Suggests that Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address is an example of a speech using metaphor to transcend a recurring rhetorical problem. Shows how Roosevelt merged two metaphoric clusters, religious and military, into the image of "Holy War," first to calm, then activate the American people. (SR)

Specifies certain assumptions in basic argumentation texts and argumentation pedagogy literature as representative of basic argumentation pedagogy. Revisits these ideas from the lens of rhetoric as epistemic to shape an existential view of argumentation. Outlines ideas for teaching argumentation that might represent existential argumentation…

Analyzed more than 200 magazines to compare advertisements in magazines aimed at African Americans with advertisements in magazines aimed at Caucasians. Discusses results in terms of the demand characteristics implicit in gender advertisements and in terms of cultural differences in gender role expectations. (Author/SLD)

Addresses Patrick Buchanan's political discourse by interweaving traditional rhetorical terms with more politically charged terms. Analyzes the dialectical relationships among rhetorical tropes, the structures of arguments, and political ideologies. Discusses the role of rhetoric in arguments for United States democracy during the colonial,…

Finds that argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness did not correlate with the development and defense of undergraduate students' ideas but that the dyad's composition (in terms of argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness) affected the proportion of ideas developed through argument. Suggests that argumentativeness and aggressiveness research…

Examines the effects of happy and sad moods on systematic processing among undergraduate students. Discusses how research has indicated that positive mood leads to less systematic processing, and negative mood heightens systematic processing. Indicates that persons in a positive mood do have the cognitive capacity to process systematically, but…

Investigates how the purpose of three types of business and technical documents (instructions, annual reports, and sales promotional letters) affects the syntactical and rhetorical choices authors make in writing these documents. Outlines partial syntactical and rhetorical "fingerprints" of these documents to offer students norms they can go by in…

Examines argument and the creation and maintenance of social identity. Discusses the relationship between argument and current research on the construction of identities. Presents two illustrations--one focusing on nationalism as given expression in the divided city of Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and another focusing on environmentalism as…

Provides some philosophical groundwork for contemporary debates about the idea of critical thinking. Discusses three styles of critique: critical dogmatism, transcendental critique (Karl-Otto Apel), and deconstruction (Jacques Derrida). Argues that while transcendental critique is able to solve some of the problems of the dogmatic approach to…

Contains the guide used by scorers of the 12th grade persuasive writing test of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), samples of student responses at each of the six levels of performance, and discussion of the scoring methods. (Author/SLD)

Studies persuasion processes in a value-relevant context. Tests effects of the presence/absence of anecdotal evidence, crossed across three base messages regarding different alcohol use issues. Suggests that a variant of central processing was used: involvement predicted greater message-relevant responses only when the message was congruent with…

Suggests that storytelling represents a valuable activity that can contribute to the forensics community. Offers the experience of the Kentucky High School Forensics League with organization-sanctioned storytelling. Discusses benefits gained by students from the institutionalization of storytelling as a competitive event. Concludes that national…

Applies fantasy theme analysis to Richard Nixon's "Checkers" speech. States that three major themes emerge: Nixon as Moral Model, Nixon as the American Dream, and Nixon as Patriot. Points out that each issue responds to allegations of dishonesty that were leveled against him at the time. Argues that Nixon's speech was accepted and…

Explores Gertrude Buck's approach to argumentation demonstrating the intellectual and social significance of her work and showing how she introduced a democratic ethics encouraging Vassar women to take a more active and public role in society. Focuses on one of Buck's instruments of teaching writing, "A Course in Argumentative Writing"…

Examines the role of the Spanish discourse particle "no" for negotiating agreement and disagreement in Spanish-English bilingual conversations from Gibraltar. A sequential analysis of twelve conversational exchanges shows how language choice is an important linguistic resource for negotiating agreement and disagreement in interactions.…