Students in Dr. Nicole Pfannenstiel’s summer 2025 writing seminar crafted blog posts exploring Rhetoric & Composition. Over the next several weeks, we will share their work in this space to bring visibility to their posts and offer a variety of perspectives on pertinent topics within Rhetoric & Composition. These posts are written by graduate students currently in the MA and M.Ed. English programs.
Rhetoric and Composition: Two Sides of the Same Coin
By: Renée Curtis
With Rhetoric and Composition, Rhetoric is the theory, tools, and practices whereas Composition is how those aspects are applied and structured together – typically in writing. Together, Rhetoric and Compositions studies are the rhetorical theories and practices that are applied to create a final product through structured techniques. Here, they are defined both separately and in combination as there is a long debate on if they belong together or exist as completely separate entities.
The article (aptly titled) Rhetoric and (?) Composition does discuss how people can possible view them as separate entities entirely, naturally intertwined, or a bit of both, and suggests the reason behind this discrepancy is that “Different views on the relationship between ‘rhetoric’ and ‘composition’ arise in part from different understandings of what each term refers to” (Horder & Lu 2009). Because both Rhetoric and Composition encompass many theories and practices with overlap, it is not surprising they can be considered fundamentally different to one person and intertwined by another. Because of this, it might be more accurate to describe Rhetoric and Composition with the metaphor of it being two sides of the same coin.
This discrepancy could also be due to just how much Rhetoric and Composition studies have changed over time. In the 19th century, there was a huge shift in ideas and teaching of rhetoric, particularly in North America – from oral rhetoric to the rhetoric of writing, from theoretical to practical, from argumentative to multimodal. (Connors 1997). If that is the case with Rhetorical practices and theories, Composition practices and theories would also change in like.
Despite their differences, “(most people would agree) at the intersection of the art of persuasion (or ‘rhetoric’) and the process of writing (or ‘composition’)” (Lynn, 2010). They are inherently connected despite being somewhat separate. In fact, other scholars note that “composition’s historical beginnings [is] in ancient rhetoric” (Farris 2003). Composition does not exist without rhetoric it seems, even in how it came to be. Rhetoric seems to be the cause, and Composition seems to be the effect in this sense.
In Rhetoric and Composition: An Introduction, Steven Lynn says it best that Rhetoric and Composition (noting specifically that he describes Rhetoric and Composition together as one entity) “is a field that extends into every aspect of communication, from the beginning of learning to the end of life” (Lynn, 2010). Although some might see Rhetoric and Composition as fields of their own, what good is rhetoric without Composition? And how can one compose without Rhetoric? Like building a wooden house, someone may be in a forest and have all the tools they need, but without any understanding of the function of the tools they cannot build the house, and if they do know how the tools work but if they do not know what a house looks like or how it is structured, they likely will not end up with something resembling a house.
While they technically exist as independent fields from each other, together, Rhetoric and Composition are the theories and practices of language and persuasion paired with and strengthened from the theories and practices of effective writing, including the process of writing itself, to create well developed, intentional, and influential products.
Resources to Review
Lynn, S. (2010). Rhetoric and composition: An introduction. Cambridge University
Press.
Horner, B., & Lu, M. Z. (2009). Rhetoric and (?) Composition. In The SAGE Handbook of
Rhetorical Studies (pp. 293-315). SAGE Publications, Inc..
Connors, R. (1997). Composition-rhetoric: Backgrounds, theory, and pedagogy (Vol.
163). University of Pittsburgh Pre.
Uchmanowicz, P. (1993). The History of Rhetoric and Composition as Cultural Studies.
Farris, C. (2003). Where Rhetoric Meets the Road: First-Year Composition.
Enculturation, 5(1).