English 111: Composition and Rhetoric Fall 2012 Wherever there is persuasion, there is rhetoric, and wherever there

is rhetoric, there is meaning.Kenneth Burke Instructor: Section: Day/Time: Location: Office: Office Hours: Erin L. Brock ENG 111 BH Tuesday and Thursday, 8.00 to 9.15 a.m. 264 Bachelor Hall 311 Bachelor Hall Tuesday, 9.30-11.30, Thursday, 9.30-10.30, Available other

times by appointment, just talk to me or email me! Office Phone: Email: 513.529.5955 brockel2@muohio.edu or elbrock12@gmail.com

English 111, Composition and Rhetoric, is a writing course designed to teach you the rhetorical skills you need to compose, revise, and critically analyze persuasive texts both within in the university and in the wider world. This particular section will focus on rhetoric and its place in our societyhow it affects us, and how we respond to it by both taking it in and composing our own rhetorical works. In this class, you will learn to:

Develop diverse and effective strategies for the following: generating ideas, researching topics of interest, composing drafts, revising and editing via print and digital media, work with peers to further writing projects

Conduct research-based inquiries, use invention techniques in order to explore your own ideas, engage different perspectives, and develop original findings into sustained arguments

Find, analyze, synthesize and cite academic research clearly and ethically in your own work, using appropriate citation methods (in this course, MLA)

Craft effective and persuasive pieces for diverse contexts, audiences, purposes, and genres Produce effective and well-organized writing that shows careful attention to proofreading and meeting style and conventional expectations for different audiences in specific contexts

Develop awareness of the unique affordances and limitations of diverse writing technologies and modalities of digital and non-digital communication

Reflect critically on your own writing and rhetorical decisions Observe and analyze the complex nature of rhetoric and its manifestations in our society, allowing you to become a more well-adjusted and aware individual

English 111 is a Miami Plan Foundation course, which means that this course will foster your understanding of and involvement in a liberal education, which will help you throughout your time here at the university and beyond. The goals of such an education are: to develop your critical thinking skills, to understand diverse contexts, to engage with other learners, and to encourage reflection and subsequent action. Required Texts and Materials

Andrea Lunsford and John Ruszkiewicz, Everythings an Argument, 5th edition (Bedford/St. Martins, 2010). ISBN-10: 0-312-53862-6 (Should be available at campus bookstores)

College Composition at Miami (Volume 65). 2013. Plymouth, MI: HaydenMcNeil. (Should be available at campus bookstores) Free Online Coursepack (available on Niihka)

Major Projects and Course Requirements English 111 will be centered on five major writing inquiries as listed in the table below. Each inquiry is comprised of a number of components, including class activities, shorter writing assignments, drafts, peer responses, proposals, research notes, reflective cover letter, and a major final essay (or the multimodal equivalent). For each major inquiry, you can expect to compose approximately 1000 2000 words of formal revised writing (or multimedia equivalent), including a reflective cover letter in which you discuss the rhetorical choices you made in composing your essay. You also will compose approximately 1000 2000 words of informal writing during each inquiry (e.g invention and revision exercises, rough drafts, research notes, proposals, peer response comments, midprocess reflections).
1. Initial Reflective Inquiry You will analyze and reflect on your rhetorical practices in a particular context. 15% (150 points)

2. Rhetorical Analysis

You will use rhetorical analysis as a method to analyze a public argument.

15% (150 points)

3. Public, Research-Based Argument

You will research a public issue and craft a rhetorical argument about what youve learned.

20% (200 points)

4. Remediation Inquiry

You will gain an understanding of how the medium affects the message by remediating a previous piece of writing (by changing the medium and/or modality of communication) to present your work to a new audience.

15% (150 points)

5. Final

You will reflect on your writing and rhetoric through

15% (150

Reflective Inquiry

analysis of your coursework collected in an e-portfolio.

points)

6. Reading Responses on Niikha Blog

You will complete daily informal writing homework designed to help you generate ideas and to explore revisions of your major inquiry projects. They must be at least 250 words and they must show that youve thought about the reading in the context of what were learning in class in order for you to get credit.

