Central to the future of rhetoric and composition (or writing studies or whatever label we use) is the service mission of composition: to teach students to write. But that term "service" has not and will not serve us well. This essay examines the limitations and dangers of a service mission and explores a different model, that of a franchise, a…

This essay examines women's commencement addresses presented from 1910 to 1915 at Vassar College. These addresses are significant because they reveal the students' rhetorical education and the "available means" upon which these women drew in developing a public voice. By prompting reflection and the potential for change, the commencement…

This article presents a written version of the address the author gave at the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) meeting in San Francisco on March 12, 2009. In this address, the author talks about the wonder of writing and discusses how writing has been considered sacred. Reading and writing are associated with inwardness…

M. Karen Powers and Catherine Chaput's ""Anti-American Studies" in the Deep South: Dissenting Rhetorics, the Practice of Democracy, and Academic Freedom in Wartime Universities" begins a much needed discussion about the current and ongoing assaults against academic freedom in American universities, which have not received…

The phrase "academic bullshit" presents compositionists with a special dilemma. Because compositionists study, teach, and produce academic writing, they are open to the accusation that they both tolerate and perpetuate academic bullshit. We argue that confronting this problem must begin with a careful definition of "bullshit" and "academic…

Teaching rhetorical production in a digital age calls for us to rethink our discipline's current distaste for writing mechanics. Yet, the digital mechanics of writing are much broader than grammatical concerns. They include production tools that allow for the invention and circulation of audio, visual, and Multigenre writing. (Contains 3 figures…

Scholars in rhetoric and composition have explored political issues of identity and language for some time; however, we have only begun to develop an understanding of why the identity politics of Native scholars are so different from other scholars of color and whites. Native scholars take considerable risks in composing identities--they can face…

This article presents the text of the author's address at the fifty-ninth annual convention of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) in March 2008. In her address, the author picks up strands of previous Chairs' addresses and weaves them through the fabric of her remarks. What she hopes will give sheen to the fabric is her…

The article explores writing-centered pedagogies that deepen student learning in literature survey courses. More broadly, the article also responds to Richard Fulkerson and Maureen Daly Goggin, who challenge professors of English studies to find disciplinary unity within the diverse epistemologies of rhetoric. (Contains 5 notes.)

The spaces in which public deliberation most often takes place are institutionally, technologically, and scientifically complex. In this article, we argue that in order to participate, citizens must be able to invent valued knowledge. This invention requires using complex information technologies to access, assemble, and analyze information in…

Discusses a set of options for concluding an essay founded upon Aristotle's four goals of a conclusion: (1) to dispose the hearer favorably towards oneself and unfavorably towards the adversary; (2) to amplify and depreciate; (3) to excite the emotions of the hearer; (4) to recapitulate. Cites various composition theorists to elaborate these…

Reports observations of two courses of Community Service Writing wherein the teacher incorporated community-based writing assignments in order to help students writing outside the university. Finds that the curriculum did not support students' transitions to nonacademic settings. Calls for a model of rhetorically focused composition instruction…

Argues that student use of quotation marks jars educators not because it departs from good practice but because, through them, students invoke voices educators do not want to recognize. Concludes that examining the ways both professors and students use non-standard quotes encourages an understanding of composition as a practice that brings…

Invites further conversations on how listening may inform composition studies. Explores disciplinary and cultural biases that subordinate listening to reading, writing and speaking. Speculates why listening is needed. Offers an extended definition of rhetorical listening as a trope for interpretive invention. Demonstrates how rhetorical listening…

Argues that the topic sentence can be a valuable rhetorical strategy. Examines the origin and development of the topic sentence concept, considers twentieth century criticisms of the topic sentence, and argues that readability research on the topic sentence and schema theory supports the value of using topic sentences in expository prose. (HTH)