Looks at how the best writers of English from the 1600s to the present use punctuation in their nonfiction. Finds three bases for punctuation: intonation, grammar (or syntax), and semantics (or rhetoric). Shows that these authors do not regularly and consistently follow the institutionalized rules. Argues for rhetoric-based punctuation because its…

Considers how a fundamental shift has taken place in the rhetoric of composition studies. Examines the way a given idea, such as postmodernism or theory, becomes an effective force in history. Defines critical interference as the goal to slow (rather than to simply oppose) the process by which postmodernism passes into the common sense of…

Discusses how nearly everyone who talks about morality assumes that it is closely linked to language and especially to public discourse. Suggests that teachers of rhetoric and writing courses must develop models that help students resist naive prescriptions and meet the challenges involved in voicing their views responsibly in a diverse and…

Argues for the inclusion of different kinds of writing and thinking in the classroom that ask students to situate their own experiences with writing in larger social contexts of which they are a part. Includes an in-depth analysis of one student's narratives of writing illustrating how she must think through social issues in order to understand…

Considers how a feminist rhetoric can engage complicated notions of ownership and intellectual property. Discusses issues of ownership in writing classrooms. Explores the professional life of Andrea Abernethy Lunsford at Ohio State University. Notes that Lundsford suggests composition must be re-imagined as a field in which a radical individual is…