Rherotic & Writing Studies 600
Reading
and Writing Rhetorically
Fall 2003
(Revised again, 11/5/05)
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Contact
Information
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Instructor:
Ann M. Johns; E-mail: ajohns@cox.net
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Office:
NH 221; Office phone: 594-6331
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Office
hours: 3:00-4:00 T, 4:00-5:00 W, 8:30-9:30 TTh
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Overview
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In
this class, you will be investigating a variety of theories and approaches
to analyzing written (and spoken) discourses, ideas that you will
be able to use in research and teaching. Then, you will be applying
these approaches to the close reading of a variety of published written
texts and to your own academic writing.
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Class
Goals
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When
you complete this class, you should be able to |
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1
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Define,
and apply to texts from a variety of genres, concepts that relate
to |
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- Context:
the situation in which the text was produced
- Textual
exigency: why the text was written
- Intertextuality:
what the text draws from; how it interacts with other texts, experiences,
and discourses in "disciplinary conversations"
- Author's
stance toward the text content, argument, and the audience
- Ethos,
pathos, & logos, classical means of persuasion
- Author's
voice as realized in the text
- Text
macrostructure, or arrangement, and how this relates to other
text elements
- Cohesion
and metadiscourse, and how these elements contribute to text coherence
- Moves,
or functional sections, within the macro-structure
- The
argument or claim in the text (including common and special topoi
- The
warrant, or premise(s)upon which the argument is based
- The
evidence used to support the argument; types, uses, and presentation
of evidence, and
- Stylistic
choices at the sentence level and above, including the given-new
contract, syntactic variation, choice of tense, active or passive
voice, and mood (e.g., subjunctive), and hedging.
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2
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Write
academic texts within some of the genres studied, analyzing and critiquing
your own work and that of others.
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3
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Identify,
discuss, and critique articles from major reading and writing journals,
noticing, in particular, how intertextuality works within disciplinary
discussions.
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4
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Produce
a final portfolio of work studied.
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Required
Texts
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1
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ECR
and Blackboard: This is the good news: most of your required
reading can be downloaded from the Electronic Course Reserves (ECR)
or from our class Blackboard site. Try both; the assigned readings
for the week will be found on one or the other. [Hint: The titled
readings, in quotes, are generally on Blackboard. I ran out of space
on ECR, which permits a limited number of readings to be posted.]
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2
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A
grammar for teachers: If you are unsure about the grammatical
terms (and forms) in English, you should purchase a handbook or a
grammar for teachers. (It's difficult to talk about language if you
don't have the terminology!)
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3
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The
library (and the WEB): You will also be investigating research
on specific rhetorical theories and practices in the library.
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Course
Requirements
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1
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Reading
and participation: Your careful reading of the required texts and
your consistent and informed class participation will be essential
to the success
of the course. (10% of the final grade.)
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2
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Journal:
You will be keeping a journal throughout the course in which you respond
to the readings and assignments and record your thoughts about reading
and writing rhetorically. Your journal entries will be shared periodically
with other members of the class. (15%)
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3
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Due
September 30: Paper 1: Argument analysis and critique: Using Toulmin
and your understanding of warrants, fallacies, and critique, you will
analyze an argument from a text you select. (15%)
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4
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Analyses
of your own written texts (Paper 2, October 28-- and Paper 4, December
9): You will examine at least two of your own written expository texts,
and those of your peers, using the approaches introduced in the class,
and, of course, your own insights. (15% each = 30%)
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5
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Due
November 18: Paper 3: A paper (and presentation), using library research.
You will be writing a 5-8 page analysis and critique of publications
related to reading and writing rhetorically from disciplinary journals.
In your analysis, you will be investigating intertextuality, or "disciplinary
conversations," around the same topic or ground-breaking article,
using your rhetorical tools and your own insights, as guides. (20%)
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6
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Due
December 16: Final Portfolio: You will be compiling a portfolio,
turned in during exam week, containing the following: (10 %)
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- Selected
journal entries and comment
- Paper
2 or 4, and comment
- Paper
3, and comment
- A
semester reflection.
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Grade
Distribution
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90-100%
= A; 80-89% = B; 70-79% = C |
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Schedule
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Week
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Date
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Topic
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Readings
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Assignments
(due the next week)
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Comments
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1
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9/2 |
Introduction
to the class---and to each other |
1)
Crawley & Hawee, p. 9ff, and p. 367ff. |
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Where
it all began; ancient rhetorics and rhetorical reading and writing |
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2
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9/9 |
The
ancients: terms and theories (Visiting speaker: Dr. McClish.) |
2)
"Essentialist and Social Constructivist Assumptions," 3)Hyland
(genre-based pedagogies): textual exigency, genre, audience, and context
(in brief) |
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Considering
factors external to text: social construction, genre, audience and
community, textual exigency. |
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3
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9/16 |
The
social construction of texts |
4)."Three
Frameworks for Teaching Argument," 5)"The Toulmin Model
of Argumentation," 6) "Examples of Warrants," 7) "Introduction
to Critique" |
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Argumentation,
especially the Toulmin model; warrants and critique |
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4
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9/23
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Argumentation:
Toumin, warrants, critique of arguments |
8)
"Some General Criteria for Analyzing an Argument" |
Paper
1 due: Prepare argument critique. |
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5
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9/30* |
Argument
critique due. (Paper 1) |
9)
Er , 10) Glaser 11) Hyland (metadiscourse)
[All on ECR.] |
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What
holds a text together? Issues of cohesion, coherence, and metadiscourse |
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6
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10/7 |
Cohesion,
coherence…and more on Toulmin (warrants: cwerry) |
12)
Hunston and Thompson (Why is evaluation important? 2 parts) |
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What
is the author's stance vis-à-vis the topic of the text? |
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7
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10/14 |
Evaluation
and author stance |
13)
Ivaniç & Camps (I am how I sound; 2 parts) 14) Hyland (Directives…) |
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How
is the author's ethos realized in text? |
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8
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10/21 |
Voice,
directives and other issues related to ethos |
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Complete
Paper 2: analysis of your own text: argumentation, ethos, stance |
In
your analysis, please use readings and discussions from class. |
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9
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10/28* |
Presentations
to the class, based upon Paper 2. Turn in Paper 2 analysis. |
15)
Fahenstock (Verbal and visual parallelism: in 2 parts)16) Le Grandeur
(Digital images and classical persuasion ) |
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The
role of visual texts in reading and writing rhetorically. |
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10
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11/4 |
Presentations:
Paper 2 |
15)
Fahenstock (Verbal and visual parallelism: in 2 parts)16) Le Grandeur
(Digital images and classical persuasion 17) Huckin (Abstracting from
abstracts); 18) Intertextuality |
Review
of issues relating to research papers: |
Reading
(and writing) research articles |
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11
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11/11 |
Research
paper elements: abstracts, intertextuality, advancing argumentation
through the use of visual material. |
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Prepare
for Paper 3: Analysis and presentation of a research article |
[See
"Assignments" for the details.]
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12
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11/18* |
Research
article presentations |
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No
assignment |
Conferences
scheduled for Nov 25. |
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13
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11/25 |
No
formal class; individual conferences |
18)
Concepts we live by (Lakoff & Johnson), 19) Orientational metaphors
(Lakoff..)20) Tropes (on Blackboard) |
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The
metaphor, tropes… |
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14
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12/2 |
Figures
of language; figures of speech |
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Prepare
final analytical paper (4) |
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15
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12/9* |
Present
analytical papers: Paper 4. |
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Prepare
portfolio |
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16
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12/16* |
Portfolio
due (a compilation of the semester's work and reflections) |
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Exam
week |