UNCW English 388

We will hold our last class meeting on Tuesday, December 11 during our scheduled final time, but we will start at 9:30 AM rather than 8:00 AM. During this final meeting, we will have the Copia and Elocution Weird Moments in Rhetorical History presentations and you will all turn in your finals.

As promised, here are my hand-written notes from Ch. 8. I make no promises that you’ll be able to read them: Ch. 8 Notes.

The Annotated Bibliography assignment has been updated to reflect the various changes we’ve discussed in class. The original due date of Nov. 20 stands if you would like the chance of revising, otherwise it will be due Dec. 4. If you get it to me sometime between those two dates, you might have the chance of revision. You’re also more than welcome to send me sample annotations to get feed as you’re working.

I’ve also updated the Snippet Research assignment to reflect the two post requirement.

A revised schedule for the last five weeks is now available.

For this essay, you have a choice of two options: you can compare the major movements of any two periods or you can trace a major rhetorical concept from the Classical period through the Nineteenth Century. In either case, this paper should be approximately 5 pages in length and follow the General Guidelines for Written Work as well as MLA style. In writing this paper, you should draw from our textbook, the primary readings, class discussion, and presentations. Additional research, while not required, is greatly welcomed. You will want to support your claims by citing sources.

Option 1: Speaking broadly, one could suggest that until the Twentieth Century, post-Classical rhetoric is largely a reworking of the rhetoric of the Classical period. If you choose this option, you will want to compare the major movements of any two post-Classical periods. You may want to approach this by considering not just similarities and differences but common influences, how they resemble or differ from major Classical figures, direct influence, etc.

Option 2: If you choose this option, you’ll want to trace a major issue (such as the valuing of rhetoric over dialectic or dialectic over rhetoric, the importance/location of Truth vs. truth, the role of style, the importance of virtue, the role of politics in the valuing of rhetoric, etc.

Due: Tuesday, December 4.

 Choose a major figure from Smith’s ch. 8 (Descartes, Vico, Bacon, Locke, Hume, Campbell, Blair, Sheridan, Austin, Whately, Bain), and compare their rhetoric with that of a major figure from an earlier time period. Don’t just report what Smith tells us, but try to make your own comparisons. You need not write out an extended essay, obviously, but, rather, select some important features from each and discuss how they are similar and/or different.

Due: Nov. 27.

The term “renaissance” suggests a rebirth and many traditional histories of rhetoric present Renaissance rhetoric in just those terms. Identify a few ways in which Renaissance rhetoric is “new” compared to Medieval rhetoric,” or, conversely, identify a few ways in which Renaissance rhetoric is a continuation of Medieval rhetoric.

Due: Tuesday, Nov. 13

Kennedy’s summary of On Rhetoric is available from the Readings page.

From lifehack.org, a short article on note taking. While geared more towards note taking during lectures, its general principles are useful for research such as the snippet research posts and the annotated bibliography.

And since I’m bringing up the subject, I’ll also link to the effective research note taking advice offered by Purdue’s OWL (Online Writing Lab), which is itself an excellent resource.

I accidentally left Gorgias off the Sophist Lecture Notes, but as he’s a major enough figure to warrant his own handout, I’ve done just that. You can find it on the Handouts page.