I propose that we think about what a paragraph is by considering its "function," what it does in a piece of writing, whether in a popular novel, a newspaper article, an e-mail, a business report, or a lofty piece of literary criticism. We might think about a paragraph as a "rhetorical dwelling."

This collection of essays, "Literary Study, Measurement, and the Sublime: Disciplinary Assessment," edited by Donna Heiland and Laura J. Rosenthal, represents an important new venture in the Foundation's communication program. The book is the product of many authors, including the editors, both of whom have written essays for it. But it…

Using great literature to clarify and to improve students' writing is like using the unknown-literature to explain the only slightly less unknown--the writing of compositions. An alternative is to study films to foster an awareness of technique, for films contain many of the same rhetorical and structural devices as literature. It is possible to…

Explains a teaching technique for explicating "Macbeth" that depends on textual proof. (RB)

Investigates the uses of the rhetorical strategy of identification by John McPhee in his novel, "Coming into the Country." Describes the technique articulated by Kenneth Burke as identification. Identifies three of Burke's techniques in McPhee's prose. (HB)

Knowledge of classical rhetoric is still useful to writing teachers.

Discusses examples in "Moby Dick" of Melvillean words symptomatic of the significance of Ishmael's rhetorical energy, in order to suggest that Ishmael's language reflects Melville's search for lexical and rhetorical forms that express the democratic impulse. (SRT)

Considers Nathaniel Hawthorne's literary technique of providing various, often conflicting, accounts of a narrative scene or event. Analyzes Hawthorne's rhetoric of rumor as featured in "The Scarlet Letter." Shows how Hawthorne tried to translate the dynamics of interpersonal communication into print in this novel. (HB)

Considers how teaching Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" creates special problems--and thus affords special opportunities--not encountered in the reading of or critical response to this text. Discusses different editions of "Frankenstein" and reasons for using them. Notes that "Frankenstein" is a story that appeals to all…

This paper demonstrates the compatability of Aristotle's Four Causes (material, formal, efficient, and final) and George Campbell's Four Forms of Discourse (description, narration, exposition, and argumentation) and synthesizes them to form an ordered yet flexible writing model that can be used in composition instruction. Within the context of…

Presents axioms about scholarship, learning, English scholarship, and English teaching and examines a little recognized intellectual crisis in current English scholarship. (GW)

Discusses the ghosts and haunting in recent American fiction. Considers the similarity of function of ghosts in contemporary ethnic American literatures. Identifies a specific kind of ghost story, a "cultural haunting," that has recently emerged in large numbers in ethnic American literature. (HB)

In teaching the principles of rational discourse in advanced expository writing, it is necessary to clarify the similarities and differences between the logic and rhetoric of Aristotle and to identify a common ground between the two. The study of logic within rhetoric focuses on the inductive standards used to support two kinds of argument: the…

Presents critical interpretations of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" from four points of view: the feminist reading; the reader response reading; a realistic reading; and a historic reading. Outlines classroom activities and follow up activities to use along with the four interpretations. (PM)