This article examines the power of special topoi to characterize the discourse of literary criticism, and through emphasis on rhetorical action, it sheds light on the limitations of topos analysis for characterizing research articles in disciplinary discourse more generally. Using an analytical approach drawn both from studies of topoi in…

In this essay, I argue that the queer phrase "it's giving" can teach the concept and practice of rhetorical criticism while also performing a queer rhetorical pedagogy. The proposed activity proceeds in three steps: teaching queer histories, defining rhetorical criticism in queer terms, and practicing criticism queerly. This approach…

This unit teaches students how to perform racial rhetorical criticism and positions them to engage in discussions of race through experiential learning, namely through exploring the links between rhetoric, public memory, and campus history projects. Courses: Rhetorical Criticism, Rhetorical Theory, Communication Theory. Objective: Students will…

This article offers an example of how to use embodied learning effectively in online education. The discussed assignment is designed for classes in rhetoric, visual communication, or public memory, and places pedagogical research in conversation with scholarship in visual, aesthetic, and rhetorical communication. This type of digital aesthetic…

Literacy studies scholarship and pedagogy have not attended comprehensively to Jewish cultural literacies or the discursive operations of anti-Jewish hate. As a result, antisemitic rhetoric may be employed, strategically or accidentally, by people who do not see themselves as antisemitic--and who, regardless of their critical and cultural…

Using an episode of a student affairs podcast for professional development, we engage in a critical discourse analysis to better understand what discourses the podcast host and guest rely on when discussing college students engaged in sex work. Further, we examine how the discourses the host and guest use contribute to particular logics about sex…

Intersectionality is core to contemporary feminist rhetorical criticism. It is also a complex concept with great potential for promoting social change by shifting discourses about identity in the public sphere. Therefore, communication scholars have a vested interest in teaching the basics of intersectional criticism to undergraduate and graduate…

Courses: Rhetorical Criticism, Cultural Rhetorics, Public Memory Studies. Objective: This activity introduces undergraduates to ideological criticism as a method of rhetorical criticism by illustrating the co-constitutive nature of ideology and rhetoric to universities occupying colonized lands, waters, and airways.

Courses: Rhetorical Criticism, Communication Theory, Communication Research Methods, Introduction to Communication Studies. Objectives: This is an introductory exercise that acquaints students with rhetorical criticism as a means of communication inquiry. By the end of the exercise, students will be able to: understand symbols as connected and…

Revisiting the writing assignments that the author has given to his sophomores and juniors over the past four years, he can identify patterns that have complicated their writing development. This article explores how Aristotle's enthymeme can serve as an effective prewriting tool for literary analysis in the high school classroom. By foregrounding…

In this study, we explore discussions of literature in a high school English Language Arts (ELA) classroom, examining how students read rhetorically. Reading rhetorically considers the ethical effects of narrative content as it is mediated through character dialogue and action, narrator discourse, and the author's organization: a narrative as a…

This article examines the use of the phrase "best practices" in academic literature that discusses online learning. Results of our study indicate that, despite the ubiquity of this phrase in academic literature concerning online pedagogy, the majority of articles lack empirical support for promoting certain approaches as "best…

Courses: Rhetorical criticism, public address, persuasion, public memory theory, argumentation. Objectives: Through analysis of public controversies about Confederate monuments on college campuses, students will: (1) explore the concept of "public memory," how groups of people form shared interpretations of the past; (2) examine how…

Courses: Public Speaking, Rhetorical Criticism, Persuasion, Political Communication, and Media Communication. Objectives: By the end of this activity, students should be able to: explain the key components of Lloyd Bitzer's rhetorical situation; assess and navigate various conditions affecting various speaking situations; conduct audience analysis…

One long-held belief in archival education is that physical primary sources engage students more effectively than digitized sources do. This investigation questions that belief by analyzing whether and to what extent the format of a primary source impacts student engagement and learning, using a controlled study of students in a business ethics…