Elizabeth Britt
Professor of English
Beth Britt is a rhetorical theorist and critic whose research focuses on legal rhetoric. She is currently working on two projects: a study of 19th century legal education as rhetorical education and a study of intervention programs for domestic abusers.
Professor Britt teaches undergraduate courses in writing and rhetoric, including “Introduction to Rhetoric,” “Writing for Prelaw,” “Rhetoric of Law,” and “Style and Editing.” At the graduate level, she has recently taught courses in rhetorical theory, rhetorical education, and law & the humanities.
- Faculty Fellow, Northeastern University Humanities Center, 2018-19.
- Excellence in Teaching Award. Northeastern University, 2007.
- Predoctoral Grant. Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, 1995-96.
- Reimagining Advocacy: Rhetorical Education in the Legal Clinic. RSA Series in Transdisciplinary Rhetoric. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018.
- “Listening Rhetorically to Defending Our Lives: Identification and Advocacy in Intimate Partner Abuse.” Law, Culture and the Humanities 10:1 (2014): 155-178.
- “Dangerous Deliberation: Subjective Probability and Rhetorical Democracy in the Jury Room.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 39:2 (2009): 103-123.
- “Rhetoric and Ethnography.” The International Encyclopedia of Communication. Vol. IX. Ed. Wolfgang Donsbach. Oxford, UK, and Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.
- “The Rhetorical Work of Institutions.” Critical Power Tools: Cultural Studies and Technical Communication. Ed. J. Blake Scott, Bernadette Longo, and Katherine V. Wills. Albany: SUNY P, 2006. 133-150.
- Conceiving Normalcy: Rhetoric, Law, and the Double Binds of Infertility. Inaugural volume of the Series in Rhetoric, Culture, and Social Critique. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P. August 2001.
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Education
PhD in Rhetoric and Communication, 1997, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
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Contact
617.373.5170 e.britt@northeastern.edu -
Address
409 Holmes Hall
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115 -
Office Hours
Tuesdays 3:30-5pm (ENGW 3325) and Thursdays 3:30pm (ENGW 7360)
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Associations
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Advanced Writing for Prelaw
ENGW 3311
Introduces students to legal reasoning and to the contexts, purposes, genres, audiences, and styles of legal writing. Emphasizes the role of writing and argument in U.S. legal culture. Using strategies drawn from rhetorical theory and criticism, students examine briefs, memoranda, opinions, and other legal texts to identify and describe techniques of analysis and persuasion. In a workshop setting, offers students an opportunity to evaluate a wide variety of sources and develop expertise in audience analysis, critical research, peer review, and revision.
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First-Year Writing
ENGW 1111
Designed for students to study and practice writing in a workshop setting. Students read a range of texts in order to describe and evaluate the choices writers make and apply that knowledge to their own writing and explore how writing functions in a range of academic, professional, and public contexts. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to conduct research using primary and secondary sources; how to write for various purposes and audiences in multiple genres and media; and how to give and receive feedback, to revise their work, and to reflect on their growth as writers.
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Introduction to Rhetoric
ENGL 1160
Introduces students to major concepts, traditions, and issues in rhetorical studies. Explores the range of ways that people persuade others to change their minds or take action; the relationship among language, truth, and knowledge; and the role of language in shaping identity and culture. Focuses on recognized thinkers from the Western tradition as well as writers that challenge the rhetorical canon. Emphasizes contemporary and interdisciplinary approaches to rhetoric interested in the entire range of rhetorical artifacts, with primary attention given to methods of critically investigating texts and their effects.
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Style and Editing
ENGL 2710
Explores the relationship between style and substance through close attention to choices made at the level of the paragraph, sentence, and word. Introduces editorial processes and practices and gives students practice in editing for themselves and others.
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Topics in Rhetoric
ENGL 7360
Focuses on specialized topics in rhetoric, such as visual rhetoric, rhetorical criticism, rhetoric of science, issues in contemporary rhetorical theory, and rhetoric and cultural studies.
Rhetoric of Law
ENGL 3325
Introduces students to the persuasive work of legal texts, procedures, and institutions. Investigates the range of critical approaches to the study of law and rhetoric, as well as the implications of understanding law as rhetorical. Draws on texts produced by lawyers and judges, classical rhetoricians, contemporary rhetorical critics, and legal scholars.
