DS1364 Rhetoric - the Art of Persuasion 7.5 credits

The greater part of course time is devoted to oral activities, but writing is also an important component.

The course deals with the following:

• rhetorical strategies, patterns, and structures
• basis concepts of rhetoric
• rhetorical figures
• adaptation to the audience and audience contact
• stage fright
• textual and sentential structure
• connections between written and spoken rhetoric.

Oral tasks:

• a five-minute individual descriptive presentation on a general topic
• a fifteen-minute individual persuasive presentation on a topic related to the student’s programme
• an oral rhetorical debate on a controversial topic
• a three-minute off-the-cuff speech on one random topic out of a number of given topics.

Written tasks:

• two descriptions intended for two different non-experts of a complicated issue in technology or science.
• an argumentative text
• a short speech analysis.

Procedures: response and process writing are used. Students receive a response to their presentations and written texts from both fellow-students and the teacher. Students will work both individually and in groups.

After completing the course students will

• be able to speak to an audience in a well-formulated, structures, and persuasive way.
• be familiar with the most common figures and argumentation strategies of classical rhetoric and be able to use them both in speech and in writing.
• be able to adapt the content, structure, and register of spoken and written texts to their type, purpose, and recipients.
• be able to analyse both classic and modern texts, written and spoken, in terms of their rhetoric and argumentative technique.
• be able to express themselves orally and in writing in formal, clear, concise, correct Swedish.
• be able to work with oral and written composition as a process; give and take constructive criticism and make use of it in revision and improvement of speeches and texts.

General entrance requirements for university studies, i e completed upper secondary schooling.

Applicants should at least have C1 level of proficiency in Swedish according to the European Common Reference Levels.

Retorik – konsten att övertyga, kompendium

Textens hantverk. Om retorik och skrivande, Inger Lindstedt, Lund: Studentlitteratur

Konsten att tala, Lennart Hellspong, Lund: Studentlitteratur

If the course is discontinued, students may request to be examined during the following two academic years.

• TEN1 - Written Assignments, 3.0 credits, grading scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F
• TEN2 - Oral Presentation, 4.5 credits, grading scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

75% attendance. Oral and written examinations (TEN1; 3 credits and TEN2; 4,5 credits)

Richard Nordberg

• All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
• In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
• In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

The course has limited participation. Students who are not present at course start risk losing their place on the course.

The course programme may be subject to changes and courses with an insufficient number of students can be cancelled or get a reduced number of lessons.