(Re)Constructing Arguments: Classical Rhetoric and Roman Engineering Reflected in Vitruvius' De Architectura    

Augustus is often described as the emperor who transformed Rome from a city of brick to a city of marble. When he returned victorious to Rome in BCE 29, Augustus embarked on a project to rebuild Rome with the splendor its new imperial status demanded. Despite the tranquility and prosperity enjoyed by most Romans during the Early Empire, many also felt a sense of loss. Much had changed in their social order at the end of the Republic. The nobility and the lower classes began to share more interests and Roman society took on a more egalitarian and commercial nature. Under Emperor Augustus, the function of rhetoric was stripped from legislative arenas and confined mainly to legal courts and ceremonial competitions. In the spirit of renewed patriotism and pragmatism, principles of rhetoric were also applied to writing about technical subjects, such as engineering and architecture. Both Vitruvius and Cicero used his writing to persuade Roman citizens to reclaim their heritage: of building arts in Vitruvius case; of philosophy and meaningful public oratory in Cicero s case.

Longo, Bernadette. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2000). Articles>Rhetoric>History>Italy

Re: Writing

A collection of online resources affiliated with Bedford/St. Martin's writing and rhetoric textbooks.

Bedford-St. Martin's. Resources>Education>Rhetoric>Writing

Re-Examine Your Skills And Incorporate New Ideas To Keep Fresh

Anyone who has ever sat in an audience knows it's all too easy to watch a presentation and come away with – not much. The problem might be the content, or perhaps the technology used, but most likely the fault lies with the presenter. Although all speakers strive for brilliance, it's all too easy to be seen as dull or arrogant. So how does one avoid these labels when presenting? By continually looking for ways to change your presentation style. This is not always easy, since frequent presenters eventually develop a style that works for them in just about any setting. But it never hurts to re-analyze your skills and incorporate new ideas to keep fresh and in touch with your audience. Here are a few suggestions to consider when your style needs some dusting off.

Bingham, Chris. Presentations (2002). Articles>Presentations>Rhetoric

Reading Darwin, Reading Nature; or, On the Ethos of Historical Science  

Darwin must be read and reread, interpreted and reinterpreted. We find this attention to a body of work that is well over a hundred years old to be highly unusual and worth investigating.

Miller, Carolyn R. and S. Michael Halloran. North Carolina State University (1993). Articles>Scientific Communication>History>Rhetoric

Reading Minds: The Book as a Communicational Space (Practice + Pedagogy)  

Book designers research, compile and interpret information that helps them to determine the various formal attributes of the book. What size should it be? What format should it have? What should be the approach to the cover design, the typography, and the structure of the layout? The selected attributes may make certain impressions, on the potential reader, about the nature of the content. These impressions are interpretations of meaning which may create expectations about the character of the book, its content and style of writing. In other words, the formal attributes give the book a certain 'visual identity' which is intended to represent to the reading public, in a carefully selected visual language, the 'essence' of the author’s work.

Colberg, Susan. University of Alberta (2003). Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric

Reading Online Text: A Comparison of Four White Space Layouts

In this study, reading performance with four white space layouts was compared. Margins surrounding the text and leading (space between lines) were manipulated to generate the four white space conditions. Results show that the use of margins affected both reading speed and comprehension in that participants read the Margin text slower, but comprehended more than the No Margin text. Participants were also generally more satisfied with the text with margins. Leading was not shown to impact reading performance but did influence overall user preference.

Chaparro, Barbara S., J. Ryan Baker, A. Dawn Shaikh, Spring S. Hull and Laurie Brady. Usability News (2004). Design>Web Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric

Reading Your Audience  

Discusses ways that public speakers can adjust to the body language and visual cues of their audiences.

Walinskas, Karl. Intercom (2001). Articles>Rhetoric>Presentations

Reality TV Meets Presentation Fears: A Shrinkrapp

It is important to focus on one’s thoughts when approaching presentations. Often these thoughts can be based on myths: widely held beliefs that just are not true.

Lee, Scott. Presenters University (2003). Articles>Presentations>Rhetoric

Reconsidering the Role of Plain Style in Technical Writing

According to the technical writing textbook used in the Introductory to Technical Writing class I teach, there are two purposes and at least five audiences of technical documents. Yet students are taught only one style of writing to satisfy all writing situations: the plain style. This essay examines the history and current state of plain style's role in technical writing. It further discusses plain style's relation to rhetorical and instrumental approaches to technical communication, and finally offers writing teachers a new approach to plain style and instrumental language in technical writing.

Campbell, Jill. Orange Journal, The (2002). Articles>Rhetoric>Writing

Reetori

A directory of links to resources in rhetoric and technical communication.

