Finds that training in argumentation enhanced the ability of undergraduate students to discern weak example and causal arguments, increased perceived arguing effectiveness, and decreased verbal aggressiveness. Discusses these findings in terms of critical thinking and outcomes assessment for argumentation instruction. (SR)

Examines Students for a Democratic Society's recruitment efforts through public, mass, and interpersonal communication channels. Concludes that scholars investigating movements should look beyond public and mass communication if they seek a general theory of the rhetoric of movements. (SR)

Examines college students' level of argumentativeness in relation to persuasion. Finds that highly argumentative individuals experienced more attitude change than their less argumentative counterparts. Shows that topic had no effect upon attitude change and that topic did not interact with argumentativeness. (SR)

Public speaking techniques for enhancing the delivery of professional presentations are offered. Specific suggestions are made for body movements and style of body language, use of voice (breathing, phrasing, projection, volume, transitions, pauses), hand gestures, and controlling the audience through eye contact, attention to individuals,…

Examines the ways in which the argument from definition functions. Considers two novels published in 1912 that illustrate the argument from definition in descriptions of race during the Progressive Era. Asserts that all definitions should be regarded as contingent, and that the argument from definition poses specific ethical concerns that require…

Explores the promises and pitfalls of primary research, public debate, debate outreach, and public advocacy as specific modes of debate activism designed to cultivate argumentative agency and bring argumentation skills to bear in wider spheres of public deliberation beyond the academy. (CR)

Argues that rhetorical scholars should recognize resistive reading, strategic ambiguity, and hermeneutic depth as three types of polysemy that support different scholarly purposes. Complicates assumptions about the critical judgment of polysemous texts and suggests that some types of polysemy are best identified through the adoption of a new…

Examines the persuasive communication of HIV test counselors as cues to action in clients' decisions to practice safer sex. Indicates hypothesized relationships inherent in the Health Belief Model were not supported for the pre-HIV test survey, but the post-HIV test survey reported compliance with safer-sex recommendations. Finds use of certain…

Responds to James Catterall's article "Does Experience in the Arts Boost Academic Achievement: A Response to Eisner." Contends that Catterall does not support his claims concerning the relationship of the arts to academic achievement; instead, Eisner maintains that Catterall is actually examining the contributions of the arts to cognitive…

Contributes to scholarship on family communication, finding that fathers' perceptions of the appropriateness and effectiveness of tactics with oppositional sons was largely a function of their level of trait verbal aggressiveness, which was (1) negatively related to perceptions of appropriateness and effectiveness of supportive tactics, and (2)…

Examines how metadiscourse is used to create a positive corporate image in 137 CEOs' letters, showing how CEOs use nonpropositional material to realize rational, credible, and affective appeals. Reveals the essentially rhetorical nature of CEOs' letters by comparing the frequency and distribution of metadiscourse in their letters and directors'…

Finds that managers were more likely to recommend that environmental remediation proposals receive priority for funding when they read proposals written in candid language than when they read proposals written in legally defensible language. Shows that threats and a negative tone are highly persuasive in internal environmental compliance reports.…

Finds that communication modality moderates effects of power of language style on attitudes toward speaker's recommendation but not on evaluations of the speaker. Indicates that systematic information processing is used to form attitudes toward a recommendation when arguments are represented in writing, whereas audio and audio-visual modes…

Examines Prudential's actions regarding misleading sales practices, its response to the ethical crisis, and the ways in which the organization communicated its response to stakeholders. Concludes that Prudential is making amends to its customers who were harmed by egregious sales practices, but considers how it may take the organization a long…

Taps research in American studies to learn more about rhetoric and writing instruction in post-Revolutionary America. Merges the separate (and gendered) histories of early 19th-century American rhetoric, breaking down the separate spheres in contemporary historical and literary scholarship. Examines civic rhetoric found in texts that represent…