The Congressional Research Service prepared this compilation of articles and bibliography to facilitate student research on the regulation of mass media in the United States, the 1979-80 intercollegiate debate topic. The selection of articles reproduced in Section A and the citations chosen for the bibliography in Section B are representative of…

A genre approach to teaching the argumentative essay in composition classes has been developed. The need for this approach emanated from problems associated with the other methods of teaching persuasive discourse, such as the logical/analytic, content/problem solving, and rhetorical/generative approaches. The genre approach depends on the…

Three components seem central to the definition of a documentary film: (1) the filmmaker should seek to provide as valid a record as possible of the facts, (2) the filmmaker must not neglect artistry in the portrayal of reality, and (3) a persuasive purpose is inherent to the form. Thus, documentary film provides for the artistic portrayal of…

The formal and substantive traits of the television program, "60 Minutes" reflect characteristics manifest in Daniel Boorstin's conception of the "pseudo-event." Through both the verbal and visual imagery presented in the context of a narrative format, this television news magazine illustrates the significance of mass media…

This report is a collection of twenty papers which focus on the development of a rational and relevant philosophical premise upon which a national effort can be initiated and pursued to employ technology in services to the handicapped in general and the blind in particular. Special attention was directed to the identification and demonstration of…

An emphasis on logic is the basis of argumentation theory and practice, both past and present; the policy systems model of debate--which is based on the assumption that argumentation is a means for injecting rationality into choice--sharpens and clarifies traditional ideas and suggests significant new approaches, while retaining existing…

This study investigated the effects of varying the content of adults' exhortations about altruism and the power of the preacher on children's subsequent donations. Subjects were 166 third and fourth grade children from two middle class suburban elementary schools. A 2 x 2 x 3 x 2 design was employed with the factors being sex, grade (third and…

The theory of the coordinated management of meaning (CMM) describes the structural relationship between a conversation as it appears in a verbatim transcript and as it appears in the meaning-system of the participants. The five essential features of CMM theory are: a set of four propositions about the nature of communication and human behavior, a…

Although certain features have been identified as most indicative of "syntactic maturity," these only partially answer the question, "What is mature writing?" Mature thought on the part of the author is reflected in writing in the following ways: recognizing that the audience is different from himself or herself; providing an appropriate context…

Intended for use by high school debaters and their teachers, this book provides guidelines for research on the debate topic for the 1978-1979 school year: "What should be the energy policy of the United States?" The first section is designed to broaden the student's comprehension of the debating process by focusing on the meaning of the…

Films function as a persuasive process in that they bring about a reinforcement or change in attitude, belief, or behavior by producing a cognitive restructuring of the audience's frame of reference. Organized research into the effects of films falls into two categories: macro-media studies exploring the way films reflect the psychological…

Some current scientific-engineering curricula consider the rhetorical expression of ideas as separable and inessential to course content; rhetoric is defined as a distinct set of technical skills practiced by specialists. In contrast, the classical definition of rhetoric subordinates the method or technique of expression to the refinement of the…

Rhetorical activity is fundamental to the process of psychotherapy. This paper discusses a study of the consistent use of rhetorical strategies in distinctly different forms of psychotherapy as an initial step in analyzing the effectiveness or failure of therapeutic situations. The data for this two-part study consisted of eleven hours of…

This is the fourth and final report in a series dealing with the impact of the modes of discourse (description, narration, exposition, and argumentation) on written syntactic complexity at the elementary school level. The first three reports dealt in turn with the three grade levels involved in the study (third, fourth, and fifth grades). This…

An advanced writing course that does not repeat freshman English materials and techniques can encourage a variety of students to become enthusiastic about writing. One such course focuses on three writing modes: the poetic, the informative, and the persuasive. For the poetic mode, students write informal essays; for the informative mode, they…