Course Design: ENG 000-01 Composing Rhetoric Catalogue Description: ENG 000 Composing Rhetoric.

. (3) Development of skills in writing transfer through awareness and analysis, using the evolution of rhetorical voice as an organizing principle.

Theoretical Perspective: If rhetoric is communication that seeks to persuade or create change (Smith 1), then composing rhetoric is writing which demonstrably impacts the thinking and/or behavior of the reader. From providing additional insight into the understanding of a poem to encouraging people to make different personal choices, and from advancing a theoretical argument to calling for sweeping policy changes, rhetoric espouses a point of view and exists for a specific purpose. Composition (the act of composing) is, at its simplest, just writing. Yet, composing, it could be said, involves writing as a deliberate craft; its advancement involves reconstruction of what we already know rather than simply reusing previously acquired skills (Nowacek 25).

What does it mean, you may ask, to study the composition of rhetoric? It is to examine closely the way that written rhetoric is developed, and to practice through writing and revision and rewriting the deliberate craft of it. Just as the conscious development and employment of rhetoric allows for the deconstruction and recontextualization of rhetorical methods (Rounsaville 7), so then might we consciously parse writing technique. Study involves a close reading of theoretical texts (in this course, from the field of writing studies) as well as the dissection and understanding of how professional writers have employed composed rhetoric in their work.

This cued, reflective process while still relatively new as a tool for teaching writing is designed to build a range of skills useful in both your academic career and in the writing you do outside of or after it. It is a major component of your preparation to adapt to existing society and to participate in [its] transformation (Beach 57). Moving from a gate-keeping to a gateopening function (Rounsaville 1), this alternate method of teaching is based on what you could metaphorically describe as weaving compositional rhetoric from the fiber rather than fabric level. It is designed to enable successful acquisition, or learned recognition of significance (Bawarshi 653) in the study of writing, even if a current context may have little or no surface resemblance to prior or presumed future writing experiences.

Course Objectives: Successful engagement in this course and thorough completion of its assignments will result in a heightened awareness of how written rhetoric is crafted. Students will be able to (1) identify rhetorical situations and writing genres they have encountered prior to this course; (2) articulate differences and similarities between those situations/genres and the ones they are asked to negotiate this semester; (3) revise and improve previous writing assignments using new understandings of what it means to compose rhetoric; (4) analyze an assigned reading in rhetoric by examining the methods and strategic choices made by its author; and (5) write two distinct rhetorical papers, successfully employing a recontextualized and enhanced understanding of the writing and revision process required for the composition of rhetoric. In addition to these major papers, other assignments will encourage reflection and analysis of rhetorical writing of the students own work and that of their classmates, as well as the work of writing professionals. Class time will be used for a mix of discussion and brief

lecture, with significant time also devoted to small-group analysis using workshop techniques. Students will also meet one-on-one with the instructor at least once during the writing process for each of the two major papers.

Required Texts and Reading Assignments: Reading for this course will vary widely, with a mix of texts that include mechanics, theory, research, popular science, and memoir. Revising Prose (Richard A. Lanham) Rhetoric and Human Consciousness: a History (Craig R. Smith) Naming Nature: the Clash Between Instinct and Science (Carol Kaesuk Yoon) Life Notes: Personal Writings by Contemporary Black Women (Patricia Bell-Scott, Ed.) Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (Gloria Steinem) Supplemental readings provided on CD: Reiff, Mary Jo, and Anis Bawarshi. Tracing Discursive Resources: How Students Use Prior Genre Knowledge to Negotiate New Writing Contexts in First-Year Composition. Written Communication 28:3 (2011). Rounsaville, Angela. Selecting Genres for Transfer: The Role of Uptake in Students Antecedent Genre Knowledge Composition Forum 26 (Fall 2012).

Writing Assignments: This course will be writing intensive, but the intensity referenced here is an intensity of focus rather than intensity of volume. You may or may not write more than you do in other courses focused on writing, but you will be asked to write more deliberately. You will also be asked to analyze how other writers compose their rhetoric.

(1) Analysis of Recycled Work Choose a persuasive or argumentative paper you have written from a previous course, complete with notes or marked-up copy from the

instructor. Analyze your use of rhetoric in this prior assignment, engaging the definitions encountered in assigned readings and answering the following questions: What were the rhetorical points you tried to make here? Which parts of the paper succeeded? Failed? How can this paper be improved, making it a more successful rhetorical work? Also, engage with the notes or critiques from your instructor on the graded paper: How do these remarks change the way you now view what you originally wrote? Do you agree or disagree with those assessment, and why? Describe your writing process for putting this paper together.

