University of Minnesota
Department of Writing Studies
612-624-3445
writ@umn.edu


Department of Writing Studies home page.

Preliminary Exam Reading Lists

Rhetorical Theory Reading List (as of Fall 2008)

  1. Gorgias, “Encomium of Helen”
    • Kennedy translation recommended
    • Gorgias. “Encomium of Helen.” In Aristotle. On Rhetoric : A Theory of Civic Discourse. Trans. George A. Kennedy. New York : Oxford University Press, 1991. 251-256.
  2. Isocrates, Against the Sophists
    • Multiple editions available through University Libraries
  3. Isocrates, Antidosis
    • Multiple editions available through University Libraries
  4. Plato, Gorgias
    • Multiple editions available through University Libraries
  5. Plato, Phaedrus
    • Multiple editions available through University Libraries
  6. Aristotle, On Rhetoric
    • Kennedy translation recommended
    • Aristotle. On Rhetoric : A Theory of Civic Discourse. Trans. George A. Kennedy. New York : Oxford University Press, 1991.
  7. Cicero, De Oratore
    • Multiple editions available through University Libraries
  8. Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria (books II, VI, X, and XII)
    • Multiple editions available through University Libraries
  9. Lunsford Andrea, ed. Reclaiming Rhetorica : Women in the Rhetorical Tradition.  Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995.
  10. Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives. New York: New York, Prentice-Hall,1950.
  11. Perelman, Chaim. The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation.  Ed. Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1969.
  12. Foucault, Michel. (choice of monograph most pertinent to student's research).  

  13. Bitzer, Lloyd, "The Rhetorical Situation"
    • Bitzer, Lloyd. "The Rhetorical Situation." Philosophy & Rhetoric 1.1(1968): 1-14.
    • Contemporary Rhetorical Theory : A Reader.  Eds. John Louis Lucaites, Celeste Michelle Condit and Sally Caudill. New York: Guilford Press,1999. 217-225
  14. Scott, Robert, "On Viewing Rhetoric as Epistemic"
    • Scott, Robert. Central States Speech Journal 18 (1967): 9-16.
    • Contemporary Rhetorical Theory : A Reader.  Lucaites John Louis, Celeste Michelle Condit and Sally Caudill, eds. New York: Guilford Press, 1999. 131-139.
  15. Miller, Carolyn.  "Genre as Social Action." Quarterly Journal of Speech 70 (1984): 151-176.

16 through 25 to be determined through negotiation by the advisor, committee, and the student.


Scientific and Technical Communication Research and Theory Reading List (as of Spring 2010)

  1. Berkenkotter, Carol, and Thomas N. Huckin. Genre Knowledge in Disciplinary Communication. Northvale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1995.
  2. Blyler, Nancy, and Charlotte Thralls, eds. Professional communication: The social perspective. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993.
  3. Blyler, Nancy. “Taking a Political Turn: The Critical Perspective and Research in Professional Communication.” Technical Communication Quarterly 7.1 (1998): 33-52.
  4. Clark, G., “Ethics in Technical Communication: A Rhetorical Perspective.” Reprinted in Journal of Computer Documentation 18.3 (1994): 5-10.
  5. Gurak, Laura and Mary Lay, eds.  Research in Technical Communication. Westport, CT : Praeger, 2002.
  6. Harris, Randy, ed.  Landmark Essays on Rhetoric of Science: Case Studies.  Mahwah, N.J. : Hermagoras Press, 1997.
  7. Katz, S. B.  “The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust.” College English 54. 3 (1992): 255-275. 
  8. Latour, Bruno. and Steve Woolgar.  Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts. 2nd ed. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1986.
  9. Longo, Bernadette.  Spurious Coin. Albany : State University of New York Press, 2000.
  10. Marshall, Catherine and Gretchen Rossman.  Designing Qualitative Research. 4th ed. Thousands Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publication, 2006.
  11. MacNealy, Mary Sue.  Strategies for Empirical Research in Writing. Boston : Allyn and Bacon, 1999.
  12. Miller, Carolyn R. “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing.” College English 40.6 (1979):  610-17.
  13. Mirel, Barbara, and Rachel Spilka, eds.  Reshaping Technical Communication: New Directions and Challenges for the 21st Century. Mahwah, NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002.
  14. Haas, Christana, and Stephen Witte. “Writing as embodied practice: The case of engineering standards.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication 15.4 (October, 2001): 413-457.

15 though 25 to be determined through negotiation by the advisor, committee, and the student.

Specialty Area Reading List

All 25 selections to be determined through negotiation by the advisor, committee, and student.  

 

Resources