The pro-German American newspaper "The Fatherland," published shortly before the United States entered the First World War (1914-1917), displayed a failure of public relations in terms of defining and offering themes likely to convince a target audience to side with Germany. By looking at a public relations campaign undertaken by the…

In order to compare how healthy and troubled corporations communicate with their shareholders, a study examined the narrative of the 1982 annual report of 50 of America's best-run corporations (as compiled by Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman for their book, "In Search of Excellence"). The focus was on the letter to the stockholders--the…

Decontextualization, referring to the abstraction of a written text from all of its contexts, is a flawed concept. Rather than viewing writing as an isolated abstraction, a text's involvement with the human world should be acknowledged. Two major questions arise when dealing with the concept of decontextualization: (1) Can written discourse be…

One alternative approach for assessing the moral quality of public argument in liberal democracy is narrative ethics, based not in procedural rationality but in narrative, with a concern for character and community. To be intelligible and practicable, such criticism shifts the focus of ethics from discrete decisions and actions to questions of…

A rhetorical analysis of the 1984 vice-presidential debate between George Bush and Geraldine Ferraro was conducted to determine argumentation tactics, argumentation flaws, reasoning strategies, and other rhetorical characteristics. The results indicated that the format of the debate allowed for little actual direct confrontation between…

Few children possess the knowledge and experience to identify the best books from the numbers that flood the market, so it is wise for authors, publishers, librarians, teachers, and parents to be aware of any body of informed critical opinion regarding excellence in books for children. The contribution of the conscientious critic is as valuable to…

A rhetorical analysis was conducted of the four broadcast political debates that led to San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson's victory in the 1982 California senatorial race. Specifically, the analysis covered one primary debate held in San Diego among five of the seven Republican contenders and the three bipartisan debates held in Fresno, San Francisco,…

Traditional assumptions about oral and written discourse persist among various philosophers and critics. Careful examination of the context for traditional assumptions, however, suggests that current scholarship should pursue altered lines of inquiry. Peculiar influences on Renaissance standards of purpose, style, and theme illustrate the nature…

An examination of nineteenth century rhetoric is presented in this publication. The first chapter analyzes three rhetorical systems of the nineteenth century: classical, psychological-epistemological, and romantic. The second chapter discusses the demise of the classical tradition, while the third chapter, "The Triumph of Eighteenth-Century…

By reading negative criticisms of assigned books and stories, students may gain a better command of those works and of the processes of talking and writing about literature. (JH)

Presently, transformational grammar has more harm than good to offer literary criticism. (JH)

Suggests that the authors of a number of recent junior novels on the theme of race relations have been unable to break away from the narrow conventions and overt moralizing common to many other junior novels with other themes. Presents several specific examples to support the thesis. (TO)

Includes philosophical framework and implementation details for the course. (CH)