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Courses and Teaching

Rhetorical Analysis

“Rhetorical analysis” and "rhetorical criticism" are concepts involving a wide variety of meanings and methods. Despite this wide range of meanings and methods, most rhetorical analysis seems to have two primary goals:

That is, rhetorical analysis helps one analyze how any given piece of communication (a text) fits within a continuing conversation and how that text is trying to affect that conversation and its participants. Rhetorical analysis can also be used to analyze a situation (a conversation) in order to help one prepare to enter into that conversation effectively. At its core, this second form of rhetorical analysis involves the first. One must analyze the existing texts of a conversation in order to participate effectively.

After the introductory week, the course is divided into three primary phases: classical/neoclassical analysis, the challenge of new media, and exteriority and ideology. During Phase I, students explore and practice several approaches to situating and analyzing texts and conversations—within the framework of the classical/neoclassical tradition. Students explore a brief history of situational heuristics from Aristotle to the present. Furthermore students explore how specific textual elements perform work within each text as a whole. They explore the roles of arrangement, argumentation, and style and their effects on persuasion and the broader conversation. During Phase II, students explore and evaluate challenges to traditional situational and textual analyses that come from the advent of new media. Specifically they explore the impact of medium on argumentation and the effects of visual tropes and figures. Finally, during Phase III, students explore the cultural work performed by texts. They discuss, explore, and practice evaluating how texts and argumentation strategies articulate with broader cultural themes and ideologies.
Sample Syllabus (.pdf)

Biological Communication

The primary purpose of Biological communication is to teach students effective writing and communication methods in the biological sciences, presentation of research data, methods of bibliographic citation, ethical communication, use of oral and visual presentation methods for biological information, manuscript and report preparation. Though the primary emphasis will be on academic writing, BioComm is designed not only to help prepare students to communicate technical information to their biologically-knowledgeable peers, but also to managers, clients, and coworkers who may not understand the ramifications of the data itself. This necessarily involves an appreciation of not only the technical information, but also the rhetorical (communicative), social, political, and ethical issues at work in technical communication. It is the role of this class to help students explore how to communicate the technical information of their discipline with a much greater awareness of these issues. To that end, English 312 will help students study four primary areas:

To help develop these areas, students will read about and produce an assortment of academic and technical documents. Additionally, students will explore how communication issues were involved in prominent scientific or technical cases in the biological sciences and related fields. Each of the cases I select help explore three overarching issues in science and applied science communication: 1) inter-discourse community communication, 2) science in public policy, and 3) science in activism.
Sample Syllabus (.pdf)

Technical Communication

The technical communication course at Iowa State is a service course designed to teach science and applied science majors how to communicate technical information more effectively. This in mind, my TechComm course is designed to help prepare students to communicate that technical information not only to their technically-knowledgeable peers, but also to managers, clients, and coworkers who may not understand the ramifications of the technical data itself. This necessarily involves an appreciation of not only the technical information, but also the rhetorical situation and generic requirements, as well as the social, political, and ethical issues at work in technical communication. To these ends, I have designed my course to help students study four primary areas:

To help students develop these areas, I have developed a fusion of the genre-based and case-based approach to technical communication education. Students practice technical communication through the development and deployment of six to seven technical genes and explore rhetorical, social, political, and ethical issues through three cases provided by me in addition to cases chosen by the students. Each of the cases I select help explore three overarching issues in science and applied science communication: 1) inter-discourse community communication, 2) science in public policy, and 3) science in activism.
Sample e-syllabus


Business Communication

Business Communication is designed to help facilitate students' entrance into the business world. The course's primary purpose is to help students develop the skills to communicate effectively in business and industry. During the course students practice communicating in a variety of traditional business genres and media. They work towards developing facility analyzing business communication and business communication contexts. Students practice responding to those contexts through deploying traditional business communication genres. Students practice creating documents with effective and ethical visual design and data displays. Additionally the course explores contemporary ethical issues in business communication such as the impacts of globalization and environmental regulation. At the completion of the course students should:


Foundations Communication

Foundations communication is divided into two courses: English, Communicaitons and Critical thinking in the first year, and Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Communication in the second. The purpose of the foundations course sequence is to prepare students for communicating well within their academic courses, as well as in their future career. While most of the course will be devoted to writing, students also participate in small group discussions, interviewing others, analyzing and creating visual communication, and learning how to compose professional email correspondence. By the end of the course, students should be able to do the following:

Sample e-syllabus