Syllabus
English 319: Art of Persuasion
Instructor: Dr. Sarah Allen
Office: Ross 1180A
Email: sarah.allen@unco.edu
Phone: 351-2031
Office hours: M,W, F 12-1 and by appointment
Texts: Bizzell, Academic Discourse and Critical Consciousness; Frankfurt, On Truth; Zinsser, Inventing the Truth; Readings on Blackboard*
*In addition to printing out your reading assignments from Blackboard, you will be making lots of copies throughout the course - of your drafts and your presentation, specifically. Be prepared for this expense and for the extra time you will have to allot for making copies before due dates.
Course Description:
This advanced writing course is designed to help students study and employ rhetorical concepts that will enable them to write persuasively in a variety of contexts and genres. Through the analysis of particular concepts and practices - e.g. ethos and freewriting - articulated in key works in Rhetoric and Composition, we will explore means of persuasion. Said "key works" will span the spectrum of the field - from scholarship that deals exclusively with theoretical/ethical concerns in writing and pedagogy to scholarship that is most interested in classroom/writerly practices. This course will ask you to both analyze the concepts and practices at work in the readings and to think about them and try them out in your own writings. By the end of the semester, I hope you will have a sense of a few of the larger concerns/issues in the field, as well as having a stronger sense of what writing practices and ways of thinking about writing work for you.
Be warned that this is writing-intensive class. I have strict deadlines that must be met in order to make sure the frequent workshops we will be participating in run smoothly. Too, the readings are not necessarily long, but some are very dense. Given these two facts, this is the kind of course where "being a good writer" isn't going to guarantee you a good grade. In order to get a C or above in this course, you must stay on top of the readings, get your work in on time (meeting each assignment's guidelines), and participate in the discussions and workshops. (Note: I've had many students make all A's and B's on their papers but get a C or lower in the course because they failed/missed reading quizzes, were behind on or missed workshops, and/or turned assignments in late). I don't expect genius writing, but I do expect rigorous work. In other words, I expect commitment to the course. And I promise the same in return.
Course Requirements (by Final Grade Breakdown):
ICWs and Class Discussion. 10%. In every class, you will be asked to participate in class discussion and/or to respond to a writing prompt (an In Class Writing). I understand that we have our good days and our bad, but by the end of the first month of the semester, you should feel comfortable enough with me and with your classmates that you can participate in class discussion. You cannot make up ICW and/or class discussion points, if you are absent or late to class; however, if your absence is excused, those points will be excused.
Reflections and Reading Responses. 10%. For many of your reading assignments, I will give you a question to respond to - either in class the day the reading is due or for homework (to be posted on your blog in the latter case). The purpose of these is to help get you thinking about the issues at work in each reading. For each, I will expect a thoughtful response to the question and proof that you closely read the assigned text (usually in the form of references to specifics in the text). Responses will be timed. I will explain these at greater length to you in the beginning of the semester. Again, you won't get credit if they're late.
Workshops and Drafts. 15%. As a writer, drafts of your papers will be critiqued by me and by classmates in a variety of workshopping forums. As a reader, you will be required to respond to drafts from your classmates in these workshops. How well you meet the following requirements for each role (as writer and reader) will constitute this part of your final grade:
You will bring enough copies of the completed draft of the paper (see below for paper length and format info) for me and all your fellow workshoppers on the draft due date. If I ask for copies online - via email or Blackboard or our class blog site - then the same rules apply. I will grade drafts on a 5 point scale, based on how well you meet the criteria of the assignment (including page length, format, copies, proof-reading, etc).
Following the guidelines given for workshop responses, all of us will give a written response to each classmate's draft and will participate in the subsequent workshop (discussion) of each.
Note: I don't take late drafts. Also, if you miss a workshop, you'll need to show me your written responses for each of the papers we workshopped on the day you missed. There is a penalty for late responses and missed workshop discussion.
Papers. 10%, 10%, 15%. After we've completed the workshops for a paper, you will turn your final draft of that paper in to me exactly 1 week from the day we workshopped your draft to be graded. I will provide more information about your papers in Paper Assignments posted on Blackboard.
Presentation. 10%. You will be asked to sign up to present on an assigned reading to the class once during the course of this term.
Your presentation should include a handout, consisting of three parts:
1) a 400-word response to the reading, which engages the reading by pushing us to think about it according to the themes/issues we are discussing in class and beyond what we've already discovered/talked about in the class. Also, this response should in some way set up the other parts of your presentation.
