Examines two contrasting perspectives of invention: rhetoric as "art," and rhetoric as "knack," derived from talent and experience. Argues that inventive strategies should be viewed within an axiological perspective, and notes that instructors can teach students to combine different types of inventive strategies, avoiding a…

Recent research has invited critiques of the authoritative descriptions of composing found in many rhetoric textbooks. The concept of "convention" may be especially useful in rethinking the teleological basis of these textbook descriptions. Conventions found in composition textbooks need to be unmasked as arbitrary concepts which serve…