Rhetoric 1302 -015

Fall 2005

Rashmi Ramachandran
University of Texas at Dallas
School of Arts & Humanities

Time : MWF 1:00 – 1:50 P.M.

Location: JO 4.306

Syllabus website : http://lingua.utdallas.edu/rhetoric /faculty.html

Office: 4.118

Office Hours : W 2:00 – 3:00 P.M.

Phone : 972-883-2018
(Please use this # to contact me only during my office hours.)

Email: rashmi.ramachandran@student.utdallas.edu

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

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

Learning Record Online (LRO): http://lro.cwrl.utexas.edu

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.

Learning Record Online

Student work will be collected in an electronic portfolio called the “Learning Record Online”
(LRO) throughout the semester. 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 LRO. The LRO 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 of your LRO portfolio 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.

Also bring a floppy disk (PC-formatted if you use a PC, Mac- formatted if you use a Mac) or
CD/RW. 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 will be negatively affected and/or you may
be encouraged to drop the class. Two tardies will count as one absence. Chronic tardiness is
unacceptable, as are coming to class unprepared, doing work that is not for this course during
class, sleeping in class, or using the computers or other personal electronic devices for personal
messaging, research, or entertainment. Please turn off cellular/mobile phones, pagers, and
other personal electronic devices during class.

All assignments are due on the date noted in the syllabus. If, for some reason, you are unable to
get to class, please make arrangements for your assignment/draft to get to me. I will not, in any
event, accept assignments that are sent to me as attachme nts by email.

Drop Policy

See here for details on deadlines and procedures for dropping:

http://www.utdallas.edu/student/registrar/lookup/dropadd.html

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

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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. Please use the
office phone to reach me only during my office hours.

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/

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 called the Learning Record Online (LRO). 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 LRO. In the final step to completing your LRO, 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 of the LRO 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.

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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.

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.

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Major Assignments

First Essay: An essay that presents a definition or evaluation argument using the principles and
criteria in Everything’s an Argument (Chapter 9 or 10).
First draft due: September 19
Final draft due: September 26

Second 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.
First draft due: October 12
Final draft due: October 19

Third Essay: An essay that presents a causal or proposal argument using the principles and
criteria in Everything’s an Argument (Chapter11 or 12).
First draft due: November 9
Second draft due: November 16
Final draft due: November 23

Learning Record Online: This is an online resource for managing and documenting the work
and learning you do in this class. Various assignments will be due throughout the semester, and
all observations, drafts, and essays must be included in the LRO on the date due.
Parts A.1 and A.2 are due : August 31
Parts B.1 and C.1 are due: October 7
Parts B.2 and C.2 are due: November 28

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

Daily Assignments

Every class period will begin with a brief writing assignment. This will be part of our daily class
practice. In order to facilitate effective class discussion, I will expect you to come prepared with
at least one question, based on the readings for the day, which you will use to start your
discussions in class. Please bring these questions typed up, and ready to turn in to me. If you are
absent, these are not assignments that can be made up. Coming to class without the question will
adversely affect your ability to participate.

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Syllabus Itinerary (subject to change)

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

Fri 8/19: In-class: Intro to course and Rhetoric program website; discussion of syllabus
Assignments : Register for EA companion website; read EA Ch 1 and QA Chs 1-3; Send email to
me by Monday, 8/22

Mon 8/22: In-class: Intro to LRO; Discussion of EA Ch 1 and QA Chs 1-3

Assignments : Record an observation in your LRO; Read Chs 2-3 in EA; Complete LRO parts
A.1 and A.2 by 9/1

Wed 8/24 In-class: Discussion of EA Chs 2-3; register for QA e-book online and EA companion
website
Assignments : Read EA Ch 4 and bring a magazine to class on 8/27 (see Response #2 on p 76)

Fri 8/26: In-class: Discuss EA Ch 4; Small group rhetorical analysis of emotional appeal in
magazine ads
Assignments : Record an observation in your LRO; Read EA Ch 5 and 2 essays from EA reader
that are arguments based on values

