Rhetorical Analysis of Inventing the University

Kylie Thompson

ENG 1001-025

Rhetorical Analysis- Rough Draft 1

10 February 2020

Rhetorical Analysis of Inventing the University

            Throughout Inventing the University, David Bartholomae shares his thoughts on how students are expected to know how to write for the university and speak the language and jargon of college professors (Bartholomae). Lots of problems occur when this happens because most students have yet to master this. Students are given a variety of topics to write about and a lot of the time they don’t know much about the subject, therefore they have to invent for the university. Bartholomae analyzes three different essays written by basic writers and points out the common mistakes that they make. Bartholomae quotes Linda Flower’s thoughts on student writers and how students should be taught. She states that the difficulty inexperienced writers have is the transition from writer based to reader based. Experts are able to put themselves in the readers shoes and picture how they’ll react to the writing. Both Bartholomae and Flower argue that students would be more successful if they were taught to write and revise for the readers. Teachers and students would also benefit if the community’s conventions were clearly written out and taught in the classrooms (Bartholomae). Bartholomae claims that students need more creativity when writing and use he or she’s own commonplace instead of trying to please the university with the academic lingo. Doing so will encourage our student writers to take on authority, draw their own conclusions, define their own commonplace, be creative, and most importantly succeed in their academic writing. There was a very specific reason for Bartholomae to take the time to write this article.

Purpose/Audience

            I believe that reason was to not only inform, but to persuade us readers. Bartholomae specifically targets University English professors and explains to them why students aren’t succeeding in their academic writing. Bartholomae writes, “Every time a student sits down to write for us, he has to invent the university for the occasion-invent the university..” (4).  Bartholomae is claiming that students do not have the freedom to write what they want, they have to conform to university jargon and mimic their language. Students are unable to meet such high standards and end up failing in the process. Bartholomae goes on to persuade English professors to begin teaching us students to keep the reader in mind while writing. Doing so will better help them understand how the reader will respond to the text. Bartholomae does a great job of clearly defining his purpose and audience to us. Bartholomae targets one main issue/topic throughout his article.

Content Analysis

            That main issue is that college students are struggling to write for the university thus leading them to failure. Bartholomae claims, “Every time a student sits down to write for us, he has to invent the university for the occasion-invent the university..” (4). He analyzes three essays written by basic writers and points out common mistakes they make. However, they cannot take all of the blame. Linda Flower argues that the difficulty basic writers have is keeping the readers in mind and putting themselves in the writers shoes. (Bartholomae 8). Most students have yet to master or even learn this skill when writing and that is why they fail. Bartholomae goes on to give advice on how to improve students writing. He makes clear the importance of audience awareness, finding a common place, and taking on privilege and authority while writing.

Organization, Language, Style

I believe Bartholomae used a classical and deductive structure while writing Inventing the University. Bartholomae introduces the main issue in the very first sentence, “Every time a student sits down to write for us, he has to invent the university for the occasion-invent the university, that is, or a branch of it, like History or Anthropology or Economics or English” (4). For the rest of the article, Bartholomae goes on to prove why this is the case and why it causes problems with students’ writing. Bartholomae writes in a very serious and authoritative tone. Bartholomae is very direct especially when it comes to his thoughts about university discourse. While reading this article, I did struggle a bit on comprehension due to some of  Bartholomae’s advanced and tricky wording. Overall, I thought this was an interesting and informing read.

Evidence

Bartholomae does a great job of using both ethos and logos throughout his article. Bartholomae not only gives his own insight but uses facts and examples to verify his claim. One example of Bartholomae’s use of ethos is when he quotes Linda Flower. He writes, “Teaching students to revise for readers, then, will better prepare them to write initially with a reader in mind” (Bartholomae 8). Bartholomae is increasing the credibility in this essay by using Linda Flower’s professional advice that she has gained from years of writing. Bartholomae points out that the author of the jazz essay uses a commonplace within their article. He then goes on to define commonplace and when it should be used (Bartholomae 14). The logos appeal is being used here because one is able to verify if this definition of commonplace is indeed correct. Bartholomae relies on his own assertion when he says, “I think that all writers, in order to write, must imagine for themselves the privilege of being ‘insiders’” (10). Bartholomae is giving his own opinion here, one that cannot be backed up with evidence. Overall, Bartholomae presents his evidence in a very clear and descriptive manner throughout his article.

Overall Assessment

            While examining this publication I learned a lot of helpful tips when it comes to the proper way of writing. Bartholomae writes, “I think that all writers, in order to write, must imagine for themselves the privilege of being “insiders” -that is, of being both inside an established and powerful discourse, and of being granted a  special right to speak” (10). He also writes, “To speak with authority student writers have not only to speak in another’s voice but through another’s ‘code’” (Bartholomae 17). These are just two of the many tips Bartholomae gives to student writers throughout this publication. Bartholomae’s intention in writing this publication is to not only address the issues when it comes to students properly writing for a university, but to also encourage our young writers to find their own niche and way of writing. After reading this essay, I feel encouraged and hopeful that more English professors will take on Bartholomae’s teaching styles.

Conclusion

            This essay really hits home for college students, including myself. We’re under so much pressure to perform well for the University and are unable to express ourselves within our writing. I can say that it is very difficult to write an essay for college without having a boatload of restrictions and guidelines. Though this is the case, I will always refer back to this article when writing future papers.

Works Cited

Bartholomae, David. “Inventing the University.” Writing on the Margins, 2005, pp. 60–85., doi:10.1007/978-1-4039-8439-5_4.