In this presentation I will share some reflections on how I have dealt with methodology design in the early stages of my PhD candidature leading up to data collection. I will particularly focus on the dilemmas that I have encountered so far as I search for a methodology that would allow me to ethically report on the educational experiences of…

To examine the rhetorical vision of nuclear war presented in the television show "The Day After," it is necessary to consider (1) the motives of those involved in producing the film, (2) the debate over the film that preceded its presentation, (3) the effect of the film's message, and (4) how the film's rhetorical structure contributed…

Audience and situational context, the latter defined as a pairing of time and place coordinates, have passed through stages of union, separation, and identification in the history of rhetoric. From Aristotle through Cicero and Quintilian to Hugh Blair and George Campbell, audience was a synecdoche for the situations of utterance that defined…

In an attempt to define rhetorical discourse, the paper examines the speeches of Ahab, the main character from Herman Melville's book, "Moby-Dick." The paper first determines if Ahab's speeches actually fall into the category of rhetorical discourse by examining his major speeches, and then ascertains whether his speeches are bombs…

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…

This paper attempts to extract and summarize the truth-, fact-, and reality-bases of Chaim Perelman's and Mme. L. Olbrechts-Tyteca's "The New Rhetoric." This paper considers: the four basic factors which the theorist needs to take into account when interpreting "The New Rhetoric"; the descriptive characteristics of the…

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…

In the period from 1950 to the present, there has been a progressive realization of the rhetorical character of scientific and technical discourse, rendering such discourse subject to formal rhetorical study. Audience is now seen as a formative influence on discourse. Technical writing must be tailored to audiences, not simply in terms of…

Since ancient times, the use of metaphor in rhetorical speeches has been a powerful tool for persuasive impact on audiences. Study of 84 important persuasive speeches, from classic to modern, reveals 52 metaphor types. Among these, 11 types account for 60% of all of the examples. These "archetypal" metaphors are used in speeches, not because of…

Emphasizing the need for sound logic in the decision making and policy making process, this paper equates the concept of rationality with the universal audience as a means of analyzing argument, evaluating rhetoric, and persuading audiences. The paper argues that the policy systems paradigm most approximates this objective within the context of…

This paper traces the historical development of melodrama in the theatre and discusses its influence on twentieth century drama. Melodrama is a responsible literary mode based on romance and allegory, and its deliberate exaggeration of external actions represents figuratively the interior or psychological dimensions of imagination. Good melodrama…

This paper uses symbolic convergence theory and evoked recall or resonance theory in an attempt to explain the phenomenon of "A Prairie Home Companion"--a weekly live radio program broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio featuring music and the "news" from fictional Lake Wobegon as related by Garrison Keillor, the show's…

Most messages from the mass media operate on the collective unconscious of a culture. The ethical consequence of such identification through unawareness is the transfer of decision making from consumers to image makers. The mass media critic can serve as a mediator of the ethical problems created by such a mode of identification. As mediating…

Just as strong limbs do not ensure self-defense in an age of modern warfare, so strong persuasive appeals do not ensure self-defense in an age of highly technologized communication systems. The fragmentation of the audience, the inherent loss of credibility associated with the decreased status of rhetoric, and the competition among messages all…

Because it focuses on questions of communication, the experimental theatre of the 1970s, particularly that created by Robert Wilson and Richard Foreman, can be analyzed according to two distinct theories regarding the communication process. The first theory defines communication as a process in which the communicator selects and transmits messages…