ENG 5028 - FALL 2026 - BARAJAS

This course focuses on the history of the field and the theories that inform rhetorical studies in the 20th and early 21st centuries. The course moves students chronologically and topically through representative selections in the field’s scholarship (namely, many of the selections that the FSU Rhetoric & Composition Program requires for the doctoral qualifying exam in this area). The course assumes the following as central concerns in the study of rhetoric as a phenomenon: the nature of rhetoric, authorship, audience, epistemology, discourse, and context.

Course requirements include extensive reading of foundational texts; engaging in synchronous and asynchronous group discussions; leading discussions on class reading selections; completing a take-home mid-term exam; and composing a final project that demonstrates awareness of the reaches of rhetorical theory.