This book divides into three parts. Part I describes, defines and illustrates the Socratic method in a sequence of six lesson plans that explain how to engage students in the Socratic method of teaching and learning as a crucial prelude to writing. These lesson plans also enable teacher and student to develop the skills of independent, reflective, and critical thinking. Part II focuses on the basic question of rhetoric: why do we write? The primary assumption is that writing is a means to creating meaning. Its consequence is the need to share that meaning with an audience. Part III defines, illustrates, and applies the eleven basic strategies of development in a series of formal essays viewed as follow-ups to Socratic seminars. In short, the ultimate goal of College Rhetoric is to develop the skillful use of language, oral and written, that provokes thinking and may even change behavior--your own or others.