Writing in Rhetoric and Composition

I. General Purpose: Rhetoric and Composition helps students explore new ideas and become more effective communicators. Teachers emphasize process writing, a series of steps (invention, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) that recur throughout the writing experience. Teachers also emphasize product by helping students consider the writing situation and audience, creating quality drafts, and reflecting on their writing experiences in a final portfolio. Students examine language to communicate and analyze audience, tone, voice, and point- of-view, among other aspects of written communication. The discipline includes rhetorical and composition theory and practice, visual and digital rhetoric, graduate teaching assistant and professional preparation in Composition Studies, and issues in writing pedagogy and writing program administration. English 2001, Introduction to Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), prepares students for writing in the university, often focusing on rhetorical analysis and argumentation. Audiences in Rhetoric and Composition include teachers, peers, administrators, and employers, among others.

II. Types of Writing  Research papers  Presentations  Ethnographies  Personal responses  Argumentative essays  Emails/ memos  Rhetorical analyses  Multimodal essays  Causal analyses  Digital media  Reviews/ evaluations  Digital rhetoric  Reading responses  Brochures  Comparison/ Contrast  Annotated bibliographies essays  Field research  Cover letters  Interviews, observations,  Portfolios surveys  Portfolio letters  Secondary research  Reflective pieces  Summaries & paraphrases  Journals  Documentation styles  Blogs  Proposals  Writer’s notebooks  Narratives  Double-entry journals   III. Types of Evidence  Qualitative data  Reasons  Quantitative data  Examples  Details  Anecdotes  Explanations  Facts    Statistics  Field research (interviews,  Illustrations observations, surveys)  Secondary sources  Charts and graphs   Photographs and videos   IV. Writing Conventions  Standard, written, grammatical English is emphasized.  First person is often acceptable.  Specific details and examples are important.  A distinctive voice is valued.  Active voice is usually preferred.  Passive voice may be used if one writes in a major that uses passive voice (such as the sciences).  Clarity and organization are crucial elements.   V. Vocabulary/ Jargon/ Terms  Process writing  Rhetoric  High-stakes writing  Rhetorical analysis  Low-stakes writing  Ethos, pathos, logos  Portfolios  Collaborative writing  Journals  Reflection  Literacy sponsors  Field research  Product  Secondary research  Writing-to-learn  Vertical Writing Model  Writing–to-communicate  Summary & paraphrase  Text/ artifact  Documentation  Landmark text  Popular vs. scholarly  Discourse Community sources  In-text citations  VI. Citation Style  The Modern Language Association (MLA) is the preferred style of documentation in Rhetoric and Composition, but some Writing Across the Curriculum classes introduce students to American Psychological Association (APA) and Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), among other styles relevant to the disciplines in which students write.  