“[P]racticing scientists are only a fraction of those who contribute to what science is. The other contributors are not just those people who use science more or less as scientists intend, such as technologists, physicians, and policymakers. [Rhetorical studies of science] also takes seriously the rest of the population who consume science by reading The Tao of Physics, watching “Tomorrow’s World,” and eating fat-free muffins.” —Steve Fuller, The Philosophy of Science and Technology Studies
As Steve Fuller suggests above, science, technology, and medicine are each part of a vastly complex cultural enterprise which extends far beyond what is done in the laboratory or what happens in scientific journal articles. Scientists, technologists, doctors, patients, regulators, policy makers, journalists, and the general public each interact with and participate in technical, scientific, and medical discourses in a wide variety of ways. This course examines the role of debate and argument both within scientific communities and in the larger contexts that surround those communities. More specifically, students will explore 1) the modes of communication which facilitate successful collaboration between scientific disciplines, 2) different styles of argument in science-policy debates, and 3) the discourses of scientific ideology and their impacts on the general public.
In investigating these questions, we will explore a series of case studies in the rhetorics of physics, genetics, and medicine. In so doing, we will also address long-standing questions in rhetorical studies of science, technology, and medicine and explore how scholars of rhetoric can contribute to interdisciplinary Science, Technology, and Medicine Studies.
History and Theory of Rhetoric I: Classical Rhetoric
Aristotle famously defined rhetoric as “”the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” While this is certainly not the only definition of rhetoric, it helps to identify the broad aims of the discipline which is devoted to the study and practice of effective persuasion and argumentation. In order to help students gain a firm grounding in contemporary rhetorical studies, this course will explore the origin of Western rhetorical theory in Ancient Greece and Rome. Students will be introduced to the writings of the earliest rhetoricians including Gorgias, Protagoras, Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian. Furthermore, students will explore how and to what extent these ideas introduced 2500 years ago are still relevant both for contemporary rhetorical theory and for modern civic life. Students will have the opportunity to explore the utility of Classical rhetorical analysis for the study of contemporary politics and pop culture.
Up Coming Courses (Spring Term 2012)
Methods for Rhetorical Criticism
Rhetorical studies is devoted to the exploration of effective means of communication and persuasion. These investigations are often grounded in the study of specific moments of communication and the contexts that surround them. Rhetorical inquiry uses a wide variety of research methods ranging from humanistic and critical/cultural analysis to social scientific approaches such as ethnography and qualitative data analysis. Students in English 229 will have the opportunity to explore and practice a broad range of methodological approaches to rhetorical criticism. Along the way, students will also investigate issues in the philosophical foundation of rhetorical research and the ethics of representation.
History and Theory of Rhetoric II: The Later Years
Rhetorical studies is devoted to the exploration of effective means of communication and persuasion. As part of the effort to help students gain a solid foundation in contemporary rhetorical studies, this course explores the history of rhetoric (and related theory) from Medieval times through the mid Twentieth-century. Students will explore the role of rhetoric in religious oratory, enlightenment-era science, and the industrial revolution. Further, students will learn about the challenges to Classical rhetoric brought forth by New Historicist and Poststructural philosophies and investigate what those challenges might mean for contemporary civic life and disenfranchised peoples.
English 311 will alternate between exploring these historical theories in their original contexts and investigating each theory’s role in contemporary rhetorical studies, politics, economics, science, and pop culture.
Selected Past Courses
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:
to describe a text’s discursive location and how that text works in it, and
to describe a discursive location and how a text could work in it.
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.
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:
Rhetorical analysis and awareness
Communication processes (including development, revision, and distribution)
Written, oral, and visual information design
Social, political, and ethical issues in biological communication
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.
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:
Rhetorical analysis and awareness
Communication processes (including development, revision, and distribution)
Written, oral, and visual information design
Social, political, and ethical issues in science and applied sciences communication
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.
Teaching
Current Courses
Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine
As Steve Fuller suggests above, science, technology, and medicine are each part of a vastly complex cultural enterprise which extends far beyond what is done in the laboratory or what happens in scientific journal articles. Scientists, technologists, doctors, patients, regulators, policy makers, journalists, and the general public each interact with and participate in technical, scientific, and medical discourses in a wide variety of ways. This course examines the role of debate and argument both within scientific communities and in the larger contexts that surround those communities. More specifically, students will explore 1) the modes of communication which facilitate successful collaboration between scientific disciplines, 2) different styles of argument in science-policy debates, and 3) the discourses of scientific ideology and their impacts on the general public.
In investigating these questions, we will explore a series of case studies in the rhetorics of physics, genetics, and medicine. In so doing, we will also address long-standing questions in rhetorical studies of science, technology, and medicine and explore how scholars of rhetoric can contribute to interdisciplinary Science, Technology, and Medicine Studies.
Sample syllabus (.pdf)
History and Theory of Rhetoric I: Classical Rhetoric
Aristotle famously defined rhetoric as “”the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” While this is certainly not the only definition of rhetoric, it helps to identify the broad aims of the discipline which is devoted to the study and practice of effective persuasion and argumentation. In order to help students gain a firm grounding in contemporary rhetorical studies, this course will explore the origin of Western rhetorical theory in Ancient Greece and Rome. Students will be introduced to the writings of the earliest rhetoricians including Gorgias, Protagoras, Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian. Furthermore, students will explore how and to what extent these ideas introduced 2500 years ago are still relevant both for contemporary rhetorical theory and for modern civic life. Students will have the opportunity to explore the utility of Classical rhetorical analysis for the study of contemporary politics and pop culture.
Up Coming Courses (Spring Term 2012)
Methods for Rhetorical Criticism
Rhetorical studies is devoted to the exploration of effective means of communication and persuasion. These investigations are often grounded in the study of specific moments of communication and the contexts that surround them. Rhetorical inquiry uses a wide variety of research methods ranging from humanistic and critical/cultural analysis to social scientific approaches such as ethnography and qualitative data analysis. Students in English 229 will have the opportunity to explore and practice a broad range of methodological approaches to rhetorical criticism. Along the way, students will also investigate issues in the philosophical foundation of rhetorical research and the ethics of representation.
History and Theory of Rhetoric II: The Later Years
Rhetorical studies is devoted to the exploration of effective means of communication and persuasion. As part of the effort to help students gain a solid foundation in contemporary rhetorical studies, this course explores the history of rhetoric (and related theory) from Medieval times through the mid Twentieth-century. Students will explore the role of rhetoric in religious oratory, enlightenment-era science, and the industrial revolution. Further, students will learn about the challenges to Classical rhetoric brought forth by New Historicist and Poststructural philosophies and investigate what those challenges might mean for contemporary civic life and disenfranchised peoples.
English 311 will alternate between exploring these historical theories in their original contexts and investigating each theory’s role in contemporary rhetorical studies, politics, economics, science, and pop culture.
Selected Past Courses
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