10% (100 points)

7. Participation

You must actively participate in peer response, collaborative group work activities, and in-class writing on the Niikha forum.

10% (100 points)

TOTAL

100% (1,000 points)

Participation. Since this class is built on the premise learning is a collective and generative activity, exposure to different view points and receiving feed back from peers on a regular basis is extremely important to the goals of the course. As such, every student must actively contribute to peer response, group activities, informal writing and full classroom discussion. I will evaluate your participation grade by reviewing your forum posts on Niikha, getting feedback from your peers through reflection letters, and my own observations. Speak up! Your input is valuable. Completion of all Projects. You must complete all five of the individual major writing projects to receive a grade of C or higher in the course.

Guidelines for Each Inquiry. Specific criteria for each major assignment will be explained and developed in class. However, all writing you produce in ENG 111 should meet the following general criteria: (a) The writing meets the requirements and parameters for the assignment; (b) the writing is intelligent, well-informed, respectful of others, grammatically competent and stylistically fluent, well organized, and, most importantly, rhetorically effective for its purpose, audience, and context. Specific rubrics will be discussed and presented in class for each assignment so that students have clarity about the expectations and scope of each assignment. Revisions. In English 111, we work on both thought processes and writing processes, and revision is a major part of both of these important concepts. If you receive one of the Inquiries back and you are not happy with the grade, you may revise it, provided that you 1) set up a conference with me to discuss how you could make the paper stronger, 2) complete the revised version of the paper and turn it in to me within two weeks from the date you received your original grade, and 3) write another reflective cover letter in which you discuss how you revised the paper and what you learned from the experience. Amount of Writing. In ENG 111 you can expect to produce approximately 50 pages of double-spaced prose or the equivalent (approximate number of words = 12,500). About half of that amount will be the final polished versions of your five major writing assignments; the other half will be inventional and exploratory exercises, short in- and out-of-class writing assignments, blog postings, rough drafts, formal drafts, written peer responses to your classmates writing, etc. You should expect to have some written assignment due in practically every class period over the entire semestereither writing due for class or writing you do in class. After all, this IS a writing class.

Policies 1) Attendance. It is Miami University policy that every student is expected to attend every class meeting. Attendance is of utmost importance to the success of this class and to your development as a writer. Much of the learning in English 111 happens via inclass inquiry activities, in-class writing assignments, class discussion, and group interaction that cannot be easily made up or replicated outside of class. Class time will be highly interactive requiring frequent participation, discussion, teamwork, in-class writing, and responding to writing. For this reason, attendance at all class sessions is expected. You are allowed a maximum of 3 unexcused absences in this course. After 3 unexcused absences, your final grade will be lowered by one tier (for example, from a B to a B-). After this point, every third absence will take your grade one tier lower (so, if you have 6 unexcused absences, your grade would be lowered two tiers, from a B to a C+). Since we only have class two days per week, its really important that everyone attends as much as possible. 2) Tardiness. Three late arrivals equals an absence. 3) Late Work. All assignments must be turned in on time for the course to run smoothly. Drafts of papers will not be accepted late. Final grades on papers will be downgraded one whole grade for each day late (for example A to B) unless you have made prior arrangements for an extension with me. I understand that life happens, so please come and talk to me if you cannot turn in a paper on time. 4) Distractions Please silence your cell phone and refrain from texting. While we will regularly use Macs for in-class writing, research, and collaboration, please refrain from

