Rhetoric 1302 – section 009

Spring 2006

Deborah Scally
University of Texas at Dallas
School of Arts & Humanities

JO 4.306
*Office: JO 4.120
*Office Hours: M/W 10:00 – 11:00AM. And by appointment

*Phone: 972-883-2018 office

214-663-5095 cell

*Email: das@utdallas.edu

UTD Rhetoric Website: http://lingua.utdallas.edu/rhetoric

Contains links to course syllabus, reference and research resources, LRO, and Lingua Moo

Course Description

This course focuses on critical thinking by using an integrated approach to writing that teaches
various rhetorical strategies for reading and constructing arguments, both written and visual. You
will learn to read texts critically according to key components in argumentative discourse (i.e.,
claims, grounds, explicit and implicit assumptions, fallacies, etc.) and to recognize the different
purposes of argument. You will write and revise three to four papers based on issues and
controversies raised in the various texts read during the semester. The assignments will give you
extensive practice in reading critically and writing according to the rhetorical conventions of an
argumentative essay.

Students’ daily observations will be collected via email. Use of online technology will enhance
the level of feedback you receive, as well as give you experience in the kinds of collaborative
work that many organizations use routinely. Online interaction and argumentative writing will
comprise a large part of the evaluation in the course. Other assignments will include interviews,
observations, and notes, all of which will be entered into your portfolio. This portfolio is your
most important argument in the course as it shows the sum evidence of your learning, including
your own observations and analysis of your learning. You will belong to a “work group” for
various collaborative activities (i.e., discussion of readings, peer critiques), and you will
participate in mid-term and semester-end moderation readings for feedback from your peers.
Because learning to read critically and write responsively entails mastery of a process, your work
will undergo extensive revisions in response to peer readings and collaboration as well as
conferencing with your instructor.

Required Texts & Supplies

Everything’s an Argument by Andrea Lunsford, John Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters, 3rd ed.
Quick Access Reference for Writers by Lynn Troyka, 4th ed. optional

Also bring a floppy disk (PC-formatted if you use a PC, Mac-formatted if you use a Mac). The
Rhetoric classroom uses Macintosh computers that can read either format. Most documents will
be produced in Microsoft Word. Whether you use MS Word outside of the classroom or not, it is
best to save your files as rich text format (RTF) to insure compatibility between the word
processing program you use and the one in your classroom.

The following is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.

Attendance Policy

Because participation is vital to successful completion of Rhetoric 1302, you should attend every
class. If you must be absent, check with your classmates or with me for any work you missed
that can be made up. Much of the work is done collaboratively in class. Alternative assignments
are generally not given, nor can the instructor “re-teach” missed classes for individual students.
If you miss more than three classes, your grade may be negatively affected and/or you may
be encouraged to drop the class.
Please turn off cellular/mobile phones, pagers, and other personal electronic devices
during class.

Drop Policy

See here for details on deadlines and procedures for dropping:

http://www.utdallas.edu/student/class/current/newpolicywpwf.htm

Office Hours

Please note my regular office hours above. You also can arrange to see me at other times that are
mutually convenient. Office hours belong to you just as much as our class time. Don’t hesitate to
take advantage of my availability and the help I am ready to offer. If you need to contact me
outside of class time or office hours, it is best to communicate with me by email rather than the
office phone.

Email Policy

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO UTD STUDENTS: As of August 1, 2004, all email

correspondence with students will be sent ONLY to the student's U.T. Dallas email address. U.T.
Dallas provides each student with a free email account that is to be used in all communication
with university personnel. This allows the university to maintain a high degree of confidence in
the identity of all individuals corresponding and the security of the transmitted information. The
Department of Information Resources at U.T. Dallas provides a method for students to forward
email from other accounts to their U.T. Dallas address and have their U.T. Dallas mail sent on to
other accounts. Students may go to the following URL to establish or maintain their official U.T.
Dallas computer account: http://netid.utdallas.edu/

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Grading Policy

This class offers you an approach to learning that may be different from your past experiences.
Because the course is concerned with your development as a critical reader and writer, the
grading strategy will track and monitor that development. Your work will be collected in an
electronic portfolio via email. Your assignments will not receive individual grades, but will
receive individual attention from your classmates and me. Your mid-term and final grades will
be based on your portfolio of written observations and your work samples, including
collaborative work and your three major essays, as well as completion of each component of
your e-portfolio. In the final step to completing the semester, you will argue for your grade by
summarizing your learning and estimating the grade that the evidence of your learning supports.
In other words, you will directly apply what you learn in this course, argumentative writing, by
arguing for your own grade. However, each component is vital to a quality body of work: your
attendance, participation, promptness, level of writing. effective arguments, creativity,
collaboration, sound rhetorical skills, competent use of technology—all of these things and more
contribute to an outstanding portfolio.

Your goal is to demonstrate your development toward mastery of five course strands (rhetoric,
research, technology, collaboration, and critical thinking) and development across five
dimensions of learning (confidence and independence, skills and strategies, knowledge and
understanding, use of prior and emerging experience, and reflectiveness). These goals will be
discussed throughout the course. Keep in mind that although we do give + and – grades at UTD,
the general criteria for grading your Learning Record is still based on the A-F scale.

