This essay expands Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's concept of argumentation by model to bring more attention to the persuasive effects of using the self as a model. To illuminate this technique, I analyze the personal narratives of popular health coaches, who are championing a holistic health movement toward what I refer to as "do-it-yourself…

Bruce Pirie offers the following criticism about formula essays: "What does a five-paragraph essay teach about writing? It teaches that there are rules, and that those rules take the shape of a preordained form, like a cookie-cutter, into which we can pour ideas and expect them to come out well shaped." He goes on to discredit such essays as being…

This paper examines a sampling of arguments for and against the Common Core State Standards from the period surrounding their adoption. While supporters of the standards have articulated common goals such as economic security, equity, and alignment, opposing voices have failed to coalesce around a unified set of principles or a common language. An…

In 1970, the author learned a simple step in making essays from his advisor. His advisor used a drawing of the Parthenon to illustrate the creation of a five-paragraph essay. It was obvious that his advisor was hesitant on teaching them a very simple concept of essay writing because it was pretty mechanical. Like his advisor, a lot of teachers…

Suggests that inherency is a composite of several distinct factors operating to block the solution of particular policy dysfunctions and offers a rhetorical model as an alternative to the single-definition approach to the concept of inherency. (MH)

The persuasive effectiveness of metaphor may be accounted for, in part, by the evaluative responses which the receiver has to the verbal stimulus used metaphorically, and by the referents for the verbal stimulus.'' (Author)

Develops the "knowledge-as-status" perspective and its model to help describe what knowledge is and how knowledge changes over time. Concludes that knowledge in a particular field will progress or regress on the basis of reasons for and against the changes--reasons advanced and analyzed in a rhetorically epistemological way. (PD)

Discusses the "stock issues" approach to argument, presents a contemporary stock issue system for the arrangement of a single composition, and constructs a model argument as a way of demonstrating how the system works. (FL)

Responds to two papers, written by Bruce E. Gronbeck and Allan Megill, which appeared in the 1987 Alta proceedings on argumentation. Questions the heavy distinction between narrative and argument which informs their positions. (MS)

Outlines a political campaign strategy employed by incumbents using three stages of development: legitimacy, identification, and reinforcement. A case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the strategy. (JMF)

Instead of adopting or developing a theoretical or methodological approach to social movement study, researchers might benefit from gathering an understanding of a particular movement's history by narrowing the focus of the study for rhetorical analysis. Convention papers and journal articles should identify a specific stage, sub-group, person, or…

Writing instructors who teach argument are familiar with the dilemma of conflicting metaphors: those who teach writing with a process approach may structure their teaching through a growth or benevolent nature metaphor, but cannot deny the tenacity of the "argument as war" metaphor. Breaking this war metaphor requires that ethics become…

The traditional views of audience analysis and rhetorical strategy are examined in terms of modifications necessary for application to persuasion in interpersonal communication contexts. To obtain guidance for ways in which the traditional concepts may be modified, a framework consisting of selected work by Erving Goffman and Ernest Becker is…

Emphasizing the need for sound logic in the decision making and policy making process, this paper equates the concept of rationality with the universal audience as a means of analyzing argument, evaluating rhetoric, and persuading audiences. The paper argues that the policy systems paradigm most approximates this objective within the context of…

Explores Walter H. Beale's "A Pragmatic Theory of Rhetoric," and places it in relation to other theories. Discusses Beale's semiotic theory of written discourse, its contribution, and relates Beale's aims to the rhetorical theories of James Kinnevey and James Britton. (SR)