2) 4 discussion questions for the class, which guide us in thinking further about the themes/issues of the reading, of your response, of the course more generally. Be careful to avoid asking personal questions of your peers and to avoid asking questions that have been asked in other presentations.
3) a writing exercise that is somehow "inspired" by the reading. You should take a few minutes to explain (either before the exercise or after we've completed it) how the exercise contributes to or complicates - how it furthers our thinking about - the reading. Feel free to use the writing exercise as a prompt for the discussion questions, if you'd prefer to reverse the order of 2 and 3 here.
You will read your presentation aloud to the class and lead the class in the questions and exercise on your handout. There's no minimum time requirement, but I will cut you off, if we are running out of time (we often do, so please don't worry if we don't get to cover your whole presentation. Of course, you will not be penalized if we don't get to the whole thing that day).
If you are worried about any part of the presentation, bring a draft/outline/idea(s) to me a couple of days before you are to present, and we'll chat about it.
Remember to bring enough copies of your handout for yourself, me, and all of your classmates.
Summaries of Readings. 10%. For particularly dense readings, I will ask you to turn in a 300-word summary of the text in class on the reading due date. These will be graded on a check, check plus, and check minus system.
Eportfolio. 10%. I will expect you to maintain an eportfolio (a fancy blog, of sorts) throughout the course of this semester. In it, you will include the reflections and reading responses I've asked for over the course of the semester, but you should feel free to include other entries, so long as they pertain to issues/questions pertinent to the course. Too, you will post copies of your drafts and final papers for the course there. Ultimately, you should think of it as a space to create a professional, writerly presence online. I hope that you will consider using this space beyond the requirements for this course - say for job interviews, etc. I will explain the logistics of this online space throughout the course. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
A note about how I grade the eportfolio/blog: I will be grading your posts and papers throughout the course of the semester, and those grades will count toward the percentages listed above (e.g. paper grades are figured into the Papers component of your final grade average); however, at the end of the semester - during the exam period - I will assess your eportfolio/blog more holistically, i.e. according to how effectively you've made use of it, as a space for establishing a presence for yourself as a writer.
FYI:
All formal assignments should meet the page length requirement (which will be stated in the individual writing assignment), should be in New Times Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced (unless otherwise noted), and proofread. At the top of the paper you should list your name, the paper assignment, and the word count (if applicable), single-spaced. Then, skip a line; write the title; skip a line, and start your text, like this:
Sarah Allen
Essay 1
WC: 823
(Un)(Re)(Dis)covering Voice
Voice is a term used...
Class Conduct: You must be respectful to me and to your peers. If you make any threat or show any aggression to me or to your peers, I will require that you meet with me before returning to class, and your misconduct will be reported to the proper authorities.
Turn off your cell phones before class starts. Don't come to class late. Or, if you must, let me know ahead of time, and don't cross in front of me or another classmate, if we are talking, when you enter the classroom. If you are disrespectful or disrupt class, you will get one warning from me. After that, your grade will be penalized.
Academic Honesty: The university defines plagiarism as "the act of appropriating the written, artistic, or musical composition of another, or portions thereof; or the ideas, language, or symbols of the same and passing them off as the product of one's own mind. Plagiarism includes not only the exact duplication of another's work, but also the lifting of a substantial or essential portion thereof." See the following website for more information: http://www.unco.edu/dos/honor_code/defining_plagiarism.html
I take plagiarism very seriously. If I suspect that you have committed plagiarism, I will require that you meet with me to discuss it. You will automatically receive a zero for that assignment, and I may fail you for the course and/or submit your case to the proper authorities. Over the course of this semester, I will see *a lot* of your writings. Trust that I will know if the work is not your own. If you are in a time crunch and/or if you are unsure how to cite sources properly, see me asap. Better to be penalized a letter grade for a late paper than to be convicted of plagiarism. No situation warrants you committing such an act.
Disability Support Services: The Office of Disability Support Services has been designated by the University of Northern Colorado as the primary office to guide, counsel, and assist students with disabilities. If you receive services through that office and require accommodations for this class, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible to discuss your approved accommodations. I will hold any information you share with me in strictest confidence unless you give me permission to do otherwise.
If you have not made contact with the Office of Disability Support Services and have reasonable accommodation needs, I will be happy to help you contact them. The office will require appropriate documentation of a disability. The office is located at Harrison Hall 159A , extension 1-2289.
Grade Breakdown
A/95, A-/92, B+/88, B/85, B-/82, C+/78, C/75, C-/72, D/65, F/50