Welcome to CMST 411: Rhetorical Criticism
Course Goals
- Answer the following questions: 1) What is rhetoric as a field and what questions do rhetorical critics ask? 2) What makes good rhetorical criticism? 3) How does someone do rhetorical criticism?
- Enhance communication research using rhetorical approaches and communication theory to comprehensively analyze rhetorical artifacts
- Use effective argumentation strategies to support claims (e.g., Toulmin model, menu approach to speech writing)
- Produce papers that demonstrate knowledge of writing techniques associated with research-based papers
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students should be able to
- properly use terminology and concepts associated with rhetorical analysis
- explain the differences among various methods and applications of rhetorical analysis
- demonstrate understanding of methods used in rhetorical criticism by analyzing communication phenomenon and rhetorical artifacts
- conduct scholarly research and incorporate the research into a well-written text(s)
- construct oral presentations using a menu approach to speech writing
- utilize the Toulmin model to craft and evaluate arguments
- demonstrate proper use of APA style