Rhetoric is a term with multiple meanings that people debate throughout time, but one thing everybody agrees about it is that it involves persuasion. Our Founder, Dr. Bobby, defines rhetoric as “Anything that persuades you to think, act, or feel a certain way” and he uses that definition specifically because “a certain way” does not mean: my way, your way, right way, or wrong way.

Rhetoric is unlike any other area in English studies because its strength is in its ability to be flexible about which topics are considered valid. Rhetors (people who study rhetoric) answer “How” questions instead of “What” questions.

For example, literary scholars approach texts with “What” questions such as: What about this character? What about that scene? What about this time period? Rhetors approach those same interests with “How” questions instead: How does the writer make you feel about that character? How does that scene work? or How does this time period influence the text?