The following activities introduce students to basic rhetorical concepts useful in professional writing contexts.

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Activities

Audience BINGO

This in-class activity asks students to consider and articulate how audience analysis manifests in their Introductory Email to a Mentor. The activity is formatted like a game of BINGO, in which students try to be the first to “check off” their BINGO boxes in a strategic orientation (i.e., diagonally, horizontally, vertically).

Introduction to Rhetoric Lesson and Quiz

This online lesson builds students’ basic understanding of rhetoric, addressing questions such as “What is rhetoric?” and “Why is rhetoric important—both in our daily lives and in professional writing?,” among others. Not only does this background on rhetoric help students better understand, relate to, and contextualize BTW 250’s SLOs, but it also aids their understanding of “effective” communication in the business sphere.

Kairos and Exigence Lesson and Quiz

This online lesson builds upon students’ understanding of rhetorical situations by introducing the terms “kairos” and “exigence.” Students learn what these terms are and how they relate to rhetorical effectiveness, and they are asked to conceptualize how they (should) affect the writing process in both day-to-day and professional scenarios.

Rhetoric in Bad News Letters

This in-class lesson plan helps students develop a critical understanding of the rhetorical appeals—ethos, pathos, and logos—as applied in business genres, particularly letters/emails. This lesson uses a variety of textual samples—from letters/emails to scholarly research papers to online blogs—to guide students’ investigation, thereby ensuring the post-course application of rhetorical skills.

Rhetorical Situation Analysis Activity

This activity asks students to analyze varied rhetorical situations (i.e., determining author, audience, purpose, setting) present within several provided texts. This structured analysis prepares students to navigate rhetorical situations that they will encounter in future BTW assignments, particularly those whose designs hinge upon audience and purpose. Furthermore, the activity asks students to engage in increasingly complex and comparative rhetorical analyses, based upon provided analytic prompts.

Visual Analysis Lesson

This in-person lesson uses a series of example-based lectures, discussions, and analytic activities to introduce students to visual analysis in professional “texts.” Students learn and practice using an analytic framework to guide their visual analysis of various still and moving visuals, according to the acronym, “OPTIC” (Overview, Parts, Title, Interrelationships, and Conclusion).