Mon 8/29: Discuss EA Ch 5 and the 2 value argument essays from EA reader; Demo of QA
electronic resources
Assignments : Record an observation in your LRO; Read EA Chs 6-7

Wed 8/31: In-class: DUE: LRO parts A.1 and A.2; Discuss EA Chs 6-7
Assignments : Read EA Ch 8 and 1 essay from EA reader that is an argument based on character
or facts & reasons

Fri 9/2: In-class: Discuss EA Ch 8; Class Toulmin analysis of the character/facts argument essay
from EA reader.
Assignments : Record an observation in your LRO; Read EA Ch 9 and 3-5 essays from one of
the clusters in the reader section of EA that are/contain definition arguments
Essay #1 assigned (Definition/Evaluation Argument)

Mon 9/5: LABOR DAY HOLIDAY

Wed 9/7: In-class: Discussion of EA Ch 9 and assigned readings from reader. Your QA
Diagnostic should be completed by this date.

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Assignments : Read EA Ch 10 and Chs 21-22 (Assessing and using Sources, Documenting
Sources) Chs 21-22 are reference chapters and students are responsible for understanding and
putting into practice the principles therein.

Fri 9/9: In-class: Discussion of EA Ch 10 and general discussion of sources; students log in to
QA online; Demo of QA Research Navigator and Documentation electronic resources;
Assignments : Record an observation in your LRO; read 3-5 essays from one of the clusters in
the reader section of EA that are/contain evaluation arguments.

Mon 9/12: In-class: Discussion of assigned readings on evaluation arguments

Assignments : Record an observation in your LRO; EA Readings

Wed 9/14: Library Tour day

Assignments : Read QA Handbook on MLA format and how to cite and create a works cited
page; read student samples of LRO Parts B.1 (Analysis) and C.1 (Evaluation) in LRO website;
Read EA Chs 18-20. Chs 18-20 are reference chapters and students are responsible for
understanding and putting into practice the principles therein.

Fri 9/16: In-class: Class discussion of LRO parts B.1 and C.1; Grammar, format, mechanics,
evidence, fallacies, and plagiarism discussion (bring QA Handbook)
Assignment : Record an observation in your LRO; Work on draft of essay #1, due 9/20

Mon 9/19: In-class: First draft of essay #1 due today. Peer reviews
Assignments : Record an observation in your LRO; Work on essay #1 peer review revision
suggestions

Wed 9/21: In-class: Teacher conference and in-class writing on essay #1.
Assignments : Continue work on essay # 1

Fri 9/23: In-class: Teacher conference and in-class work on essay #1 revisions
Assignments : Continue work on essay # 1; Read EA Ch 15; bring Visual Exercises CD to class
Monday

Mon 9/26: Final draft of Essay #1 due ; In-class: Discussion of EA Ch 15; work in Visual
Exercises applicatio n in class
Assignments : Record an observation in your LRO; Research image(s) to use for Visual Rhetoric
Essay #2 and bring some to class

Wed 9/28: In-class: Small group discussions of images and analysis of arguments in images
Assignments : Examine images in United Benetton ads
(http://www.benetton.com/html/whatwesay/campaigns/photogallery.shtml) and Adbusters.org
(http://adbusters.org/home/) website and note various arguments

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Fri 9/30: In-class: Discuss United Benetton and Adbusters.org images
Assignments : Record an observation in your LRO; decide on image(s) for your essay #2 and
bring to class on Monday [If you are linking to the image elsewhere on the Internet, BE SURE
TO NOTE EXACT SOURCE OF IMAGE and OBTAIN PERMISSION TO LINK TO IT IF IT
IS NOT ON A PUBLIC SITE; see EA p 408-409].