Nuopponen, Anita. Vaasan Yliopisto. (Finnish) Resources>Directories>Rhetoric

Reflections on an Icon Development Process: Negotiating Design Issues  

Technical communicators with visual design skills increasingly are called upon to help design of the 'look and feel' of software interfaces, including icons and toolbar buttons. Several practitioners in technical communication have developed useful guides for developing icons and toolbar buttons. Unfortunately, sometimes the application of these guidelines is complicated by issues that arise within the contexts of specific software development environments. This paper briefly reviews research and guidelines. It then reviews issues that might arise during the development process and guidelines for negotiating them based on the author’s experiences developing icons at two different software firms.

Hunt, Kevin. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Graphic Design>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric

Rehearsal

Procrastination can be productive.

Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric

The Relevance of Feenberg's Critical Theory of Technology to Critical Visual Literacy: The Case of Scientific and Technical Illustrations    

Andrew Feenberg's critical theory of technology is an underutilized, relatively unknown resource in technical communication which could be exploited not only for its potential clarification of large social issues that involve our discipline, but also specifically toward the development of a critical theory of illustrations. Applications of critical theory help strengthen our discipline by forcing us to delineate extant approaches and consider whether democratic goals are being achieved through those approaches. If a critical theory of illustrations can be built from Feenberg's critical theory of technology, it should be useful for classroom instructors and researchers as well as theorists.

Northcut, Kathryn M. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>Visual Rhetoric>Technical Illustration

Rendering Technical Communication: Toward a First Philosophy of First Principles  

This presentation examines a tension—common to students, practitioners, and academics—central to answering some form of the question ‘what is technical communication?’ The tension can arise in the attempt to provide a concise yet sufficient answer that embodies the variety of either the skills used in preparing technical communication, or the types of technical communication produced. Principles of classical rhetoric are useful in examining this communicative tension, and the role of first principles in technical communication is scrutinized. From this the formulation of a first philosophy of first principles is attempted toward addressing the popular communicative tension.

Stone, Ronald L. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>TC>Rhetoric

Renforcer sa Crédibilité

Sur Internet, n'importe qui est en mesure d'éditer plus ou moins n'importe quoi. Dans certains secteurs, la crédibilité du contenu prend une importance particulièrement centrale.

Redaction (2004). Design>Web Design>Rhetoric

Repeat

Repetition works in stories, but only if you intend it. The repetition of key words, phrases, and story elements creates a rhythm, a pace, a structure, a drumbeat that reinforces the central theme of the work.

Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric

Research-Based Guidelines For Visual Interface Design  

Whether it is for a help system, a multimedia training product, or a software application, there are two key elements needed for good screen design: knowledge of the applicable research, and the ability to balance aesthetic appeal with functionality. This paper focuses on research into the specific human factors that affect how users interact with the visual display of information, and provides guidelines for how to apply the research results. The author adds information from his own interface design and usability testing experiences at Microsoft.

Prekeges, James G. STC Proceedings (1994). Presentations>User Interface>Multimedia>Visual Rhetoric

Resources for Teaching and Working with the Visual Aspects of Texts

An online guide that explains color theory and shows how to use it in design through examples and exercises.

Poynter Institute, The (2001). Articles>Education>Visual Rhetoric>Color

Resume Design

This handout offers advice making informed design choices in creating a resume. We also have a sample resume that uses these design principles.

Purdue University (2004). Careers>Resumes>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric

Rethinking Genre in School and Society: An Activity Theory Analysis  

This article attempts to expand and elaborate theories of social 'context' and formal schooling, to understand the stakes involved in writing. It first sketches ways Russian activity theory in the tradition of A. N. Leont'ev may expand Bakhtinian dialogism, then elaborates the theory in terms of North American genre research, with examples drawn from research on writing in the disciplines in higher education. By tracing the relations of disciplinary genre systems to educational genre systems, through the boundary of the classroom genre system, the analyst/reformer can construct a model of the interactions of classroom practices with wider social practices. Activity theory analysis of genre systems may offer a theoretical bridge between the sociology of education and Vygotskian social psychology of classroom interaction, and contribute toward resolving the knotty problem of the relation of macro- and microstructure in literacy research based on various social theories of 'context.'

Russell, David R. Written Communication (1997). Articles>Rhetoric>Theory>Rhetoric

Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides

Summary, models, and templates of a new design of slides for technical presentations. This design is fully documented in Chapter 4 of The Craft of Scientific Presentations (Springer, 2003).

Alley, Michael. Penn State University (2004). Articles>Presentations>Information Design>Visual Rhetoric

Retórica Visual

La existencia del lenguaje visual propicia el concepto de y retórica u oratoria visual. Al igual que su contrapartida hablada, la visual tiene sus propias figuras y su forma de utilizarlas.

Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Articles>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric

Reveal Character Traits

Reveal character traits to the reader through scenes, details, and dialogue.

Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Journalism>Rhetoric

Rhetcomp.com

A resource portal for researchers and practitioners of rhetoric and composition.

Levy, Matthew A. Rhetcomp.com (2001). Resources>Writing>Rhetoric

Rhetor

The journal of the Canadian Society for the Study of Rhetoric.

Rhetor. Journals>Rhetoric