WRITING AND RHETORIC 13100.

18: ENTERING THE CONVERSATION

Instructor: Kara Lee Donnelly Class Time: Tuesday and Thursday 12:30-1:45 Course Website: http://enteringtheconversation.wordpress.com Location: Coleman Morse Center 243 Email: kdonnel3@nd.edu Office Hours: Monday 2:30-4:00 and by appointment Office Location: 300 OShaughnessy, The Loft

COURSE DESCRIPTION Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. As the oldest of all academic disciplines, many of the worlds greatest writers and speakers were trained in the art, and many of the worlds greatest thinkers have studied it. From them, we know that rhetoric is situated within a community and helps to create that community. Furthermore, rhetoric allows the rhetor to argue for his or her version of the world, including values, ideas, and beliefs. In this course, we will develop the rhetorical skills to enter into a variety of academic and professional communities. All Writing and Rhetoric courses introduce students to academic discourse and ethical argumentation; this prepares them to write effective papers at Notre Dame and to develop skills that will serve them long after time as a Notre Dame undergraduate has ended. We will think of academic discourse as an ongoing conversation between researchers and scholars in a variety of fields. We will work to identify interesting and important conversations; to identify the key issues in those conversations; to explore the variety of media and genres in which academic conversations tale place; and to develop rhetorical strategies that will allow us to enter these conversations. COURSE GOALS To use the tools of rhetoric to identify and analyze the arguments you encounter in academic conversations To understand multiple perspectives on an issue in order to responsibly and credibly enter scholarly and public conversations To craft arguments that offer meaningful contributions to these conversations To develop strategies of research, reading, and writing that will support your academic and personal development TEXTS Required Capdevielle, Matthew, ed. Fresh Writing. Vol 11. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2011. Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2010.

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory C. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. 3rd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2008 Recommended Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. Strunk, William and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. New York: Penguin, 2007. MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS Readings There will be a reading assignment for each class. These assignments will not be large in terms of page count, but they are carefully selected and require attention and care. They will serve as the starting point for class discussion, so read them carefully and, if you can, multiple times. Come to class with comments, questions, ideas, and insights on your reading. Informal Writing Informal writingwriting that does not receive an official gradeis instrumental to developing your skills as an academic writer. Please take these informal writing assignments seriously. They may include blog posts on the course website, short written assignments to be turned in and/or discussed in class, and prewriting for formal assignments. While these will not be formally graded, they will go towards your participation grade and may be worth a portion of the points in a given formal assignment. Audio Narrative (5 minutes) In this assignment, you will prepare, perform, and record an audio narrative that helps describe who you are and what you value. The purpose of this assignment is twofold: first, you will make an argument about yourself using the techniques of narrative (plot, setting, character, etc.); and second, you will consider and reflect on the relationship between an arguments medium and its message. In addition to your audio narrative, you will also turn in a script and a reflection piece. Due Sunday, February 12. Rhetorical Analysis (3 pages) As you develop your own voice as a contributor to academic and professional conversations, you will become more attuned to the rhetoric of other contributors. In this essay, you will analyze a short argument using rhetorical tools. At the same time, your analysis is not merely a scavenger hunt for rhetorical moves; you will develop an argument about the work that you analyze and consider how it contributes to a broader conversation. Due Sunday, March 4. Paper Proposal/Annotated Bibliography We will devote a good deal of time in this course to one significant contribution to an academic conversation of your choice. Developing a research project is a two-pronged effort: on one hand, you must identify a topic that is interesting to you and about which you have something new to offer; on the other hand, you must investigate a variety of sources in order to better understand the conversation as it stands presently. This second process involves reading key works, identifying major contributors, and determining how you fit into the conversation. In order to identify the conversation and to find your place in it, you will first write a one-page proposal. Once youve completed your proposal, you will read (or investigate) six to eight sources and

complete an annotated bibliography entry for each source. Paper Proposal due Friday, March 9; Annotated Bibliography due Sunday, March 25. Rebuttal Essay (3 pages) As we will learn, most academic arguments come from the authors deep, thoughtful engagement with a broader conversation. Often, they begin by responding to one particularly important contribution: an article, book, essay, etc. In this essay, you will select one source from your annotated bibliography and respond to it. This will require you to accurately and ethically summarize that sources argument and then to clearly and concisely respond to it. Due Sunday, April 8. Researched Argument (9-11 pages) In this assignment, you will enter fully into an academic conversation. You will use the rhetorical tools we have studied over the course of the semester to make an argument on a topic of your choice. You must situate this argument within a greater conversation and then add something new. I want you to approach this assignment with creativity: dont just rehash a boring argument, use all of the models we have seen this semester to develop your own unique academic voice. Due Sunday, April 29. COURSE POLICIES Attendance Your attendance and active participation is essential to your learning and the groups learning in this course. In the event that you must miss a class, please contact me in advance. You may miss up to three classes without penalty (this includes both University Excused and unexcused absences). After three absences, each additional absence will lower your course grade (e.g. from an A to A- or A- to B+). You are responsible for all the work that you miss during an absence. Please check the website for handouts and assignments and contact fellow students for notes. Please note that if you are absent during a class in which work is due, you still must turn in the work on time or it will be late, resulting in a grade reduction. If you come to class very late or are completely unprepared (meaning you have not completed readings and informal assignments), I will consider you absent. If you fall asleep in class, I will consider you absent. Grading Your grade in this course will be based on performance in the following major areas. I. Participation, Peer-Review, and Informal Writing (200 points; 20% of your grade) II. Writing Portfolio (800 points; 80% of your grade) a. Audio Narrative (150 points) b. Rhetorical Analysis (100 points) c. Paper Proposal/Annotated Bibliography (100 points) d. Rebuttal Essay (150 points) e. Researched Argument (250 points) f. Reflection Letter (50 points)

