Rhetoric (RHE) Courses

RHE-101 Public Speaking

This course covers the fundamentals of rhetoric composition and delivery. Students research, compose, and deliver informative and persuasive speeches, and they lead a small group of their peers in a deliberative discussion. In addition, students learn and employ introductory principles of reasoning, argumentation, and rhetorical criticism. Finally, they analyze the videotape recordings of their speeches and learn to use electronic media in public presentations.
Prerequisites: none
Credit: 1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-140 Argumentation & Debate

This course applies the principles of debate theory and practice to argumentation in the political and legal realms. Students will learn valid forms of reasoning and argumentation, common fallacies, argument analysis, clash, and rebuttal and how to apply this knowledge in the debate format. Students also participate in parliamentary debate and moot court simulations as mechanisms for learning foundational skills in oral argumentation. When possible, students will attend a live oral argument by the Indiana Court of Appeals or another appellate court. This course is typically offered in the spring semester.
Prerequisites: none
Credit: 1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-187 Independent Study/Lang Studies

Individual research projects. The manner of study will be determined by the student in consultation with the instructor. Students must receive written approval of their project proposal from a department Chair before registering for the course.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-188 Independent Study/Lit Fine Art

Individual research projects. The manner of study will be determined by the student in consultation with the instructor. Students must receive written approval of their project proposal from a department Chair before registering for the course.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts

RHE-190 Spec. Topics: Language Studies

Refer to the Course Descriptions document on the Registrar's webpage for topics and descriptions of current offerings.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-201 Reasoning & Advocacy

This course focuses on the process of constructing, analyzing, and evaluating public arguments. This is a foundational rhetoric course because it focuses on the development and application of knowledge in critical thinking, argument analysis, reasoning, and advocacy. It emphasizes the nature and role of communication in public discussions and decision making. The course highlights the adaptation of logic and reasoning to human action in a democratic society. The class examines public argument in a variety of forms such as political debates, speeches, and editorials, Supreme Court decisions, advertising, and popular culture. Judicial argument is examined in the form of Supreme Court decisions. Finally, social argument is examined through an investigation of selected examples from popular culture. The course serves the purpose of exposing non-majors to the fundamentals of rhetoric and communication. It also prepares Rhetoric majors and minors for more advanced courses such as Classical Rhetoric and Contemporary Rhetorical Theory and Criticism. This course is typically offered in the fall semester.
Prerequisites: none
Credit: 1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-220 Persuasion

Students study the theory and practice of persuasion as part of decision making in a free society. The focus is on the individual's role as both persuadee and persuader with an examination of how to be critical, observant, responsible and ethical with regard to persuasive messages. The course examines persuasive language, propaganda, persuasive campaigns, and social movements. Students critically examine a variety of persuasive texts and participate in a campaign simulation.
Prerequisites: none
Credit: 1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-270 Special Topics Lit/Fine Arts

Refer to the Course Descriptions document on the Registrar's webpage for topics and descriptions of current offerings.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts

RHE-287 Independent Study/Lang Studies

Individual research projects. The manner of study will be determined by the student in consultation with the instructor. Students must receive written approval of their project proposal from a department Chair before registering for the course.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-288 Independent Study/Lit Fine Art

Individual research projects. The manner of study will be determined by the student in consultation with the instructor. Students must receive written approval of their project proposal from a department Chair before registering for the course.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts

RHE-290 Spec. Topics: Language Studies

Refer to the Course Descriptions document on the Registrar's webpage for topics and descriptions of current offerings.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-320 Classical Rhetoric

This course focuses on the origin and development of rhetoric and rhetorical theory during the classical period. The course begins in the pre disciplinary stage of Homer and the Sophists and examines such works as Homer's Iliad, Gorgias' Encomium of Helen, and Isocrates' Antidosis. The course then moves to Plato's Gorgias and Phaedrus and the "disciplinizing" efforts of Aristotle (On Rhetoric). Finally, the course examines the efforts of Cicero (On Invention, Orator, and On the Orator), Quintilian (Institutes of Oratory), and Augustine (On Christian Doctrine) to reunite philosophy and rhetoric and include ethics within the realm of rhetoric. Students learn how rhetorical theories are generated out of the specific needs of particular political and social contexts. In addition, students examine the influence of literacy on human interaction and the study of rhetoric in particular. Finally, students trace the relationship between rhetoric and philosophy from pre-Platonic unity, through Plato's bifurcation, and finally to the attempts at reunification by Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian.
Prerequisites: none
Credit: 1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts
Equated Courses: CLA-220

