enhance topic-related attitudes, and
facilitate beneficial topic-related behaviors, higher readership should
yield desirable communication outcomes. Headings with rhetorical
figures were hypothesized to enhance readership, particularly under
conditions generally associated with relatively low readership,
namely, lower perceived information relevance and longer text. Results
generally support rhetorical figures’ abilities to enhance readership,
especially with longer texts.
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