The four papers in this compilation were drawn from a conference designed to encourage scholars to continue the rhetorical tradition. The first paper, by Robert S. Cathcart, was the opening address of the conference and discusses the "technologization" of rhetoric. Specifically, the paper discusses the application of rhetorical analysis…

The two papers in this compilation were drawn from a conference designed to encourage scholars to continue the rhetorical tradition. The first paper, delivered by Todd Sorenson and Carrie Stopek, was the paper most highly commended by a panel of critics at the conference. The paper uses fantasy theme analysis, specifically the three fantasy theme…

The two papers presented in this compilation were drawn from a conference designed to encourage scholars to continue the rhetorical tradition. The first paper, presented by Dominic A. LaRusso, was the opening address of the conference and discusses the rhetorical tradition of the Renaissance. The second paper, by Phillip Marshall, was the paper…

Testing Kenneth Burke's theory on dramatistic frames, the attitudes and motivations reflected in the rhetoric of Watergate participants were analyzed in terms of literary forms: epic, tragic, comic, elegiac, satiric, burlesque, grotesque, and didactic. Nixon tried to transcend the Watergate conflict by stressing the greatness of his achievements…

As background to an argument for purposive reintegration of discourse study, this paper examines the concept of explanatory discourse as it developed within the Western rhetorical tradition. Following a discussion of the rise of a rhetoric of explanation, the first section cites the roots of the explanatory pedagogy developing during the first…

Communication scholars have recently focused attention on songs as artifacts of popular culture. Current literature implies that the contexts of music communication are defined by the relationships that songs establish between artists and their audience: persuasive, expressive, and commercial. As the commercialization of music is an inherently…

An evaluation of four seventeenth and eighteenth century essays on optics revealed early trends in the evolution of scientific articles. The later articles showed a growing tendency to (1) separate practice from pure knowledge, (2) organize information around problems of knowledge and theory rather than around chronological events, (3) emphasize…

Over the past 30 years the study of politics has imitated the discourse of the natural sciences. Articles in this mode of discourse can be characterized as opening with a problem expressed through a review of the literature; continuing with an hypothesis, a methodology, and hypothesis testing; and ending with only narrow conclusions, limited to…