ABSTRACT
The field of rhetoric and composition in Western culture is one that dates back to antiquity. Aristotle and Plato, whose works are still read today, were among the first rhetoricians to look systematically at all we do when we compose. Stop and think for a minute about how you write. No, not just dotting “i”s and crossing “t”s or turning a sentence inside out so that you do not end it with a preposition. Think instead of all you do when you write. Find a topic and start generating some thoughts about it, perhaps testing them out on paper or with a friend. Wonder if your audience is going to like or understand it. Figure out a structure that can contain your ideas and communicate them. Trot off to the library to search for sources and worry about how to incorporate them into your paper. Enter a draft into a computer if you are lucky enough to have one. Revise, rethink, review the paper. Try to identify something that seems wrong even though you cannot quite put your finger on it. Ask a friend to read it and give you feedback. Enter it again into the computer and look it over one last time to try to catch all those words you seem to misspell in English ever since you took French. Turn it in and hope for the best.
