The 11 th grade AP classroom Or, “What have I gotten myself into?”

Rhetoric and Composition  First semester of first year of English in college  Focus is on writing  The purpose is to prepare the student for all future university level courses  Second semester in college is literature  And easier, generally speaking

Composition  There are different forms of writing  Persuasion  Expository  Narrative  Descriptive  and when you add in purpose and audience, the combinations are endless  You’ll probably feel like the writing in this class is endless

Rhetoric  “Art of oratory”  The art of speaking or writing well  The study of the rules of composition  Communication as a means of persuasion  There is a negative connotation that rhetoric is empty, useless, although pretty sounding, speech

Persuasion  “to advise thoroughly”  To move a person’s beliefs from one position to another, or the attempt thereof  Can happen through speech, writing, or action  The negative connotation here is that some people consider persuasion as simply one person pushing his beliefs onto another

Argumentation  Discourse intended to persuade  A coherent series of statements leading from a premise to a conclusion  A reason given in proof or rebuttal  The negative connotation here should be easy – argumentation is fighting or quarrelling

Why am I teaching negativity?  Rhetoric, argumentation, and persuasion are not negative ideas and should not be stereotypically rebuked as such.  You’ll learn that these are simply terms in normal, healthy, productive speech and writing

btw…  Do you know the difference between these:  Denotation  Connotation

Works Cited Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary Merriam-Webster Online. 21 August 2008 < /dictionary>