Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), was a Christian mystic whose writings, "Revelation of Love" and "A Book of Showings," are the earliest surviving texts in the English language written by a woman. The question that has puzzled scholars for centuries follows: How could a woman of her time express her vision in such innovative and…

At our workshop at the inaugural Conference on Community Writing on the rhetoric of the corporate university, participants noted that the values espoused by community literacy "in the community" are being eroded "at the university." Furthermore, they noted the underlying rhetorics of missionary zeal, whiteness, and…

Using rhetorical analysis in the form of an autoethnographically informed biocritique, this study applies and expands the concept of rhetorical plasticity to examine the popular museum exhibit "Bodies: The Exhibition," which is arguably the most controversial of a series of contemporary museum exhibits that feature deceased human bodies…

Widely misunderstood and often maligned, rhetoric in the simplest sense is the effective use of language in speech or writing. Much as law and medicine have well considered standards of conduct, so too does the field of communication. Experts in this area look at--patterns--of discourse in relation to specific kinds of events--tornadoes,…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 16 titles deal with the following topics: (1) a psycholinguistic analysis of the rhetoric of Abba S. Eban; (2) synergetic tetrahedral communication models; (3) a form critical approach to the oral traditions of the black church…

Suggests that inherency is a composite of several distinct factors operating to block the solution of particular policy dysfunctions and offers a rhetorical model as an alternative to the single-definition approach to the concept of inherency. (MH)

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…

Contemporary rhetorician Richard M. Weaver believes that values are inseparable from rhetoric. For him, to be a rhetorician is to direct toward good or evil and to be a rhetorical critic is to determine whether that direction is the "right one" and/or judge whether the rhetorician "is a master of his art." To determine if the…

Author proposes a way to view the act of composing, and hence the course in composition, that might help the course to serve the ends of liberal education better than, in the eyes of some, it is now doing. (Author/RY)

Attempts to resolve the paradox of authority through an expansion of the theory of speech acts by means of Habermas' theory of communicative competence. Cites the works of Robert Wolff and P.H. Nowell-Smith. (MH)

Although composition theorists have rejected the "alchemy" of the traditional, impressionistic, unscientific view of composition as product in favor of a process oriented approach, they have as yet failed to reach a consensus about the epistemological bases that undergird this shift. An examination of parallel developments in literary…

The rhetorical inventions of Kenneth Burke can help writers gain new perspectives on their topics and can put new life into the process of learning to write. The pentad, Burke's instrument for interpreting actual and potential motives, can help develop lines of thought that might never occur without some such model. Other inventional systems such…

Discusses Mikhail Bakhtin's vision of the continuous affluence of language and claims it celebrates the polymeric nature of discourse as opposed to the traditional triangular paradigm which proves hopelessly inadequate.

Advocates students' analysis of professionally written essays to determine how those authors represent their minds moving, pulling together, organizing, and extending" the sense data of personal experience. (Author/RD)

Outlines a political campaign strategy employed by incumbents using three stages of development: legitimacy, identification, and reinforcement. A case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the strategy. (JMF)