using your computer for non-class activitiesits disrespectful to both me and your classmates. 5) Backing up Work. Please make sure to have a plan for backing up all of your digital work in multiple places in case of computer failure. Please also make sure to save all of the writing you complete for class. Computers can be unreliable, so SAVE OFTEN and make sure you email your files to yourself or store them in some other way. Also, submit your files in a format that will be compatible with my computer, as well as your peers computers. .Doc files are the best format, so save your files as such. 6) Respect / Community. While we will often engage in vigorous and lively debate in this class, personal insults or attacks on an individual persons race, class, gender, sexuality, or disability will not be tolerated. The underlying theme of this class is society and its impacts on rhetoric, so we will be discussing a variety of sometimes touchy topics. 7) Academic Integrity / Plagiarism. In an instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone elses language, ideas, or other original (non common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source (WPA Website). The assumption in English 111 is that the writing you submit is your own original writing that is, produced originally for this class. To copy someone elses writing without acknowledging that use is an act of academic as well as professional dishonesty, whether you borrow an entire report or a single sentence. The most serious forms of academic dishonesty are to buy an entire paper; or to have someone else write an assignment for you; or to turn in someone elses entire paper (or significant portions of an existing piece of writing) and call it your own. These forms of dishonesty constitute serious breaches of academic integrity. If you have doubts about whether or not you are using your own or others writing ethically,

ask the instructor. For further details about Academic Integrity at Miami University including a detailed list of examples of academic dishonesty and procedures and penalties for dealing with instances of academic dishonesty go tohttp://www.miamioh.edu/current-students/ and download the student handbook. 8) Access / Accommodations I am committed to maximizing your learning potential and making this course as accessible as possible. If there is any way that I can adapt this course to better meet your unique needs as a learner, please let me know! If you have a documented disability, I am especially interested in providing any accommodations that have been best determined by you and the Office of Disability Resources (http://www.units.muohio.edu/oeeo/odr/; 513-529-2541) in advance. 9) Niihka / Daily Schedule. The daily course schedule and more detailed assignment prompts will be available on niihka. The course schedule is subject to change based on the needs and interests of the class. You are responsible for regularly checking niihka for updates. I will post the homework that is due for the next class meeting each time we are in class. 10) Grading Scale. A A100-94% 93-90% (1,000-940 points) (930-900 points) (890-870 points) (860-840 points) (830-800 points)

B+ 89-87% B B86-84% 83-80%

C+ 79-77% C C76-74% 73-70%

(790-770 points) (760-740 points) (730-700 points) (690-670 points) (660-640 points) (630-600 points)

D+ 69-67% D 66-64%

D- 63-60% F

59% and below (590-0 points)

If you have questions about your grade, you must come and see me in person. I will not discuss grades over email (other than returning graded papers). Resources. Your classmates. Rely on one another for the questions you have regarding the readings, the work were doing in class, software we may be using, etc. You all, both individually and as a collective, embody a vast bank of knowledge and experiences. Your Instructor. I will do all I can to assist you in succeeding in this course. Feel free to meet with me during my office hours or another scheduled time. Email is a reliable way to contact me and I will try my best to respond in a timely manner. IT Support (513-529-7900; ithelp@muohio.edu; 317 Hughes hall) The IT support desk is the main point of contact for technology questions at Miami, including issues with connecting to MU wireless. Howe (King Library) and Windate (18 Peabody) Writing Centers. The Howe Writing Center is located on the main floor of King Library. The Center is staffed with writing consultants from many different academic areas. In a one-on-one workshop, a staff member will consult with you concerning work-in-progress,

final drafts, research style, and many other aspects of writing. It is best to schedule an appointment ahead of time, but you may also walk in on days when they have consultants available. For further information, visit the student resources site at http://writingcenter.lib.muohio.edu/. USE THE WRITING CENTER! Its a fabulous resource and it can only help you. The Student Counseling Service. Located in the Health Services Center, this office provides a wide range of counseling services. For more information, call 513-529-4634. Your Own Web Site/Server. Every Miami student has a web space (called Universal Disk Space, UDS) for storing files and for designing and publishing a website. To publish web pages on the Internet, follow the instructions at http://www.muohio.edu/wwwsetup. Your web page address will be http://www.users.muohio.edu/UniqueID/ (UniqueID should be replaced with your own unique ID). Miami University Technology Guide (http://www.units.muohio.edu/mcs/information/policies/shtml). This is a list of MUs policies on such matters as computer security, responsible use of computing resources, and MU Net account policies. FINALLY, I reserve the right to change the policies in this syllabus if the class isnt running as smoothly as it shouldI look forward to our semester together!