ENG 410 Rhetoric for Writers (Duffy)

From its beginnings in 5th century BC, rhetoric was the foundation of education for public citizenship. While in contemporary times rhetoric is commonly misunderstood as “mere style” or a slur meaning “empty of content,” the study of rhetoric is an investigation of the working of language and communication; it can be defined as the study of how to do things with language. In our course, we will survey a variety of areas in which contemporary rhetorical theory and practice influences writing, including: composition theory, religion, literature, politics, race, disability, and gender. Significant attention will be paid to technology and the role of rhetoric theory in writing for digital and visual media.