Mon 10/3: In-class: Using the technology: Introduction to using MS Word and images
Assignments : Record an observation in your LRO; Work on format and media decisions for
visual project

Wed 10/5: In-class: media workshop

Assignments : Complete parts B.1 and C.1 of LRO due Fri, 10/8; start sketching main visual
project components and argument analysis

Fri 10/7: In-class: Parts B.1 and C.1 of LRO due today. Moderation readings.
Assignments : Record an Observation about moderation readings in your LRO; continue work on
visual project

Mon 10/10: In-class: Individual work on visual projects in class

Assignments : Complete first draft of Visual argument project due Wednesday, 10/12; bring
hard copy of first draft to class on 10/12

Wed 10/12: In-class: First draft of Visual argument due ; peer reviews in class
Assignments : Work on revision of visual argument analysis paper based on peer review
suggestions

Fri 10/14: In-class: Teacher-student conferences on visual argument essay

Assignments : Complete final draft of Visual argument essay due Wednesday, 10/19

Mon 10/17: In-class: In class work on visual projects

Assignments : Record an Observation in your LRO; Read EA Ch 16
www.andrewsullivan.com

Wed 10/19: In-class: Final draft of Visual argument due; Discussion of EA Ch 16 on

Arguments in Electronic Environments and assigned online readings
Assignments : Record reflective observation of visual argument assignment in LRO. Complete
assigned reading

Thu: Last day to drop with a WP or WF

Fri 10/21: In-class: Continued discussion of online readings

Assignments : Record an Observation in your LRO; Read EA Ch 11 and 3-5 essays from clusters
in the reader section of EA

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Mon 10/24: In-class: Discussion of EA Ch 11 and assigned readings ; Discuss Paper #3 project
(Causal or Proposal Essay due Nov 24)
Assignments : Record an Observation in your LRO; start thinking about your final paper topic

Wed 10/26: In-class: Continued discussion of EA Ch 11 and assigned readings

Assignments : QA Exercises

Fri 10/28: In-class: Bring QA; discussion of assignments from Handbook

Assignments : Record an Observation in your LRO; Read EA Ch 12 and 3-5 essays from clusters
in the reader section of EA

Mon 10/31: In-class: Discussion of EA Ch 12 and assigned readings

Assignments : Record an Observation in your LRO; choose possible topics for Causal/Proposal
argument for Paper #3

Wed 11/2: In-class: Continued discussion of EA Ch 12 and assigned readings; small group
discussions of paper topics
Assignments : Refine paper topic and begin work on first draft

Fri 11/4: In-class: Teacher conference on paper topics

Assignments : Work on first draft of essay #3 due Wed 11/10 in LRO

Mon 11/7: In-class: Writing in class on first draft of essay #3

Assignments : Continue working on first draft; bring hard copy of first draft to class on Wed
11/10

Wed 11/9: In-class: First draft of essay #3 due in LRO; Peer reviews of first draft of essay #3
Assignments : Continue working on essay #3 using peer feedback

Fri 11/11: In-class: Work on revisions of first draft of essay #3

Assignments : Continue working on essay #3; Read EA Ch 14

Mon 11/14: In-class: Discussion of EA Ch 14; discussion of revision techniques and elevating
style (bring QA Handbook); In-class writing on essay #3
Assignments : Continue work on essay #3

Wed 11/16: In-class: In-class writing on essay #3; Second draft of essay #3 due in LRO by
end of class period
Assignments : prepare for conference with instructor

Fri 11/18: In-class: Conference with instructor

Assignments : Work on revisions of 2nd draft of essay #3

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Mon 11/21: In-class: Conference with instructor
Assignments : Complete final draft of essay #3 in LRO for 11/24

Wed 11/23: In-class: Final draft of essay #3 due in LRO; student evaluations
Assignments : Complete LRO parts B.2 and C.2 due Monday 11/29

Fri 11/25: Thanksgiving Holiday

Mon 11/28: LRO parts B.2 and C.2 due today. Moderation readings.

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