It is hard to think of a writer whose work has been more prominently upheld as an example of bad academic writing than the philosopher and literary theorist Judith Butler. In 1998, Butler was awarded first prize in the annual Bad Writing Contest established by the journal "Philosophy and Literature," and early in 1999, was lampooned in an…

The study of bullshit, what the author calls "taurascatics", has been making a splash of late. It was Harry Frankfurt who tossed the stone: his essay "On Bullshit" came out in "Raritan" in 1986, hit the "New York Times" best-seller list as a book in 1995, and has been adopted, adapted, and criticized across the academy since. The ripples spread…

A symposium in the November 2006 issue of "College English" addresses the question, "What should college English be?" In this article, the author presents his answer to this question--it should be a functional approach to English studies. By English studies he means everything that is done in English departments. Most English departments teach…

Argues that Kenneth Burke used "The Interpretation of Dreams," as well as other works by Sigmund Freud, as a lesson on reading, taking over the central tropes of dreamwork and making them broadly dialectical rather than strictly psychoanalytic terms. Suggests that Freud's "tropology" of dreaming is crucial for reading Burke.…

Discusses rhetoric as mirroring psychology. Examines Aristotle's three "pisteis"--the pathetic, logical, and ethical proofs, paralleling them to Freud's id, ego, and super-ego. Explores an adequate feminine psychology and a corresponding rhetoric. Outlines two models of persuasive discourse, the rational world paradigm and the narrative…

Argues that Sylvia Plath not only perceives the world as competing male and female languages, but attempts to write in the feminine. Discusses how "The Bell Jar" might define, as a solution to sociological and psychological problems of women, a language and art to secure women against male domination. (MS)

Analyzes the ways several women have written persuasive discourse and identifies a female rhetorical mode involving indirection, open-endedness, additive attention to small details, restraint, and noncombativeness. (DD)

Relates how experience writing technical documents yielded insight into the nature of the problems attending the composition of technical discourse. (JL)

Reviews arguments both for and against the personal as/in academic writing, suggesting that even supporters of experiential writing generally fall short of establishing its argument-based role. Examines the advantages as well as the dangers of conjuring stories as evidence in order to argue for the necessity of establishing effective standards of…

Examines the prosodic features of political candidates' names and their hypothesized influence on voters' attitudes. Reports on the burgeoning business of politic prosody--the identification and analysis of the persuasive qualities of the rhythms of the English language. (RL)

Argues that a theory-based explanation is needed to understand the nature and reasons for students' problems with writing persuasive researched papers. Proposes that teachers nurture creativity by teaching students to see themselves as scholars and to set reading and writing goals for themselves that will allow them to think constructively. (MG)

Argues that the use of evidentials illuminates differences between arguments written by experienced academic writers and those written by student writers. Reveals differences in the epistemological stance underlying both groups. Analyzes discursive examples by both groups. (HB)

Studies the tone of essays published in the journal "PMLA" from 1975 to 1988. Notes that most are adversarial, and many are sarcastic or condescending. Suggests a sameness within the argumentation that may reflect writers' academic socialization. Concludes that some feminist writers dislike the adversary model and do not employ it. (SG)

Explores how Stephen Toulmin's "layout" for arguments might be usefully adapted to the teaching of "argumentative" sentence-combining exercises. (JL)

Examines features of and sources for the discourse of Martin Luther King, Jr., as they relate to the language and assumptions favored by his listeners and readers in an effort to understand how speakers and writers can successfully argue from premises that audiences accept. Indicates how an understanding of King can help in composition…