Courses: Communication and civic participation course; rhetorical theory, political communication, leadership. Objective: Students will explore citizenship through role models and story-telling. (Contains 1 table.)

The "Takings Clause" of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution seems clear enough: when the government takes an individual's property, it must pay him or her for it. The "Sagebrush Rebellion" refers to the numerous incarnations of a movement to privatize public lands and contain environmental regulation. This…

Examines the history of the commonplace book and diary as used in teaching and relates this history to the advent of the pedagogical journal. Shows that certain teaching strategies can make the journal a valuable means of exploring the mix of public and private impulses found in all writing. (MG)

Compares the current use of prose models to those developed by the Greek Sophists. Outlines problems with using professional writing excerpts as examples of rhetorical modes when they were not written as such. Argues that composition texts based on prose models err by implying that all writing fits into modal categories. (HB)

Asserts that the renewed interest in rhetoric, evident throughout the professional discourse of English studies, is having a salutary effect on the theory and practice of the teaching of composition and basic writing. (MG)

Argues that current rhetoric needs to restore the authority of reason, not as a logical task but as an ethical one. Warns that, in doing this, teachers must resist the temptation of exceptionalism and must allow for fair discourse among participants. (HB)

Specifies certain assumptions in basic argumentation texts and argumentation pedagogy literature as representative of basic argumentation pedagogy. Revisits these ideas from the lens of rhetoric as epistemic to shape an existential view of argumentation. Outlines ideas for teaching argumentation that might represent existential argumentation…

Presents 17 syllabi, submitted by different instructors, for introductory courses taught to graduate students in the teaching of rhetoric and composition. Contains critical statements attached to each syllabi explaining the goals and approaches of the course. (TB)

Demonstrates the prevalence of the problem of educators consensual, conventional characterization of language. Suggests an alternative, more dynamic way to describe social groups, and shows how this alternative can be used in the writing classroom. (PRA)

Rhetorical analysis, which is distinctly different from literary analysis in its emphasis on technique and style, as opposed to appreciation and self-improvement, can and should be used to help students write better. One means of introducing rhetorical analysis into writing courses would be through the research paper, which in many courses is a…

Three professors at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, reflected about a course they taught together on the use of metaphor in language, art and literature. In examining a wide range of art works with their students, including prose by E. A. Poe, Nancy Mairs, Henry James, and Woody Allen and movies such as "Dr.…

A recent trend in composition studies has been a call for the "feminization" of composition pedagogy. Collaborative learning pedagogues have sought to reconstruct the classroom as a site of social cooperation, connectedness, and nurturance and have re-envisioned composition as an act of understanding rather than of agonistics.…

Compares two advertising assignments to demonstrate how different approaches to audience radically affect students' critical understanding of popular media texts. Argues that "audience" needs to be present in writing assignments as a cultural experience rather than a merely static rhetorical category. (TB)

Shows some of the connections between the social structure of the law and the everyday writing of marketplace participants. Sets out a legal dispute resolution framework and a classification of the types of liability-prone prose. Suggests a rhetorical model that facilitates an expanded perspective of the business writer. Offers an approach for…

Evaluates well-designed cases involving students in situations which simulate those outside the classroom environment. Offers additional features based on problem solving and rhetorical theory to help make cases more adaptable to the field of professional communications. Describes examples of two types of cases which put the theory into practice.…