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Format/Modality: 8-week, Online (Synchronous + Asynchronous)

Digital Technology: Microsoft Teams + D2L

Instructional Design: lectures, discussion, reading, writing, independent research

This course is designed to develop the learner’s ability to criticize public and organizational discourse, including speeches, texts, performances, and media. Learners will be introduced to major issues and perspectives in rhetorical analysis, including vocabulary terms, foundational concepts, and analysis methods. By learning to conduct reasoned analysis that is situated, careful, and insightful, learners will be able to make their own critical judgments about rhetorical artifacts and communicate those judgments to academics or industry professionals.

• Answer the following questions: 1) What is rhetoric as a field, and what questions do rhetorical critics ask? 2) What constitutes good rhetorical criticism? 3) What cultural, social, political, organizational, etc. values exist in rhetorical analysis? 4) How does the researcher report findings from a rhetorical analysis?
• Enhance learners’ understanding of communication theory and communication research using rhetorical approaches
• Improve learners’ understanding and use of effective argumentation strategies to analyze others’ claims and support claims in their writing
• Produce written content that demonstrates knowledge of writing techniques associated with research-based papers

By the end of this course, learners should be able to

1. properly use terminology and concepts associated with rhetorical analysis
2. explain the differences among various methods and applications of rhetorical analysis
3. demonstrate understanding of methods used in rhetorical criticism by analyzing communication phenomena in rhetorical artifacts
4. utilize the Toulmin model to craft and evaluate arguments
5. demonstrate proper use of APA style (graduate learners)
6. conduct scholarly research and prepare a conference-ready manuscript (graduate learners)