CCR 601: *Rhetoric Review* and Rhetorical Analysis: Danisch, Eubanks, Ritter, and Elliot

601 Notes

10/28/09

Rhetoric Review

Each of these articles are from RR, Vol. 27, No. 3, 2008

Features

• Obviously the focus is rhetorical studies / rhetorical analysis
• Short abstract of argument
• Argument laid out up front and often restated
• Review of lit is on rhetorical traditions/definitions usually provided
• Sometimes organization of article laid out
• Sometimes methods of analysis defined
• Key passages from texts are used for analysis
• Other scholars used as framework and evidence for analysis
• Concludes with a call for new ways of analyzing the terms in question
• Endnotes and works cited (MLA)
• Topics in this issue (rhetorical analysis of…): rhetorical features in the rhetorics of law; rhetorical features in the rhetorics of globalization and government; student public discourse online meets classroom practices; Jewish laws and morals (midrash) as applied to democratic culture and literature when analyzing an author’s work

ROBERT DANISCH

“Aphorisms, Enthymemes, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. on the First Amendment”

• Investigates how Supreme court justice Holmes uses aphorisms for enthymematic reasoning
• Some of his moves:
• Introduction: outlines his argument, reviews some rhetorical traditions of analyzing law, defines aphorism and enthymeme, restates his thesis in most paragraphs
• Application: provides key passages from these texts for the reader before analyzing them, analyzes Holmes calling on sources (Morson, Lerner, Menand, Posner) and in later sections argues how enthymemes and aphorisms are alike (in the ways that they persuasive through audience’s held assumptions and how they leave interpretations going).

PHILIP EUBANKS

“An Analysis of Corporate Rule in Globalization Discourse: Why We Need Rhetoric to Explain Conceptual Figures”

• Investigates how metaphors (specifically the metaphor Corporations are Government) work to influence linguistic choices and the ideologies depended upon to interpret evidence. Applies conceptual metaphor theory to argue rhetoric works to create metaphors that cognitively reshape “political and ideological commitments” (237).
• Some of his moves
• Introduction: outlines his argument, defines key terms (conceptual metaphors) by drawing on Lakoff and Johnson and then providing examples, explicitly signals his argument (“I argue that…”),
• Provides a method of analysis section (part of a larger case study, reviews his selection process) and overviews the organization of his argument (in 3 sections)
• His analysis: provides historical context of globalization and his texts under analysis, points to common metaphorical phrases in these texts for analysis, provides key passages from these texts for the reader before analyzing them, cites sources as evidence for his analysis (Karliner, Hightower, Perkins, etc.)

KELLY RITTER

“E-Valuating Learning: Rate My Professors and Public Rhetorics of Pedagogy”

• Placing rhetoric as public discourse and civic resistance, Ritter investigates how RMP works as a way for students to engage in public assessment of pedagogy, thus leading teachers to think in new ways about classroom instruction focusing on civic engagement and online communication.
• Some of her moves
• Historicizes student evaluation, provides a framework of rhetorical studies; defines terms (public discourse, rhetoric as resistance); Cites Berlin, Enos, Couture, Crowley, Giroux, among many others; organizes under major claims (we value evaluation, pedagogy and civic engagement is going public in online discussion forums, we should bring RPM discourse in the classroom); provides clear examples of the online text

NORBERT ELLIOT

“A Midrash for Louise Rosenblatt”

• Analyzes Louise Rosenblatt’s Literature as Exploration to argue that literature works to shape democratic culture and citizenry.
• Some of his moves
• Provides context of Rosenblatt and argues that she’s hugely under-recognized in the field; likens Rosenblatt’s philosophies to the New Deal; defines “midrash,” contextualizing how rabbinic literature contributes to woman studies and lit theory; organizes analysis under the three steps for midrashing: parable (her bio), paraphrase (summary of her works), and prophecy (what she foresaw in the discipline); uses a dramatic monologue to illustrate liberated expression; ends with the words of Louise

(Rhetorical) Analysis

• Collin’s answer: when performing RA, we are performing some kind of separation (opposite of synthesis). Break down layers or scales of a particular object. Differentiating the reality from what is perceived or looking at new scale to alter our perception of a particular event or text or phenomenon. For the purpose of noticing things that we hadn’t noticed before.
• We start with a site or text or something we want to investigate
• Framework of investigation that you take a closer look at a common thread
• Subjective Purpose