Rhetoric and Composition
Rhetoric and Composition tests how writers analyze audience and purpose, build arguments, select evidence, organize ideas, revise prose, and conduct and cite research. The exam favors practical rhetorical analysis over label memorization.
Core rules and concepts
- Rhetorical situation: exigence (the problem prompting discourse), audience, purpose, and constraints shape every choice.
- Appeals: ethos establishes credibility and character; pathos engages emotion and values; logos uses reasoning and evidence. A single sentence can blend appeals.
- Argument structure: use the Toulmin model-claim, evidence, warrant, qualifier, rebuttal. A warrant explains why evidence supports the claim.
- Fallacies: watch for ad hominem, straw man, false dilemma, slippery slope, post hoc, hasty generalization, and circular reasoning.
- Cohesion and coherence: topic sentences, transitions, pronoun reference, parallelism, and consistent terms help readers follow ideas.
- Research ethics: paraphrase, summarize, and quote accurately; cite sources; avoid patchwriting.
Worked example
“My opponent’s plan will raise taxes, and besides, he inherited his money.” The inheritance detail attacks the speaker’s circumstances rather than the plan, so it is an ad hominem (circumstantial) fallacy. The tax claim may be arguable, but the second clause supplies irrelevant character evidence and should be removed or replaced with evidence about fiscal impact.
Traps that cost marks
Labeling any emotional language as pathos even when it functions as evidence; treating passive voice as always wrong; confusing paraphrase with close copying; writing a thesis that is a fact rather than an arguable claim; ignoring the warrant behind quoted evidence.