Abstract
Digital technologies have opened new avenues for the visual presentation of evidence and arguments in scientific communication, but at the same time they have raised debates about the epistemological power of visual persuasion and the difficulties in creating and reproducing rhetorically useful images. Assembling Arguments addresses these problems by developing a framework for a multimodal rhetoric of science, which it applies to give a detailed account of the multimodal construction of scientific argument in five case studies. Given the increasing importance of multimodality in scientific knowledge-making, this framework is of great use in interpreting specialised argumentation and in improving science-writing instruction.
The main strength of the book lies in the framework for a multimodal rhetoric of science presented in Chapter 2, which accounts for the rhetorical processes of the conception, assembly and circulation of arguments in relation to affordances and constraints that derive from perception and thinking (e.g. common lines of argument), physical structures (e.g. space) and interactions among people (e.g. values). By conception, Buehl refers to the initial stage of rhetorical performance: the gathering and organising of arguments and their material and intertextual support. Assembly, in turn, is the fixing of these resources as an artefact that takes into account the values, conventions and positions of a particular audience. Finally, circulation is the process by which this artefact reaches readers and the understanding and reshaping in which they engage.
Buehl critically reviews cognitive, social semiotic and rhetorical approaches that underpin multimodal meaning-making and argues that earlier frameworks, which are not easily adaptable for teaching purposes, ‘isolate image and text when analysing multimodal artefacts’ (p. 18). Therefore, the need for a syncretic model that can be adapted to pedagogy is emphasised. The analysis of multimodal argumentation is based on four conceptual frames: first, the New Rhetoric as an agreement-oriented approach to argumentation that depends on agreements about the real (acts) and the preferable (values); second, a multimodal interpretation of rhetorical figures as concerned with the process of shaping and managing relations between authors and readers influenced by the effects of rhetorical figures; third, a social semiotic approach to visual grammar in which the meanings of visual modes, shaped through symbols and structures, represent a particular social relation between authors and readers; and fourth, a multimodal reading of the Burkean notion of ‘terministic screen’, that is, a screen that promotes certain multimodal arguments at the expense of others by using instruments in new ways and labelling them.
The presentation of this framework is followed by five case studies that illustrate how scientists construct multimodal arguments in scientific writing. The first shows how a visual account of X-ray behaviour provided a visual narrative of the experiments and verification of the characteristics of X-rays in a diffraction study. In the second case study, on plate tectonics, Buehl illustrates how only the addition of new semiotic layers onto previous versions of magnetic maps (e.g. marking specific faults with lines and time-coding magnetic features with colour) led the argument explaining continental drift to become effective. The third case study discusses how scientific images convinced audiences that the ‘twilight zone’ was real, while the fourth addresses the ethical challenges of scientific rhetoric in the Photoshop era, in which visual evidence can be fabricated. Buehl argues that it is necessary to broaden the ethics conversation beyond the avoidance of image manipulation. The final case study extends the discussion to videos in multimodal scientific argumentation. Buehl finds an increasing use of videos to create multimodal arguments in research articles in Science and Nature journals between 1996 and 2008. Although videos enhance the rhetorical presence of arguments through the representation of evidence or elaboration of still images, they pose problems due to the ‘concentrated attention’ (p. 213) of the camera lenses and a significant investment of time by researchers.
The author also makes important contributions to the study of multimodal rhetoric by presenting its pedagogical implications for scientific writing courses and writing-intensive science courses in Chapter 14. Buehl recommends teaching students to create visual artefacts ethically, to develop new arguments by repurposing existing artefacts, to create multimodal arguments with textual and non-textual elements and to critique multimodal argumentation. For instance, students may examine multimodal assets of scientific arguments and assess their efficacy and ethics with appropriate scaffolding. A set of questions about content, aesthetics, design and the values of the producer and audience are provided to guide teaching practices for multimodal argumentation.
Overall, the book makes valuable theoretical and methodological contributions to the study of multimodal rhetoric by presenting a new comprehensive analytical framework that accounts for interactions across modalities and presents important pedagogical implications for teaching practices. Case studies provide an exemplary reference for other researchers who would like to further explore the rhetoric of science and visual rhetoric, since they give transparent descriptions of the research steps taken and fine-grained analyses of multimodal argumentation. However, some of the case studies may be difficult to understand for readers who have limited knowledge about these scientific disciplines, as Buehl’s analysis involves detailed examination of the field-specific knowledge that underlies them. An overall summation of the methodological implications of the case studies would also have been beneficial. Nevertheless, this book is a valuable resource for both researchers interested in multimodal argumentation in academic discourse and instructors of composition and academic writing courses.