[S]ome of the rhetorical moves Winans makes, I contend, are doing particularly notable work, with a focus toward image prepare—the preemptive use of image-building strategies against anticipated attacks.

JOSH COMPTON

Image prepare is the idea that a rhetor can preemptively use conventional image repair strategies to protect image against future attacks. One place we might find image prepare strategies is in a book’s preface, which usually introduces a book’s arguments and establishes a book’s tone. In this present analysis, the preface to James Winans’ Speechmaking— an influential early text on public speaking—is analyzed from the perspective of image repair, with special attention to image building strategies used at the start of the book. Implications for introductory strategies, in general, are considered—strategies that might be at play in public speeches and other forms of communication.

Compton, J. (2020). Conversation starter: Image prepare, preemptive image repair, and inoculation theory in the preface to Winans’ (1938) Speech-making. The Forensic, 105(2), 3-9.

Full-text link:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/366123610_Conversation_starter_Image_prepare_preemptive_image_repair_and_inoculation_theory_in_the_preface_to_Winans%27_1938_Speech-making