Indicates that corporate speechwriters actively seek to identify possible speech issues for their organizations' spokespersons, often helping to build clients' speech agendas. Suggests that the "Strategic Issues Management" (SIM) model can be useful to practitioners and students of policy speechwriting/spokesmanship by providing the…

Anecdotes of interactions between college administrators and accreditation teams illustrate the value of informal interactions in communicating needed information and suggest that a large part of the team's function is mediatory and persuasive rather than merely evaluative. (MSE)

Uses recent work in literary criticism to examine the structure of religious discourse. Suggests religious discourse is the use of a certain rhetorical style that conforms to certain rules of underlying structure, but which communicates only to the extent that this structure is appropriate for the application in question. (MS)

Presents eight teachers' methods for helping students analyze political rhetoric in an election year. (ARH)

Explores the social and intellectual factors that account for the separation of ideology from works on rational argument. States that by attending to the ideological aspects of critical thinking, educators will more effectively prepare students to face the contemporary realities of social controversy. (GEA)

Offers an operational definition and typology of advocacy and image advertising as complementary forms of institutional advertising. Examines two of the more important forms of advocacy advertising--paid print editorials appearing on the "op-ed" page of the "New York Times" and the "advertorials" in two principal…

Presents ten ideas for improving student writing skills in high school social studies courses. The ideas are based on the use of the writing cycle and lead students toward the preparation of a persuasive essay. (GEA)

Assesses the feasibility of and suggests using W. J. McGuire's information processing theory and cognitive response analysis theory in research studies to identify "givers"--those who are likely to contribute money and resources to charities or volunteer to aid philanthropic organizations. (SRT)

Reviews John P. Ryan's contributions to the speech communication profession. Discusses the following aspects of his method of public speaking, notable for its imaginative planning: (1) his insistence upon preparation, good thinking, good speech content; (2) his attention to delivery; repetition, organization, mnemonic words; and (3) his abundance…

Examines presidential primary debates from four perspectives: history, politics, public interest, and television. Argues that, to fulfill their potential for informed public discussion, debate sponsors must refine and adapt their formats to the television medium while still serving the interests of the public and the candidates. (JD)

Focuses on courtroom speech as it occurs when a lay person interacts with an attorney and proposes a framework that includes a (1) macrostructural description of direct and cross-examination sequences as contexts that condition the interaction, and (2) microanalytical model that accounts for the effectiveness of the question-and-answer examination…

Shows the power of dramatistic writing, which uses representative anecdotes as well as argument and demonstration. Proposes that dramatism be taught as an alternate style, in addition to and in conjunction with argument. (EL)

Examines features of and sources for the discourse of Martin Luther King, Jr., as they relate to the language and assumptions favored by his listeners and readers in an effort to understand how speakers and writers can successfully argue from premises that audiences accept. Indicates how an understanding of King can help in composition…

Explores the effects of training children to construct persuasive arguments and to compromise in situations in which their interests conflict with other children. Found that even very limited instruction can produce some improvement in communicative performance. (PD)

Results revealed that inducing women to be more argumentative had a favorable effect on their credibility. (PD)