Rhetorical training teaches students how to construct logical and evidence-based arguments, as well as how to use rhetorical devices to improve their structure. This training is useful in academic and everyday settings, and can be pursued through activities such as speech and debate clubs or as a major in college.
Rhetorical training is instruction in the conduct and theory of how to express an argument in prose and speech. Such written or oral pieces are also known as rhetoric. Students who receive rhetorical training learn to craft arguments by learning the logical foundations of argument construction and rhetorical devices for improving the underlying structure of an argument. This training helps students express their ideas coherently in debates, academic settings, and everyday conversations.
The word “argument” may have connotations of a heated and bitter disagreement between two or more individuals, but the academic sense of the word does not convey the same idea of conflict. In the academic sense, an argument refers to an individual presenting an idea and the reasons why he believes it to be true. This argument can be written in essays or research papers, or it can be presented orally. Rhetorical training teaches students how to prepare and present these arguments.
Learning logical structures is a fundamental aspect of rhetorical training. By learning the patterns of the ways that different premises can combine to logically support a conclusion, students can construct logically valid arguments. When they learn to support these premises with evidence, students are learning to present arguments that can withstand someone questioning the truth of the premises of their arguments. Students who have undergone rhetorical training can use this knowledge to test the arguments they will face, looking for logical flaws in the ways in which certain premises support conclusions or in the ways in which supporting evidence is true.
While the foundations of logic and evidence are the core of rhetoric, rhetorical training also includes teaching students rhetorical devices that can serve a variety of purposes in an argument. A rhetorical device that helps give an argument a deeper structure is called an antithesis, in which the author includes two seemingly opposing statements in the same sentence to emphasize the contrast between two ideas. Other rhetorical devices, such as alliteration, can help an argument seem more literary to an audience. Alliteration involves the author repeating the same sound at the beginning of words in a sentence.
All students receive a certain amount of rhetorical training in school, whether young or in college. When students learn to write persuasive essays, argumentative essays, or research papers, they are learning the basics of supporting a conclusion with premises and supporting those premises with evidence. Students can choose to pursue additional rhetorical training through activities such as speech and debate clubs or study the subject as a major or minor in college in preparation for graduate school or law school.
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