Autumn Tallman's Rhetoric Blog

My first assignment will be a research paper in which I will discover how scholars in my chosen field of study tend to write about their subjects of expertise. I will choose to interview either someone experienced in the fields of therapy and counseling, immigration, Latin American studies, or education (specifically language learning.) Though I have experience finding scholarly articles, that experience is limited. I have certainly struggled with similar assignments in the past. An added challenge to this assignment is the interview component; where will I find someone who not only has experience doing what I hope to do, but also has experience writing about it? I expect this will be difficult.  3 Questions: How many academic articles do we need? How many non-academic?  Can I interview someone whose writing may not align exactly with the career I am pursuing? How can we arrange meetings with you outside of your office hours?

According to Merriam Webster, rhetoric is "the art of speaking or writing effectively." A typical rhetoric course focuses on the composition of a piece of writing or a speech. This may include learning persuasive writing tactics, effective strategies for public speaking, and practice in grammar and sentence structure. Rhetoric is not simply what you say; it is how you say it. This is why rhetoric is such an important skill for the student, teacher, performer, or any person who wishes to share their ideas with an audience.

This is the blog where I will write and post assignments for my 2018-19 Rhetoric course.