un.

becoming human
History of Rhetoric 2 | Spring 2019



“‘What is rhetoric?’ […] ‘The art of never finally answering that question’ […] [but] even if rhetoric is the art of never finally answering the
question, "What is rhetoric?" this art would necessarily include all attempts to finally answer that question.


-John Muckelbauer, “Returns of the Question”

Elaboration Project1
750-1,000 (2,000-2,500) words or the equivalent
Due: March 2 & April 20

This assignment provides an opportunity to closely examine one concept that has emerged in our Annotations
and MicroResponse assignments. You are encouraged to use any of the class’s writings as your own, including
those of your classmates. If you build on/through any of our previous work, please include a brief citation at
the document’s end that notes whose work you adopted, adapted, and/or extended.

The purpose of this assignment is to:

• Reflect on prior course work

• Explore a concept in-depth
• Establish a foundation for final project 


Successful assignments will focus on a single concept and make an interesting claim about that concept’s
relations to our understanding of rhetoric. 


This means, you should select a single concept (theme, figure, idea) that we have discussed in the course readings
and compose an elaborated response for that concept. Identify a theme, make an arguable claim about that
theme, and support that claim with citation from our texts and/or models and examples you may find in history
or popular culture. One way to do this is by writing a traditional essay. 


These assignments may also divert from the traditional essay. You are welcome to use different media (audio,
visual, video) and/or alternative genres (podcast, dialogue, poster, short video trailer, etc). If you want to go this
route, have a quick discussion with me, so I can advise you on feasibility. 


1 Assignments developed and composed by Casey Boyle at UT Austin.

Nathaniel Rivers | English 4030/5030