Exam

The purpose of the exam is to ensure that students have an appropriate grasp of relevant concepts so that they can be conversant in rhetoric as a subject. This exam will help students prepare for the MA Exam, and it will make them stronger critical thinkers by asking them to combine knowledge in productive ways to form defensible assertions.

Its format is similar to the MA Exam: students may use annotated course texts (including electronic works) but no other papers, books, or electronic files. Students will be able to compose their responses electronically and use any relevant course texts and notes. (The MA Exam only allows annotated print sources, so students may be better served by using physical works now.) Students will reply to two prompts during a full class period. (This exam gives students a choice of prompts from which to select, unlike the MA Exam.) Replies should be clear and persuasive, making explicit references to course texts through summaries, paraphrases, and/or quotations including page numbers. A separate bibliography is not required.

Students are allowed to compose their responses on their own laptops (laptops also can be checked out from Dr. Tirrell). Alternately, students may write their responses by hand.

The exam encompasses all texts assigned before the test date, which are:

• Classical Rhetoric: Introduction (RT 19–41)
• Gorgias (RT 42–46)
• Anonymous Dissoi Logoi author (RT 47–55)
• Isocrates (RT 67–79)
• Plato (RT 80–168)
• Aristotle (RT 169–240)
• Cicero (RT 283–343)
• Quintilian (RT 359–428)