ComS 168 Approaches to Rhetorical Criticism

Required Course Texts:

Foss, Sonja. Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice, 2nd ed. Waveland Press, 1996. (Available at Hornet Bookstore)

Course packet available at Copy Central ( 925 Howe Ave. between Computer Warehouse and La Bou; phone 641-5535. I recommend you call ahead with your order. )


Recommended Text:

MLA Style Manual, 3rd ed. (Available at Hornet Bookstore)


Collateral E-texts:

On-line and Searchable version of Gospel of John  from The holy Bible, Revised Standard version
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/RsvJohn.html
 Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library

If you wish to search the text, use this URL: http://etext.virginia.edu/rsv.browse.html


You may also use any of these on-line versions of Aristotle's Rhetoric:
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/index.html
This is an online version of Aristotle's Rhetoric . These hypertext pages are based on the 1954 translation of noted
classical scholar W. Rhys Roberts obtained in ASCII text format from Virginia Tech's gopher site of online literary
works in the public domain. Provides a useful table of contents for all three books of the Rhetoric. This site now has
a useful search engine to assist you with finding specific concepts discussed in the Rhetoric.  Note: The
Rhetoric has been divided by section numbers rather than pages so you can find the same sections in any translation
to compare uses of words; this is called the Bekker Index.  When you cite the Rhetoric, be sure you include the Bekker number, e.g. 1358a.  (If you go to 1358a, you will find that the section begins, "We have now described the sources of those means of persuasion which are popularly supposed to be demonstrative.")

OR

http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.html
This site from MIT contains the same translation of the Rhetoric as that listed above.  While it does not include the
hypertext links as the Iowa State site, it does permit a relatively quick down load of the Rhetoric you can print out.

OR

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
The Perseus Project is an evolving digital library of resources for the study of the ancient world.  Gregory Crane is
the Editor-in-Chief of the project, hosted and supported by Tufts University. This version of the Rhetoric includes
hypertext footnotes. This is a very useful site since you can search texts for specific uses of key rhetorical terms!

Directions for searching Perseus  I recommend printing these directions for easy reference. (The example will be related to Aristotle's Rhetoric)

Once you are at the Perseus front page, look for "Tools" (just under the editor's name) and click "Tools"

At the Perseus Table of Contents, in the box, "Change selected items to:" change "Collection" to "Greek and Roman Materials"; scroll down the page to "English Index" and click it.

This will take you to a search page. Change the collection from "any collection" to "Greek and Roman materials" and BE SURE TO CLICK "ADVANCED OPTIONS"

On the next page, change collection to "Greek and Roman materials" and from the menu below it, scroll down to Aristotle, Rhetoric and click it so it is highlighted. Now, in the search field, type the word you are searching for. Try "proof" (no quotation marks needed).


Your results page will begin like this:

40 results in 1 collection

40 from Greek and Roman Materials

          1.Aristotle, Rhetoric section 1418b
             So much concerning proofs. (2.58)

The first line is the Bekker Index address for the section of the Rhetoric where the quote was found. The sentence below it, "So much concerning proofs" is the specific usage of the word in the section. This provides both specific examples of how a particular word or concept was used, and it places each in context.


For Insight in Analysis of Visual Communication try:

Studying Visual Communication by Sol Worth. Edited, with an Introduction, by Larry Gross, 1981
This book was first published by:
University of Pennsylvania Press
3933 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
It is now out of print.

This virtual version is being published with the permission of Tobia Worth and Larry Gross
by the Graduate Association of Visual Anthropologists at Temple University.
Copyright ©1981 by Tobia L. Worth