Grounds for Writers

Preface to Instructors



PART I Establishing the Grounds for Writing: Rhetorical Theory and Critical Frames



Chapter One The Basics of Rhetoric: Author, Audience, and Purpose

Author: Persona, Stance, and Voice

Rhetorical Analysis: Looking at/for the Author

Audience: Creating Community

Rhetorical Analysis: Finding the Audience

Purpose: Arguing to Persuade

Reading for Author, Audience, and Purpose

Rhetorical Analysis: What Does Effective Persuasive Prose Look Like?

Writing Assignments



Chapter Two Rhetorical Uses of Critical Frames

Frames, Lenses, Perspectives

Rhetorical Analysis: Using Frames to Shape Meaning

Rhetorical Uses of Critical Frames

Rhetorical Analysis: Reading for Persuasive Strategies

Reading for Critical Frames and Rhetorical Choices

Writing Assignments



Chapter Three The Rhetorical Use(s) of Conventions

A Rhetorical Approach to Writing Conventions

Rhetorical Analysis: Writing as a Social Situation

Genre, Thesis, Voice

Rhetorical Analysis: Working with Thesis and Voice through Genre

Genre and Organization

Rhetorical Values over Time

Writing Assignments



PART II The Psychoanalytic Frame

Introduction and Historical Origins

Adding to the Conversation

Rhetorical Issues in the Psychoanalytic Frame



Chapter Four Exploring Psychoanalytic Frames

Jerome Kagan and Ernest Havemann, "Introduction to Psychoanalysis"

Sigmund Freud, from Civilization and Its Discontents

Terry Eagleton, "Psychoanalysis"

Writing from a Psychoanalytic Frame: A Sample Drafting Process

Writing Assignments



Chapter Five Critically Reading Case Studies

Jack Schaefer, from Shane

The Brothers Grimm, "Little Red Riding Hood"

"Pygmalion and Galatea"

Roy Richard Grinker, "Pygmalion"

Writing Assignments



Chapter Six Connecting Texts and Audiences

Nancy Mairs, "On Touching by Accident"

Scott H. Decker and Barrik Van Winkle, from Life in the Gang

Jon Krakauer, from Into the Wild

Samantha Power, from A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

Through a Psychoanalytic Frame

Writing Assignments

Writing Projects: Framing and Composing from a Psychoanalytic Perspective



PART III: The Materialist Critique

Introduction: Linking Language, Ideology, and the Real World

Adding to the Conversation

Rhetorical Issues in the Materialist Critique



Chapter Seven Exploring the Materialist Critique

Karl Marx, from Critique of Political Economy



Friedrich Engels, fromConditions of the Working Class in England

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, from The German Ideology

Ignacio Martin-Baro, from Writings for a Liberation Psychology

Richard and Dorothy Wertz, from Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America

Writing from a Materialist Frame: A Sample Drafting Process

Writing Assignments



Chapter Eight Exploring Social Values

Clarence J. Karier, from The Individual, Society and Education

E. D. Hirsch, Jr., from Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know

Jean Anyon, "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work"

Writing Assignments



Chapter Nine Exploring Legal Values

Bruce Catton, from Reflections on the Civil War

Sidney Lens, from The Labor Wars

Through a Materialist Frame

Web Pages: "Three Days of Hell in Los Angeles"

Writing Assignments



Chapter Ten Exploring Corporate Values

Charles A. Reich, from The Greening of America

Neil Postman, from Amusing Ourselves to Death

Thomas de Zengotita, "The Numbing of the American Mind"

Writing Assignments

Writing Projects: Framing and Composing from a Materialist Perspective



PART IV: Working with Postcolonial Frames

Introduction and Historical Origins

Adding to the Conversation

Identifying Rhetorical Issues in Postcolonial Critique



Chapter Eleven Exploring Postcolonial Critique

Hans Bertens, "Postcolonial Studies"

Building the Frame

Aime Cesaire, from Discourse on Colonialism

Building the Frame

David Henry Hwang, Afterword to M. Butterfly

Building the Frame

Writing from a Postcolonial Perspective: A Sample Drafting Process

Writing Assignments



Chapter Twelve Exploring Perceptions of "Others"

Paul Theroux, "Walkabout in Woop Woop"

Through a Postcolonial Frame

Elizabeth Bumiller, "Beyond the Veil: The Women of the Village of

Khajuron"

Through a Postcolonial Frame

Frantz Fanon, from Black Skin, White Masks

Through a Postcolonial Frame

Writing Assignments



Chapter Thirteen Exploring Domestic Colonization

Victor Villanueva, "An American of Color"

Through a Postcolonial Frame

Ann Fadiman, from The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Through a Postcolonial Frame

Jonathan Kozol, from Savage Inequalities

Through a Postcolonial Frame

Writing Assignments



Chapter Fourteen Exploring Resistant Voices and Rhetorical Forms

Gloria Anzaldua, "Towards a New Consciousness"

Through a Postcolonial Frame

Jessica Enoch, "Inscribing Zitkala Sa"

Through a Postcolonial Frame

bell hooks, "Language: Teaching New Worlds/New Words"

Through a Postcolonial Frame

Writing Assignments

Writing Projects: Framing and Composing from a Postcolonial Perspective

PART V: Working with a Semiotic Frame

Introduction and Historical Origins

Adding to the Conversation

Identifying Rhetorical Issues in Semiotics



Chapter Fifteen Exploring Semiotics

Paul Cobley and Litza Jansz, from Introducing Semiotics

Building the Frame

Jack Solomon,"Semiotics: The Science of the Sign"

Building the Frame

Roland Barthes, from Mythologies

Building the Frame

Writing from a Semiotics Frame: A Sample Drafting Process

Writing Assignments



Chapter Sixteen Exploring Cultural Myths

Dominick A. Miserandino, "Anthony Robbins, Anthony-Motivational Speaker and Author"

Through a Semiotics Frame Anonymous, from Comp Tales

Through a Semiotics Frame

Francisco Jimenez, "The Circuit"

Through a Semiotics Frame

Writing Assignments



Chapter Seventeen Exploring Visual Signs

Cultural Texts: A Syllabus; Contract; Brochures

Through a Semiotic Frame Writing Assignments

Writing Projects: Framing and Composing Semiotically



Alternative Table of Contents



WPA Outcomes for First-Year Composition



Glossary of Rhetorical and Critical Terms