(2) Revision/Expansion of Recycled Work Based on your analysis of that recycled paper and on what you have learned thus far in the semester, revise and/or expand your paper from the initial Recycled Work assignment. Along with the new version of the paper, attach your notes from the revision process, explaining your rationale for the changes or reworking of the text. Make specific references throughout the paper to assigned readings and/or class discussions that have influenced your work during the revision process. If you take this project to the Writing Center for assistance (which I strongly recommend), please keep your notes and draft from that experience to hand in as well.

(3) Analysis of Assigned Rhetorical Readings Chose one work from the list of assigned rhetorical readings, and discuss the writers methods and level of success. Engage fully with the text in ways that include your observations about the format and structure of the piece, as well as issues of style and word choice. What have these choices allowed the writer to do? How has the writer crafted a rhetorical argument or persuasive piece?

Which strategies worked the best? The least? Again, I strongly encourage you to make use of the services available to you in the Writing Center, and that you retain and submit your notes and draft from any session(s) there.

(4) Making Your Case: Social Justice After selecting a topic related to a political or social issue, write a rhetorical paper that advances your argument(s) regarding some aspect of social justice. What policy or cultural changes can impact this particular issue? Keep in mind the rhetorical responsibility to persuade others to your point of view, and/or to persuade them to act or change in some way. Consider your strategies as you compose this rhetoric. Cite credible experts scholars, researchers, writers and sources such as professional and academic journals to aid in making your case.

(5) Making Your Case: In the Academy Develop a rhetorical paper that makes a particular and insightful academic argument in your major discipline (or a related one) or in the field of writing studies. Persuade your reader to draw the connections and comparisons central to your argument, push them to re-examine what they may believe or think about this subject, and carefully craft your rhetorical strategy to accomplish this end. Again, cite credible experts scholars, researchers, writers and sources such as professional and academic journals to aid in bolstering your argument. I encourage you to think of this assignment as a piece to submit for a conference presentation or for journal publication and then to actually submit it. Writing this paper for a specific purpose instead of just a grade is one of the best ways to ensure that you do the kind of work that earns an A.

(6) Journaling Set up a GoogleDoc for use as your on-line journal, and share that document with me. Over the course of the semester, use your journal for recording and analyzing the substance and application of what you are learning. Minimum required entries must engage and reflect on your writing process, including separate entries related to each of the writing assignments (1-5) as well as two or more entries engaging additional assigned rhetorical readings.

Works Cited Bawarshi, Anis. Taking Up Language Differences in Composition College English 68:6 (2006). Beach, King. Consequential Transitions: A Developmental View of Knowledge Propagation Through Social Organizations. Between School and Work; New Perspectives on Transfer and Boundary-Crossing. Ed. Terrtu Tuomi-Grohn and Yrjo Engestrom. Amsterdam: Emerald Group, 2003. Bergmann, Linda S., and Janet Zepernick. Disciplinarity and Transfer: Students Perceptions of Learning to Write. WPA: Writing Program Administration 31:1-2 (Fall/Winter 2007). Brent, Doug. Transfer, Transformation, and Rhetorical Knowledge: Insights from Transfer Theory. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 25:4 (2011). Driscoll, Dana Lynn. Connected, Disconnected, or Uncertain: Student attitudes about Future Writing Contexts and Perceptions of Transfer from First Year Writing to the Disciplines. Across the Disciplines: A Journal of Language, Learning, and Academic Writing 8:2 (Dec 2011). Nowacek, Rebecca. Agents of Integration: Understanding Transfer as a Rhetorical Act. Carbondale: Southern Illinois, 2011. Print. Perkins, D.N., and Gavriel Salomon. Are Cognitive Skills Context-Bound? Educational Researcher 18:16 (1989). Reiff, Mary Jo, and Anis Bawarshi. Tracing Discursive Resources: How Students Use Prior Genre Knowledge to Negotiate New Writing Contexts in First-Year Composition. Written Communication 28:3 (2011). Rounsaville, Angela. Selecting Genres for Transfer: The Role of Uptake in Students Antecedent Genre Knowledge Composition Forum 26 (Fall 2012). Smith, Craig R. Rhetoric and Human Consciousness: a history. 3rd Ed. Long Grove: Waveland, 2009. Print. Wardle, Elizabeth. Mutt Genres and the Goal of FYC: Can We Help Students Write the Genres of the University? College Composition and Communication 60:4 (June 2009).