Preparing for argument sessions

In weeks when we will be culminating our study of the various moves, prepare one to two page arguments that elaborate some insight that you have into the move from your reading. These short arguments will make excellent trial-arguments for your major project. In general, these arguments will probably be of four types:

• Exigesis. Take a passage from something you have read and explicate it. Set its context. Explain its importance. Ponder its implications.
• Opening a text. Sometimes there are texts that perplex you. They require extra work on your part to figure out. After that extra effort, explicate what you figured out.
• Expanding a theory. Typically, contemporary rhetorical theories lay out a perspective or an orientation. These are then applied to common problems in rhetorical inquiry and ultimately to rhetorical artifacts. Make one of these applications. Perhaps, for example, you want to consider the implications of rhetorical subjectivity on thinking about the possibilities of the internet.
• S/he is wrong/right! Sometimes you are moved to doubt or to enthusiasm. Develop those synapses into an argument. Why is Burke wrong about . . .? Why is hooks right about . . .?
  

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