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 pointof-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.
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Types of Writing
Research papers
Ethnographies
Argumentative essays
Rhetorical analyses
Causal analyses
Reviews/ evaluations
Reading responses
Comparison/ Contrast
essays
Cover letters
Portfolios
Portfolio letters
Reflective pieces
Journals
Blogs
Writer’s notebooks
Double-entry journals
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Types of Evidence
Qualitative data
Quantitative data
Details
Explanations
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Presentations
Personal responses
Emails/ memos
Multimodal essays
Digital media
Digital rhetoric
Brochures
Annotated bibliographies
Field research
Interviews, observations,
surveys
Secondary research
Summaries & paraphrases
Documentation styles
Proposals
Narratives
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Reasons
Examples
Anecdotes
Facts
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Field research (interviews,
observations, surveys)
Charts and graphs
Photographs and videos
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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.
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Vocabulary/ Jargon/ Terms
Process writing
High-stakes writing
Low-stakes writing
Portfolios
Journals
Literacy sponsors
Product
Writing-to-learn
Writing–to-communicate
Text/ artifact
Landmark text
Discourse Community
Rhetoric
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V.
VI.
Statistics
Illustrations
Secondary sources
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Rhetorical analysis
Ethos, pathos, logos
Collaborative writing
Reflection
Field research
Secondary research
Vertical Writing Model
Summary & paraphrase
Documentation
Popular vs. scholarly
sources
In-text citations
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.