Rhetorical Styles

Rhetoric - The art and study of using language effectively and persuasively.Because Rhetorical Styles covers such a wide variety of development styles, it is unlikely that teachers would need all of the content in this area for a single course. However, it could be used in its entirety for overview purposes or if teachers use the styles to teach options for paragraph development. Still, most teachers will use the individual areas on styles as they assign essays that focus on those specific styles.

Activity Ideas for Rhetorical Styles

  • If teachers are using the development styles to teach options for paragraph development, they may want to have students go through each section of the Rhetorical Styles over several days or weeks. Teachers may want to have students skip the “What does it look like?” section of each style if they want students to focus on paragraphs instead of whole essays. Students can then practice writing paragraphs using several styles of development. The “What’s My Assignment” section would provide excellent review.
  • If teachers use the styles as specific essay types, then teachers would simply have students complete the section relevant to their assignment. Once students review the assigned section, teachers can have students use the “What does it look like?” section to help them complete an outline. Students can then submit the outlines for feedback.
  • Teachers interested in helping students make connections across the disciplines can use the sample papers and the analysis of the “moves” embedded in the comments to complete similar activities with different papers that emphasize particular styles of development.

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