RHE-350 Contemp Rhetorical Theory & Criticism

Contemporary studies in rhetoric have broadened the conception of rhetoric beyond a narrow focus on public address to include the study of all symbols-verbal, audio, and visual-in diverse media. No longer simply interested in questions of persuasive effectiveness, contemporary rhetorical studies examine the role symbols can play in constructing or reflecting such elements as ideology, motive, and gender. This writing-intensive course highlights the growing complexity of the field by helping students to understand, use, and evaluate several of the most well-known theories and methods of rhetoric. In the process, students will learn how to interpret artifacts in several different ways and even to generate and apply their own rhetorical method. Consequently, the class is a methodological precursor to the senior project and should, ideally, be taken during the junior year. This course is typically offered in the fall semester.
Prerequisites: FRT-101
Credit: 1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts

RHE-360 Gender & Communication

As a culture, we often we take gender for granted. Yet, we live in a culture where men and women are molded and shaped by communicative practices and mass-mediated representations that generate our ideals of masculinity and femininity. This class examines this process-providing a platform for students to reflect upon gender formation and develop a theoretical vocabulary for describing this process. By the end of the semester, class participants will develop a more sophisticated understanding of the manner in which gendered messages and practices have shaped perceptions of their symbolic universe.
Prerequisites: none
Credit: 1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts

RHE-370 Special Topics: Lit/Fine Arts

Refer to the Course Descriptions document on the Registrar's webpage for topics and descriptions of current offerings.
Prerequisites: FRT-101
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts

RHE-375 Legal Rhetoric

Legal Rhetoric examines the ways in which the legal sphere exerts social control and power through an exploration of the forms and function of rhetoric in shaping the law. Working from the belief that a legal ruling is the beginning, rather than the end, of the social life of the law, the course is also concerned with the social repercussions that result from Court decisions. Beginning with an examination of the classical connections between rhetorical theory and the practice of law, the course proceeds to discuss approximately a dozen significant Supreme Court cases and subsequent rhetorical analyses of these decisions. Students will develop an essay and presentation concerning the background and social importance of one of the cases under study. Additionally, students will engage in a semester-long project that culminates in an extensive rhetorical analysis on a case of their own choosing.
Prerequisites: none
Credit: 1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts

RHE-387 Independent Study/Lang Studies

Individual research projects. The manner of study will be determined by the student in consultation with the instructor. Students must receive written approval of their project proposal from a department Chair before registering for the course.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-388 Independent Study/Lit Fine Art

Individual research projects. The manner of study will be determined by the student in consultation with the instructor. Students must receive written approval of their project proposal from a department Chair before registering for the course.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts

RHE-390 Special Topics/Lang Studies

Refer to the Course Descriptions document on the Registrar's webpage for topics and descriptions of current offerings.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-487 Independent Study/Lang Studies

Individual research projects. The manner of study will be determined by the student in consultation with the instructor. Students must receive written approval of their project proposal from a department Chair before registering for the course.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Language Studies

RHE-488 Independent Study/Lit Fine Art

Individual research projects. The manner of study will be determined by the student in consultation with the instructor. Students must receive written approval of their project proposal from a department Chair before registering for the course.
Prerequisites: none
Credits: 0.5-1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts

RHE-497 Senior Seminar

The Senior Seminar is a capstone course for rhetoric majors. Rhetoric majors conduct an original and extended research project in a sub-area of the field. In the process, they read and discuss relevant texts and journal articles as a class. The course covers procedures for conducting each of the components of the project (i.e., discovery and refinement of a research question, selection of appropriate materials for study, selection of an appropriate method, literature review of appropriate scholarship, the analysis itself, and the preparation of the manuscript). This course also provides senior majors a forum for the investigation and discussion of the ethical issues and responsibilities they have as communicators. This course is offered in the fall semester. Prerequisites: Students are encouraged to take RHE 320 and 350 prior to taking 497.
Prerequisites: none
Credit: 1
Distribution: Literature/Fine Arts