The following grade criteria describe very general indicators that both you and your
instructor may take into consideration when assessing your work and progress in the course.
Your estimation of your mid-term and final grades should be more detailed and specific and
may include a ‘+’ or ‘–‘ if your work tilts above or below the central grade for which you
argue. But the final interpretation and assessment of your grade remains the responsibility of
your teacher.

A: Represents outstanding participation in all course activities (including attendance and

promptness); all assigned work completed on time, with very high quality in all work
produced for the course. Evidence of significant and sustained development across the five
dimensions of learning and five course strands.

B: Represents excellent participation in all course activities (including attendance and

promptness); all assigned work completed on time, with consistently high quality in course
work. Evidence of marked and above average development across the five dimensions of
learning and five course strands.

C: Represents good (but average) participation in all course activities; all assigned work
completed, with generally good quality overall in course work. Evidence of some
development across the five dimensions of learning and five course strands.

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D: Represents uneven participation in course activities; some gaps in assigned work
completed, with inconsistent quality in course work. Evidence of development across the five
dimensions of learning and five course strands is partial or unclear.

F: Represents minimal participation in course activities; serious gaps in assigned work

completed, or very low quality in course work. Evidence of development is not available.

UTD Grading scale

(http://www.utdallas.edu/student/catalog/undergrad02/progress.html#Grading%20Scale)

Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism is the representation of another person’s work as your own, whether you mean to or
not. For example, copying or paraphrasing passages from another writer’s work without
acknowledging that you’ve done so is plagiarism. Allowing another writer to write any part of
your essay is plagiarism. Copying or purchasing a paper from any source is plagiarism.

Plagiarism is a serious offense. The possible consequences range from failing the assignment to
failing the course, or worse. Each incident of plagiarism at UTD must be reported to the
administration. If you are not sure how to properly cite a quoted or paraphrased source, or if you
need help with the format of a citation, check with the New Century Handbook and/or with your
teacher. Although you can (and, in fact, should) seek help and advice from friends, classmates,
tutors, and others, be sure that your written work is your own.

See the Undergraduate Catalog for information about the consequences of Scholastic Dishonesty,
or view the policy here (which is also a link on the Rhetoric Program website):

http://www.utdallas.edu/student/slife/dishonesty.html.

Major Assignments

First Essay: An essay that presents a definition/ character/values/ or evaluation argument

using the principles and criteria in Everything’s an Argument (Chapter 9 or 10).
Second Essay: An essay that presents a causal or proposal argument using the principles and
criteria in Everything’s an Argument (Chapter 11 or 12).
Third Essay: An integrated textual and visual essay that examines and analyzes the argument of
a visual image (or images) using the criteria in Chapter 14 of Everything’s an Argument. This
essay may be created and archived in Lingua MOO or the WWW, or it may be a traditional
Word document that simply displays the image(s) in the body of your essay. Your image may
come from the visuals in Everything’s an Argument, other publications, Internet, or other media,
such as graphic novels or films. You may also create your own visual argument.

Remember: all drafts and final drafts must be turned in to me in hard copy (using MLA
format and citation and including a Works Cited page) on the dates they are due.

Syllabus Itinerary (subject to change throughout the duration of the semester)

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[Assignments are due by the next class period unless noted otherwise]
[Assignments from Everything’s an Argument textbook will be denoted by EA]

M 1/9: In-class: Intro to course and Rhetoric program website; short diagnostic writing
Assignments : Read EA Ch 1; Send email to me by R 1/13
W 1/11: In-class: Intro to the principles of Rhetoric; Discussion of EA Ch 1;
Assignments : Send me an observation; Read Ch 2 in EA; Complete LRO parts A.1 & A.2 by
1/27
F 1/13: In-class: Video; discussion
Assignments : Send an observation; Read Ch 3 in EA

M 1/16: Holiday; no class

W 1/18: In-class: Discussion ctd.; in-class exercise; Brief summary of EA Chs 2-3;
Assignments : Send an observation; Read EA Ch 4 and handout; find an ad from a magazine to
bring to class on 1/20 (see Response #2 on p 76 in EA)
F 1/20: In-class: Daily observation; Discuss EA Ch 4; Small group rhetorical analysis of
emotional appeal in magazine ads
Assignments : Read EA Ch 5 and: King essay on p 811; plus essays p. 694 – 698; send
observation

M 1/23: In-class: Video and discussion of fallacies of argument; Discuss EA Ch 5 and assigned
essays
Assignments : Read EA Ch 6; Come prepared to discuss ‘arguments based on character’ in small
groups
W: 1/25: In-class: writing on arguments based on ethos; discussion in groups
F 1/27: Self-directed study day; class will not meet! DUE: LRO parts A.1 and A.2; send as
email
Assignments : Read EA Ch 7 and handout essay
___________________________________________________________________________

