The IBC-Why Model: Juggling structure and rhetorical theory in the first-year composition classroom

This thesis addresses the issue of structure in the composition classroom. In particular, it looks at the history of the five-paragraph essay and the scholarly debate that has surrounded it for more than fifty years. By doing a stasis analysis, the author discovers that scholars have been talking past each other at the level of definition. Based on this finding, the author proposes the development of a new organizational model—the Introduction-Body-Conclusion (IBC) model—by which student can improve their understanding of structure across genres. In addition, by applying the IBC model to the Composition 101 program at the University of Tennessee, the author demonstrates how the IBC model can assist with transfer between genres, including multimodal genres. It does this by acting as a baseline by which students can compare both the similarities and differences among genres.