Rhetoric of academic applications : Perspectives from Quentin Skinner’s Forensic Shakespeare

Abstract

The tools of classical and Renaissance rhetoric that Quentin Skinner uses in his Forensic Shakespeare (2014) are here applied to a contemporary context. Skinner’s discussion might have a fairly direct value for a genre of writing that most academics today must master, namely the rhetoric of applications. They have been seldom discussed from a rhetorical perspective, although knowledge of rhetoric is highly valuable for applicants, evaluators and those deciding between applications. Skinner’s book contains both advices for applicants and discussions on both the criteria of application and the possibilities of their revisions in case of innovative applications.