Discusses the need for a model for technical documents that expresses the relationship between the various technical genres and their rhetorical contexts. Advocates the use of James Britton's model, with its criteria for classifying documents as well as its rationale for a scope and sequence for teaching technical writing. (SR)

Considers reasons for the lack of interaction between dramatistic studies in rhetoric and argumentation theory. Proposes a rapprochement based on the implementing of contextualist assumptions in a critical argumentation. Traces the implications of Kenneth Burke's contextualist and dramatistic viewpoint for the study of argument. (NH)

Applies prevailing conceptions of proper argument to Burke's advocacy of the comic frame. Concludes these common conceptions cannot explain the power of Burke's arguments. Examines Richard Rorty's "edifying discourse" and Burke's "perspective by incongruity" as they illuminate the purpose of Burke's argumentation method. (NH)

Analyzes Thomas Farrell's discussion of the distinction between male and female modes of rhetoric. Discusses the linking of theory to experience and the creation of nonadversarial argument which suggests two pedagogical practices that can help overcome the dominance of current-traditional rhetoric in the writing classroom. (MG)

Focuses on the function of metaphor in argument. Compares the positions of Kenneth Burke and Paul Ricoeur on the function and evaluation of argument, concluding that Ricoeur's position supplements Burke's view of tropological argument. (NH)

This paper suggests that, based on certain rhetorical theories and on one instructor's experience, writing structures--both deep and surface--potentially serve three positive purposes: facilitation of thought, foundation for growth, and voice validation. The paper contends that the ultimate effect of these attributes is freedom. Concerns of some…

Considers the role of "traveling rhetoricians" and the fate of the rhetorical theory and research they carry into the workplace and offer to practitioners. Finds teachers of academic, cross-curricular, and workplace writing are being informed by the discipline's deepening understanding of how genres work in particular settings. Considers…

Claims "rhetorical eavesdropping" may make possible moments of convergence in order to effect personal and cultural change. Redefines eavesdropping as an ethical rhetorical tactic and argues that within the United States the dysfunctions of whiteness have remade rhetorical theory in ways that circumscribe available agencies. (NH)

Addressing the possibility of making positive change in education, this book explores the way that American pragmatism and the rhetoric of North American romanticism work together to create a method for restoring hope to composition and English teachers and responsiveness to the systems they work within. What the book calls…

In classical Greece, there was a close tie between rhetoric and the practice and theory of public policy. Gradually, however, rhetoric became increasingly concerned with style and literary criticism, while philosophers began to debate political issues apart from the practical affairs of the polis. Because rhetoric provides a model that can still…

Explains how the Sophistic tradition, an alternative to the Platonic-Aristotelian rhetorical tradition, provides the historical foundation for a paralogic rhetoric that treats discourse production and analysis as open-ended dialogic activities and not as a codifiable system. Argues that teachers must examine the powerful paralogic/hermeneutic…

Provides and supports a definition of public relations as behavior with a mode explaining the difficulty of achieving each behavior and the cost to organizations when the behavior is not achieved. Draws from the literature on ethics, rhetorical theory, public relations management, case studies, and from observation and experience to support this…

Based on the idea that an individual cannot understand literature, philosophy, or rhetoric without knowing the field's historical content, this book traces the evolution of the growing and ever-changing field of composition/rhetoric through numerous schools of thought, including Platonism, Aristoteleanism, New Criticism, and the current…

Proposes a theoretical model of organizing texts that uses four "master" tropes (metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony) as a conceptual framework to represent the processes of selecting, ordering, and placing words, ideas, and images into a text. Discusses possible practical application of tropical operations to nonfictional…

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.…