English 301: Rhetorical Conventions
What the @#*%! is Writing and Rhetorical Conventions?
The main focus of English 301 is arrrgument. Instead of just getting angry (like Huebert over there), just getting happy, or just getting motivated to do something about it, this course is designed to teach you to articulate how arguments are constructued--how they get you to feel or act in a certain way. And it is designed to get you to be able to elicit such responses.
It is designed to continue developing the writing skills you have already gained during your university career. The course aims to improve your ability to see and negotiate different writing situations you will encounter in future classes and work environments. The course does not aim to show you a universal standard for good writing. Instead, it will provide you with skills that will enable you to judge writing situations rhetorically—through, for instance, audience analysis, word choice, and arrrgument structure. More specifically, it will provide you with skills for understanding and constructing arguments. You will learn a number of techniques through which you can persuade an audience and you will create documents that reflect an understanding of these techniques.
Learning to adapt your writing to different situations will be accomplished through a number of writing assignments asking you to rhetorically navigate through different writing genres and communicate successfully. The course does not focus entirely on writing, however, in the sense of typing or handwriting. You will also learn how visual rhetoric affects communication; you’ll learn how to compose effective visual documents and give effective presentations. And since composing any type of text is never a solitary activity, we will practice and learn the importance of negotiating interpersonal communications for a collaborative project and for peer review.
Course Goals
To become and show you are rhetoricians through the following.
Abstract
You will be able
To enter different contexts and practice active and critical learning—learning how to situate the meanings of words, images, symbols, and artifacts in the environment you enter—and prepare for future learning.
To successfully create documents in which you demonstrate an understanding that meaning/knowledge is dispersed in that you, the writer, are sharing it with others outside of your domain/discipline—some of whom you may never see face-to-face.
To recognize rhetorical patterns in all arguments, including arguments not based on Western methods of organization.
To understand and practice multimodality with savvy—meaning and knowledge are not conveyed solely through the printed word they are conveyed through images, texts, symbols, and interactions.
Concrete
You will demonstrate your learning by
Composing a variety of documents that reflect your knowledge of rhetoric by applying terms and concepts covered in class to these documents.
Researching and when using this research upholding the ethics of academic writing by fairly representing, incorporating, and citing sources.
Analyzing your own patterns of writing and those of your peers by writing multiple drafts, reflections of your process, and participate in peer review.
Responding to a number of readings by questioning them, affirming them, refuting them and complicating them in a blog.
Course Reading
Always bring the required readings to class along with your magazine.
1. Essentials of Argument by Nancy V. Wood.
2. A Writer's Resource by Elaine P. Maimon, Janice H. Peritz, and Kathleen Blake Yancey.
3. A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, 2nd edition by Richard A. Lanham.
4. A magazine from this LIST.
5. Any handouts provided or located on the course website.
Policies
Attendance
Since we will be working collaboratively on many assignments, and since learning is a communal effort, your regular attendance is vital. If you miss more than four classes, you will receive an “F” for the course.
If you are tardy for class and I or your classmate has begun a lecture or presentation, you will be given an absence. Please schedule your tardiness in advance. And since some things come up unexpectedly, please remember you have three absences to account for these unexpected happenings.
Quizzes can be made up if you have an excused absence on the day of the quiz.
Late Work
Here is the deal: You can turn in one assignment one week late. This assignment cannot be a presentation and must be an individual project. You must email me on or before the due date and announce to me that this is the assignment you will turn in one week late. Otherwise, late work is not accepted. The porfolio is exempt from this policy.
Cellular telephones and Laptops
Cellular phones are banned forthwith from our classroom. If you do sneak one in and it rings or you engage in a cellular coversation, then you will be given a warning. The second time will result in an absence.
Laptops are allowed for taking notes and class discussion related searches. They are not for random surfing no matter how uninterested you might be.
Cellular phone exception: If an iPhone does ring during class, you are exempt from the above rule for two occurances as long as you allow me to use it for five minutes.
Students with Disabilities
I am committed to providing assistance to help you be successful in this course. Reasonable accommodations are available for students with a documented disability. Please visit the Disability Resource Center (DRC) during the first two weeks of every semester to seek information or to qualify for accommodations. All accommodations MUST be approved through the DRC (Admin Annex Bldg, Rooms 205). Call 509-335-3417 to make an appointment with a disability counselor.
@#*%! Academic Dishonesty
Plagiarism is not tolerated in any form. You will fail the course if you commit plagiarism knowingly or unknowingly. Please come to my office if you have any questions about citing sources.
WSU has developed helpful resources on plagiarism which identifies two types of plagiarism:
° Intentional plagiarism (i.e. cheating), “where one knowingly appropriates the work of others and passes it off as their own.”
° Unintentional plagiarism (i.e. misuse of sources), which includes “accidental appropriation of the ideas and materials of others due to a lack of understanding of the conventions of citation and documentation.”
See the following sites for more information on the university’s treatment of plagiarism:
Library Instruction Services
Office of Student Conduct
