Part 1: WHAT BECOMING RHETORICAL MEANS. Introduction. What It Means to Become Rhetorical. What Is Rhetorical Training? Why Rhetorical Analysis Is Important. Why Rhetorical Action Is Important. What It Really Means to Become Rhetorical: Transfer of Skills. 1. The Basic Rhetorical Situation. Communicators: How Do They Convince Us of Their Relevance? Appealing to Audiences through Character: How Communicators Build Ethos. Appealing to an Audience through the Strength of a Message: Logos. Audience: Who Is the Communication For? Appealing to an Audience's Emotions: Pathos. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment: Uncover Your Rhetorical Self. 2. The Expanded Rhetorical Situation. Context: What Are the Circumstances of Communication? Exigence: What Invites You to Communicate? Purpose: What Does This Communication Want? The Means of Communication (Modality, Medium, Genre, Circulation): How Does Communication Physically Happen? For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment: Compare Compositions with Similar Purposes But Different Formats. Part 2: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS. 3. Analyzing Textual Rhetoric. Thinking Rhetorical About Reading Texts. Writing Summaries. Researching the Rhetorical Situation of a Text. Doing a Rhetorical Analysis of a Written Text. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment: Analyze Op-Ed Pieces and Political Communications. 4. Analyzing Visual Rhetoric. Thinking Rhetorically about Stand-Alone Images. Thinking Rhetorically about the Placement, Circulation, and Distribution of Images. The Rhetorical Work of Images in Texts. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment 1: Map an Issue through Images. Assignment 2: Write a Comparative Ad Analysis. 5. Analyzing Multimodal Rhetoric. The Four Modalities: Verbal, Visual, Auditory, Haptic. Thinking Rhetorically About How Modalities Interact. Applying Multimodal Analysis to Video. Applying Multimodal Analysis to Websites and Apps. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment 1: Do a Multimodal Analysis of a Video. Assignment 2: Analyze the Rhetorical Tactics of a Controversial Site. Assignment 3: Do a Comparative Analysis of Competing Websites. Assignment 4: Evaluate the Effectiveness of an Organization s Online Presence. Part 3: RHETORICAL PRODUCTION. 6. The Invitation to Rhetoric: Defining Rhetorical Problems. What Is a Rhetorical Problem? Event-Based Problems. Everyday Problems. Tasks for Defining a Rhetorical Problem. Articulating Rhetorical Problems through Writing: The Rhetorical Problem Statement. Addressing a Rhetorical Problem: Public Awareness Campaigns. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment 1: Tune into Event-Based Problems. Assignment 2: Long-Term Assignment: Keep a Research Scrapbook. Assignment 3: Create a Public Awareness Campaign. 7. Responding to Rhetorical Problems with Arguments. Arguments as Inquiry, Not Fights. Inhabiting an Idea: Arguments as Response. Written Arguments. Visual Arguments. Multimodal Arguments. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment 1: Write an Initial Position Statement on an Issue, Then Question It. Assignment 2: Use Stasis Theory to Map an Issue. Assignment 3: Write an Academic Response Essay. Assignment 4: Write a Letter to the Editor. Assignment 5: Write an Open Letter. Assignment 6: Entering the Discussion. Assignment 7: Create Public Awareness Campaign Posters. Assignment 8: Create an Op-Doc. 8. Explaining. The Booming Business of Explanations. Explaining as a Rhetorical Activity. The Elements of Explanations. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment 1: Write an Explanation of Something New for Your Audience. Assignment 2: Explain the Same Thing to a Different Audience. Assignment 3: Create an Infographic. Assignment 4: Develop a Concept for an Explanatory Video Series. 9. Defining. Definitions within Communities. Making Arguments of Definition. Formulating Definition Arguments. Assignments: Composing Definitions. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment 1: Write a Definition Argument. Assignment 2: Transformation: Make It Visual or Multimodal. 10. Evaluating. Everyday Evaluations. Establishing and Ranking Criteria: The Heart of an Evaluation. Using Evidence in Evaluation Arguments to Draw Conclusions. Evaluating Consumer Products. Composing Multimodal Consumer Reviews. Evaluating a Person's Accomplishments. Evaluating Policies. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment 1: Write a Review of a Local Business, Event, or Attraction. Assignment 2: Create a Video Review of a Consumer Product. Assignment 3: Review a Film for Common Sense Media. Assignment 4: Appreciation or Critique of a Public Figure. Assignment 5: Write an Evaluation of a Policy or Decision. 11. Proposing. The Gold Standard of Persuasion: Action. Components of Proposal Arguments. Persuasively Describing a Problem or Need. Making a Compelling Proposal Claim. Providing Support for Your Proposal. Acknowledging Potential Problems with Your Proposal. Showing That Your Proposal Will Fix the Problem. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment 1: Write a Proposal to Address a Local Problem. Assignment 2: Write a Research Proposal. Assignment 3: Create a Proposal Using a Nonprint Modality. Assignment 4: Create a Job Application Video. 12. Narrating. How Narrative is Rhetorical. Narrative vs. Story. Narrative as Persuasion. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment 1: Use Personal Narrative to Make a Persuasive Point About a Social Issue. Assignment 2: Create Three Components of a Personal Brand. Part 4: TOOLS FOR COMPOSING. 13. Research: Composing with Multiple Sources. Information Literacy. Research as a Conversation. Research as Inquiry: The Recursive Steps of the Research Process. Incorporating Sources into Your Compositions. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment: Write a Critical Conversation Essay. 14. Creating Written Compositions. What Writing Can and Can't Do. Embracing the Messiness of the Writing Process. Writing in Academic Genres. Writing for Civic Participation. 15. Creating Visual Compositions. When to Use Visual Compositions for Rhetorical Purposes. Good Visual Design: Basic Building Blocks. How-Tos: Tutorials for Specific Visual Compositions. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts. Assignment: Design a Poster Announcing an Event. 16. Creating Multimodal Compositions. How to Create Videos. How to Create Podcasts. How to Create Websites. For Reflection: Transferable Skills and Concepts.
