Rhetoric has a bad name in popular culture. Usually it's used as a synonym for lying, or at least hiding or evading the truth (as in "That speech was nothing but rhetoric").

In fact, we all use rhetoric in all situations where we try to communicate with someone else. It means communicating a particular idea to another person in a particular situation. The key elements are the communicator, the audience, the subject, the purpose, and the language (or medium). The study of rhetoric involves examining the relationship among these various elements. (For example, the relationship between the communicator and audience influences the language--we speak differently to a roommate than we do the university president.)

Rhetoric can involve all kinds of languages and effects. On this page, for example, I used a restful, non-aggressive background, which should have some effect on how you respond to it. On the main syllweb page I used a no-nonsense bright white background, but lightened the mood a little with the cartoon-like graphics.

In English 180 we'll be primarily concerned with the rhetoric of writing--how written words accomplish a writer's specific goals for an intended reader. We'll work together (as readers of one another's papers) to measure rhetorical effectiveness. And we'll go further to also explore how working with the elements of the rhetorical context will help us to construct realities. Writing doesn't just report on some reality out there--by balancing the demands of writer, reader, subject, purpose, and language, we'll actually be building the realities of our community.