Describes how data displays can be classified into four types: conventional, perceptual, informational, and aesthetic. Argues that conflicts among the standards can be resolved by allowing the rhetorical situation to guide the design process. Explores a case in information design to show how the rhetorical situation shapes data displays, telling…

Considers how visual metadiscourse provides design criteria for authors when considering the needs and expectations of readers. Notes the author's discussions of textual metadiscourse in technical writing classes since 1995. Notes an improvement in the cohesion and considerateness of student writing after rethinking their role as writers and the…

Suggests that the crisis of authority in the discipline of English is mirrored in the crisis of audience in the job market. Argues that the job market, the politics of national accreditation, the controversy surrounding standards, and the fickleness of funding at all levels are driving English departments to mediate on questions of scholarship and…

Notes that feminist interventions are communicative acts that bring attention to shifting power relations within a specific discursive context. Argues that enacting feminist interventions in online environments changes the online community's identity and narrow sense of audience, and that creating feminist multimedia helps ensure a more human,…

Notes that one way to expose students to the problems associated with profanity is to tie the exploration and discussion of the issue to the persuasive writing assignment that is common in many undergraduate business communication courses. Presents a discussion of such an assignment. (SG)

Composition studies is a plausible choice for a "potentially liberating influence" for psychology, because it offers a useful place from which to think about and critique the writing practices of the psychology discipline. One area in which psychology can learn from composition is audience. Writing guides for psychologists tend to speak…

By teaching about and considering the elements of visual design, communication can be effected and the needs of the reader/user more effectively met. As anecdotal interaction with children indicates, information seems to be communicated more effectively when the rhetor incorporates visual elements. To increase the ability of the reader to…

This digest presents details of some of the efforts to improve the clarity of written communication in business and the professions. The digest discusses the Plain English movement; writing in professional schools (particularly law and engineering); writing and the medical profesisons; and the public and professional writing. (18 references) (RS)

Poster sessions at professional meetings have become popular in recent years. Properly prepared poster presentations not only provide an excellent format for communicating innovative ideas or research results, but also allow for individual communication between the presenter(s) and interested individuals. Furthermore, poster session programs allow…

This paper reviews the newly emergent trend of audience-centered debate paradigms, such as the narrative and the issues-agenda paradigms, in light of an informal logic perspective on the argumentum ad populum fallacy. The paper demonstrates the complexity involved in the evaluation of ad populum arguments as well as the care which must be taken in…

This paper argues that western instructors of public speaking courses, along with those in the forensics community, can benefit from the insights offered by the eastern tradition. Examining the Indian religious text, the "Bhagavad Gita," reveals insights that can change the way message construction, audience empathy, and speaker…

This paper is part of a larger project which explored the impact of writing across institutional boundaries via e-mail on freshman students enrolled in several schools and universities located in Tennessee--Bryan College, Columbia State Community College, and Middle Tennessee State University. The paper explains that in addition to their regular…

Argues that the relationship between writer and reader (or audience) must be reimagined in writing theory so as to recognize that neither is knowable or static. Suggests that Thomas Kent's theory of paralogic hermeneutics could help teachers advance a theory of audience that would act as a bridge between actual writing and theories of language.…

Recounts and analyzes how e-zines were used in first-year writing courses to enhance students' rhetorical sensitivity to considerations of audience. Concludes that through the use of e-zines, students, on their own initiative, began exploring ways to use writing to provoke an audience to consider alternative views, a project which encouraged some…

Reprints the inaugural address of the 1986 president of the National Council of Teachers of English. Examines issues in English instruction such as emphasizing facts over reasoning; developing a sense of audience; mechanics; dialects; and literature instruction. (RS)