ORCID Identifier(s)

0000-0002-0581-579X

Graduation Semester and Year

2018

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in English

Department

English

First Advisor

James E Warren

Abstract

While rhetoric as a field of study has existed for several millennia, social media can prove to be a difficult medium to analyze rhetorically. This thesis examines some traditional elements of rhetoric, including the rhetorical triangle as well as the canons of rhetoric, and weaves them together with the narrative paradigm theory, as posited by Walter Fisher in his 1987 book Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy or Reason, Value, and Action. Together, rhetoric and the narrative paradigm provide some useful tools for analyzing the world of social media, helping users to more accurately ascertain the veracity of posting; however, there are some additional themes that arise in an examination of social media that would not likely be considered with either rhetoric or narrative constructs. These themes include: brevity, instant feedback, collectivity, constant self-performance, and audience control. This sort of analysis and equipping can prove useful for social media users but also for students or instructors of composition, as this opens up the opportunity to build bridges between students’ experiences in communication in the digital world and academia.

Keywords

Rhetoric, Narrative paradigm theory, Social media

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | English Language and Literature

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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