In the simplest terms, rhetoric is the art of persuasion.
In addition, rhetoric is all of the strategies and skills which help a speaker to convince an audience of his or her point.
The AP English Language and Composition test is largely a test of how well you can understand, analyze and utilize rhetoric. Therefore it is important for you to develop a fluency for discussing rhetoric. The first step is for you to learn to distinguish between tropes and schemes and the terms within each category. However, just being able to recognize these terms will not greatly enhance your AP score. You need to be able to state the EFFECT of the device in the context to impress AP graders. Visit the following pages and take the practice quizzes to determine your current level of familiarity with tropes and schemes.
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In addition to being able to identify and discuss tropes and schemes, another important skill is for you to be able to analyze the tone of a piece. The following page includes a list of tone words to jumpstart your thinking about tone.
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Useful Links for Studying Rhetoric:
American Rhetoric.com is authored by Michael E. Eidenmueller, a professor of Speech Communications at the University of Texas at Tyler. His comprehensive website is even recommended on the AP English Teacher page.
A List of Fallacious Arguments provides an alphabetical list of multiple fallacies that speakers use when arguing. Don Lindsay's website is also recommended on the AP English Teacher page.
The website for Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Texas at Austin has two pages which may be helpful when working on your argumentative paper: the writing assignments section of this page delineates types of essays college freshmen in a rhetoric course might be expected to write, and the rhetorical sources section contains a useful list of links for your perusal. Additionally, this is very credible information because the contact person is John Ruszkiewicz, who co-authored Everything's an Argument with Andrea Lunsford.
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The website Rhetoric and Composition is really rather advanced for our purposes, but skimming around may help you develop a stronger foundation for the nuances of rhetoric. This site is very comprehensive and has several links which seem useful.
See if you can locate any tropes and schemes in President George W. Bush's speech to the nation from September 11, 2001. |
Applying your skills:
You will be asked to analyze rhetoric and utilize rhetoric, both on the AP exam and in this class. Your opportunities to analyze rhetoric will come mainly in the form of in-class essays, explaining how the author used rhetorical or literary strategies to make a point. Your opportunities to utilize rhetoric will occur both in-class and out-of-class. During our unit on Argumentation, you will be asked to write an extended out-of-class paper on a topic of your choice.
Updated 8/19/06.
