Communication Criticism: Approaches and Genres

This text is written for the beginning rhetorical critic, at the junior/senior level. The goal of the text is to help the beginner become a fully functioning critic who understands theory and can apply it to a variety of different rhetorical acts. Students are first taught a process and then provided five approaches to doing criticism. This book introduces five genres: public speaking, films, television, popular song, and humor. Suggestions for doing criticism in each genre are presented within the framework of different critical approaches. The genre chapters are unique to this book.