Rhetorical Arts
Rhetorical Arts fosters articulate expression, critical thinking, and moral reflection, enabling students to engage in written and oral public debate both within and outside of the classroom. Here you will find information about the Rhetorical Arts Instructors and Core sponsored Rhetorical Arts events that engage the larger LMU community.
A note to registering students:
Rhetorical Arts courses follow the same common syllabus, learning outcomes, and assignments (with variation due to individual teaching styles). Varying Rhetorical Arts titles may indicate a difference in the focus of the course, for example, in “RA: Speaking and Writing for Social Justice” students typically choose a social justice topic to research throughout the semester, whereas in “RA: Thinking, Speaking, Writing” research topics may not focus on issues of social justice. Below you will find a few distinctions between Rhetorical Arts titles.
Rhetorical Arts Titles
“Rhetorical Arts” and “RA: Thinking, Speaking, Writing”
The Rhetorical Arts course furthers the development of essential skills in written and oral communication and information literacy. It also provides opportunities for active engagement with essential components of the Jesuit and Marymount educational traditions, including Jesuit Rhetoric, otherwise known as eloquentia perfecta, defined as “the good person writing and speaking well for the common good.”
“RA: Speaking and Writing for Social Justice”
This course follows the description for “Rhetorical Arts” above, but also focuses on issues of social justice, moral discernment, and civic literacy. In this course, students pick a social justice topic to research throughout the semester.
“RA: Speaking and Writing for Social Justice with Community-Based Learning (CBL)”
This course follows the description of “RA: Speaking and Writing for Social Justice” above with a partnership with the Center for Service & Action (CSA). Students will work with Prof. Mansour and choose a local non-profit to volunteer at virtually for a certain amount of hours over the course of the semester. Students will decide upon a social justice topic to study that directly relates to where they're volunteering, and will incorporate their research and service experiences into their speeches, papers, and assignments.