Portfolio While each of your major projects will receive a grade during the course of the term, your final writing portfolio will be assessed holistically (meaning as a whole) at the end of the semester. For this reason, you may want to revise essays before the end of the semester. We will discuss the portfolio further towards the end of the semester, but for the moment please be sure to keep copies of all of your work, including prewriting and drafts. I recommend saving drafts, teacher/peer feedback, and final copies in multiple locations (on your computer, on a USB drive, and on the web). The Final Portfolio is due Friday, May 4 at 4:00 p.m. Please bring your final portfolio to The Loft (300 OShaughnessy). Due Dates and Extensions All assignments are due at midnight on the assigned date (unless otherwise noted). All papers should be in MLA formatthis means double spaced, twelve-point Times New Roman font, with a title, heading, and page numbers. You must turn in assignments electronically by emailing them as attachments to kdonnel3@nd.edu. Except for the Audio Narrative, all attachments should be Microsoft Word documents (.doc or .docx). Please save drafts with your last name, first initial, and the appropriate abbreviations for the assignment. For example, I would save my Rhetorical Analysis as DonnellyK_RA. I will tell you the naming conventions of each assignment on the assignment sheet. I will not grant extensions for drafts because of their time sensitive nature. On other assignments, I am open to discussing extensions. If you need an extension, please contact me 48 hours before the assignment is due. Should you turn in work late, you will lose one third of a letter grade (e.g. A to A- or B+ to B) for each day the work is late. You are responsible for saving all copies of your work in multiple places. A crashed computer or a faulty email is not an excuse for late work. Revision Writing is a process, and for this reason you may your revise major assignments (though there will not be revisions for the Audio Narrative or Paper Proposal/Annotated Bibliography). Please note that revising a paper does not guarantee a higher grade. After I return an assignment with a provisional grade, you have two weeks to contact me and let me know you plan to revise the assignment. We will then set up a meeting and plan a revision strategy. You will turn in the revised draft in your final portfolio at the end of the semester. Website, Email, and Technology This course requires full participation not just in class but on the course website, http://enteringtheconversation.wordpress.com. In order to participate on the website, you must have a WordPress account. We will set up accounts together in class. The website will also archive all of our assignments, handouts, and readings. If you miss a class or lose a handout, please refer to the website. Most readings will be available through Hesburgh Librarys ereserves. I will post a link to e-reserves from the course website.

In addition to the website, I will communicate with the class and with individuals through your Notre Dame email accounts. Please check your email regularly. If you have any questions for me or need to schedule an appointment, please send me an email. I check email once or twice a day; I may not respond immediately if you email me late at night or on the weekends. In class, you must silence/turn off your cell phone and any other electronics. I understand that you might use your phone or other device to take notes, schedule assignments, etc, but please write yourself a note and enter it into your phone later. Please print readings and bring them to class. We will occasionally use computers in this class; however, please do not use your computer unless I specifically ask you to do so. At all other times, leave them in your room or keep them in your bag. Academic Honesty We are privileged to attend an institution that holds us to a higher standard. Part of that higher standard includes the honor code which trusts us, as members of the community, to be honest and ethical scholars. All written work, drafts, and final products must be your own. If you have any questions about proper citation, please contact me. Most instances of plagiarism result not from malice but from ignorance or poor time management. Planning ahead and contacting me if you run into difficulties will help you avoid plagiarism. For info on the Honor Code, visit www.nd.edu/~hnrcode. RESOURCES Writing Center The ND Writing Center is dedicated to helping students become better writers. Tutors will not proofread or fix your papers, but they will help you develop your argument at any stage in your writing process. You must make at least one visit to the writing center over the course of the semester. This visit must take place before Spring Break; failure to do so will negatively affect your participation grade. You may make more visitsthis will help you write better papers and may boost your participation grade. Please visit the Writing Center website to schedule an appointment. http://writingcenter.nd.edu/home/ Disability Services If you have a disability and will need accommodations for this course, please register with Disability Services (http://www.nd.edu/~osd). After you have discussed you accommodation needs with the Coordinator of Disabilities, please speak with me to make whatever arrangements may be necessary.

COURSE SCHEDULE This course will be organized into units. At the beginning of each unit, I will hand out a detailed schedule with reading and writing assignments and due dates. Here is a provisional schedule of the units: Unit One: What is Rhetoric Unit Two: Audio Narrative Unit Three: Rhetorical Analysis & Critical Reading Unit Four: Planning a Researched Argument Unit Five: Rebuttal Essay Unit Six: Researched Argument January 17 January 24 January 26 February 7 February 9 March 1 March 6 March 22 March 27 April 3 April 5 May 1