Prominent contemporary theories of academic argument are based upon jurisprudential models where argument is analogous to forensic discourse. Yet the implications of classical notions of testimony and the rhetorical function of citation make academic argument more a deliberative activity than the forensic one suggested by contemporary theorists.…

With the advent of the process approach to teaching writing, the use of products or models in the composition classroom has declined, replaced by heuristic exploration of the rhetorical situation, with special emphasis on audience analysis. Some researchers have emphasized the difference between internal audiences and audiences external to the…