M 1/30: In-class; Video; Discuss Ch 7 and fallacies of argument; go over requirements for Essay
1 (Definition/Evaluation Argument)
Assignments : Read EA Ch 8 and assigned essays from EA (TBA) Essay #1 officially assigned
Daily observation
W 2/1: In-class: Discuss Ch 8; introduction to Toulmin; group practice structuring arguments
according to Toulmin;
Assignments : Send observation; Read EA Ch 9 plus essays (TBA); begin to examine Chs 21-22
about using and documenting sources. These are reference chapters and do not have to be read at
one sitting; however, you will be responsible for understanding and putting into practice the
principles contained in these chapters.
F 2/3: In-class: Discussion on arguments of definition; group work
Assignments: Send observation; read Ch 10 in EA and assigned essays (TBA)

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M 2/6: In-class: Movie: Ghost in the Shell
Assignments : Send observation; work on paper
W 2/8: In-class: Finish movie; discussion
Assignments : Send observation; work on paper
F 2/10 Self-directed study day; no class
Assignments: Complete first draft of essay; this is NOT a ‘rough draft;’ it is a finished draft
containing all required elements

M 2/13: In-class: First draft of first essay due; first round of peer reviews; sign up for
conferences during class and office hours W & F
Assignments: Send observations; read handout on revision process
W 2/15: In-class: Conferences over essay 1
Assignment: Work on revisions
F 2/17: In-class: Conferences continued
Assignments: Work on revisions; you may turn them in as soon as you finish; papers will be
considered late after F2/24

M 2/20: In-class: Discussion of causal/proposal arguments

Assignments : Read Ch 11 & 12 in EA by Friday; read essays (TBA) for W 2/22
W 2/22: In-class: Essay analysis in groups; create proposals & possible solutions
Assignments : Send observation; finish Essay 1, Draft 2
F2/24: In-class: Draft 2 of Essay 1 due; video Voices of a Distant Star
Assignments: Send observation; prepare a discussion question over the video and bring to class
______________________________________________________________________________

M 2/27: In-class: Discussion over Voices of A Distant Star

W 3/1: Small group discussion of images for Visual Rhetoric
Assignments : Read handouts
Fri 3/3: In-class: Watch Cowboy Bebop episode; Small group discussions of images and analysis
of arguments in images from anime & manga
Assignments : Send observation; read Ch 15 in EA
______________________________________________________________________________

M 3/6 – F 3/11: Spring Break

Mon 3/13: In-class: Discuss chapter; we will also examine images online from
www.benetton.com
Assignments : Send an observation; read Ch 16 in EA; find a blog that you like; we’ll look at
some of them in class on W 3/15
Wed 3/15: In-class: Discussion of arguments in E-format; what counts as evidence
Assignments : Complete parts B.1 and C.1 of LRO due Fri 3/17
Fri 3/17: In-class:

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Assignments : Send observation on visual project; check in on Chs 21-22 in EA; finish reading
them if you haven’t already; read Ch 18 in EA

Mon 3/20: In-class: Discussion of MLA format and citation methods and Ch 18 in EA
Assignments : Complete first draft of Visual argument project due Wednesday, 3/22; send
observation
W 3/22 First draft of Visual argument due; peer reviews in class
Assignments : Work on revision of visual argument analysis project, based on peer suggestions
Fri 3/24: In-class:
Assignments : final draft of Visual argument essay due Monday 4/3; work on project/essay; send
observation on ‘the image vs. the word’
____________________________________________________________________________

Mon 3/27: In-class: In class work on visual projects

Assignments : Record an Observation in your LRO; Read EA Ch 16; Read arguments in
electronic environments TBA
Wed 3/29: In-class: Discussion of EA Ch 16 on Arguments in Electronic Environments and
assigned online readings
Assignments : TBA
Fri 3/31 In-class: Continued discussion of online readings
Assignments: Send observation; read Ch 17 plus handout, Plato’s Symposium

Mon 4/3: In-class: Discussion of EA Ch 17 and reading assignment

Assignments : Prepare for a class symposium on 4/5, a discussion based on Plato’s essay
Wed 4/5: In-class: Class symposium in small groups; discuss the nature of love
Assignments : Send an observation on your experience in your group symposium
Fri 4/7: In-class: Continue symposium; discuss results
Assignments : Send an observation on the value of spoken arguments; read Ch 19 in EA

Mon 4/10: In-class: Discussion of EA Ch 19; video (TBA)

Assignments : Read Ch 20 in EA
Wed 4/12: In-class: Let’s talk about plagiarism
Assignments : Send observation on plagiarism and its effects on the student
Fri 4/14: Self-directed study day; no class
Assignments : Work on first draft of essay #3 due Wed 4/19

Mon 4/17: In-class: Group discussion on Essay 3

Assignments : Continue working on first draft; bring hard copy of first draft to class on Wed
11/10
Wed 4/19: In-class: First draft of essay 3; Peer reviews
Assignments : Continue working on essay 3 using peer feedback; bring formatted disk to work in
class on Friday

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Fri 4/21: In-class: Work on essay 3
Assignments : Finish essay 3; get your portfolio together for the last day of class

Mon 4/24: Last day of class; completed portfolio due; all observations due; LRO due