Rhetoric 1302 – section 009

Fall 2005

INSTRUCTOR: James Pious Fassler III

University of Texas at Dallas
School of Arts & Humanities

DAYS/TIME: MWF, 11 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.

LOCATION JO 4.306

Syllabus website:
http://www.ashmead.net/~angel/Rhetoric1302/Rhetoric1302-009-Fall-2005-Fassler.pdf

Office: JO 4.118

Office Hours: Friday, 12-1

Phone: 972-883-2018

Email: angel@ashmead.net

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.

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 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/

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.

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.

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.

Week 1
Monday 8/19
Intro to course and Rhetoric program website; Register for QA e-book online and EA companion website
In Class

Read EA Ch 1
Assignments Read QA Chs 1-3
Send email to me by Monday, 8/23

Week 2
Monday 8/22
In Class Intro to LRO; Discussion of EA Ch 1 and QA Chs 1-3
 Record an observation in your LRO
Assignments Read Chs 2-3 in EA
Complete LRO parts A.1 and A.2 by 9/1
Wednesday 8/24
In Class Discussion of EA Chs 2-3 and demo of QA electronic resources

Assignments
Read EA Ch 4
Bring a magazine to class on 8/27 (see Response #2 on p 76)
Friday 8/26

In Class
Discuss EA Ch 4; Small group rhetorical analysis of emotional appeal in magazine ads

Record an observation in your LRO

Assignments Read EA Ch 5, William Bennett’s A Nation worth Defending
Read Michael Kazin’s A Patriotic Left.

Week 3
Monday 8/29

In Class
Discuss EA Ch 5 and Bennett and Kazin

Assignments
Record an observation in your LRO
Read EA Chs 6-7
Wednesday 8/31
DUE: LRO parts A.1 and A.2; Discuss EA Chs 6-7
In Class

Assignments
Read EA Ch 8
Read Title IX Facts Everyone Should Know.
Friday 9/2
Discuss EA Ch 8; Class Toulmin analysis of Title IX Facts.
In Class

Record an observation in your LRO

Read EA Ch 9
Read John Rickford’s Suite for Ebonics and Phonics (EA p. 723)
Assignments
Read Aisha Khan’s Will the real American patriot please stand up?(EA p.826)
Read Dennis Prager’s Divinity and Pornography p.519
Begin work on Essay #1 (Definition/Evaluation Argument)

Week 4
Monday 9/5

LABOR DAY HOLLIDAY – NO CLASS

Wednesday 9/7
Discussion of EA Ch 9 and Rickford, Khan and Prager
In Class

Assignments Read EA Ch 10 and Chs 21-22 (Assessing and using Sources, Documenting Sources)
Friday 9/9
Discussion of EA Ch 10 and general discussion of sources; students log in to QA online;
In Class
Demo of QA Research Navigator and Documentation electronic resources;
Assignments Read Thomas Burnett’s Promoting an Extreme Case of Sharing
Read John Levesque’s Sitcom Dads Rarely Know Best, Study of TV Laments (EA p.506)
 Read Alan M. Dershowitz, "Why Fear National ID Cards?"

Week 5
Monday 9/12

In Class
Discussion of Burnett, Levesque and Dershowitz

Assignments
Record an observation in your LRO
Readings to be announced
Wednesday 9/14
Library Tour
In Class

Read QA Handbook on MLA format and how to cite and create a works cited page
Assignments Read student samples of LRO Parts B.1 (Analysis) and C.1 (Evaluation) in LRO website
Read EA Chs 18-20
Friday 9/16
Class discussion of LRO parts B.1 and C.1; Grammar, format, mechanics, evidence,
In Class
fallacies, and plagiarism discussion (bring QA Handbook)
Record an observation in your LRO
Assignments
Work on draft of essay #1, due 9/20

Week 6
Monday 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
Wednesday 9/21
Teacher conference and in-class writing on essay #1.
In Class

Assignments Continue work on essay # 1

Friday 9/23
Teacher conference and in-class work on essay #1 revisions
In Class

Continue work on essay # 1

Assignments Read EA Ch 15
Bring Visual Exercises CD to class Monday

Week 7
Monday 9/26
Final draft of Essay #1 due
In Class
Discussion of EA Ch 15; work in Visual Exercises application in class

Record an observation in your LRO

Assignments Research image(s) to use for Visual Rhetoric Essay #2 and bring some to
class
Wednesday 9/28
Small group discussions of images and analysis of arguments in images
In Class
 Examine images in United Benetton ads
Assignments (http://www.benetton.com/html/whatwesay/campaigns/photogallery.shtml) and
Adbusters.org (http://adbusters.org/home/) website and note various arguments
Friday 9/30
Discuss United Benetton and Adbusters.org images
In Class

Record an observation in your LRO

Assignments 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]

Week 8
Monday 10/3
In Class
Using the technology – introduction to the use of computers and the internet as a rhetorical
tool
Assignments
Record an observation in your LRO
Work on format and media decisions for visual project
Wednesday 10/5
Continued discussion of technological tools of rhetoric
In Class

Assignments
Complete parts B.1 and C.1 of LRO due Fri, 10/8
start sketching main visual project components and argument analysis
Friday 10/7
Parts B.1 and C.1 of LRO due today. Moderation readings.
In Class

Assignments
Record an Observation about moderation readings in your LRO
continue work on visual project

Week 9
Monday 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
Wednesday 10/12
First draft of Visual argument due; peer reviews in class
In Class

Assignments Work on revision of visual argument analysis paper based on peer review suggestions
Friday 10/14
Teacher-student conferences on visual argument essay
In Class

Assignments Complete final draft of Visual argument essay due Wednesday, 10/20

Week 10
Monday 10/17
In Class In class work on visual projects
 Record an Observation in your LRO
Assignments
Read EA Ch 16
Reading arguments online – message boards and the blogosphere, with emphasis on sites to
be announced.
Wednesday 10/19
Final draft of Visual argument due; Discussion of EA Ch 16 on Arguments in Electronic
In Class
Environments and assigned online readings.
Assignments More assigned readings in net-based discourse
Friday 10/21
Continued discussion of online readings to be held online at Lingua MOO
In Class

Record an Observation in your LRO

Create LRO Work Sample link to MOO transcript of online discussion from today
Assignments
Read EA Ch 11
Read Norimitsu Onishi’s Globalization of Beauty Makes Slimness Trendy
Read Declan McCullah’s "Why Liberty Suffers in Wartime"
Read Peter Mandaville’s Digital Islam: Changing the Boundaries of Religious Knowledge"

Week 11
Monday 10/24
Discussion of EA Ch 11 and Onishi, McCullah and Mandaville; Discuss Paper #3 project
In Class (Causal or Proposal Essay due Nov 24)

Assignments
Record an Observation in your LRO
start thinking about your final paper topic
Wednesday 10/26
Continued discussion of EA Ch 11 and Onishi, McCullah and Mandaville.
In Class

Assignments Read the handbook sections on Words, Sentences

Friday 10/28
Bring QA; discussion of assignments from Handbook
In Class

Record an Observation in your LRO

Read EA Ch 12
Read Ariel Dorfman’s If Only We All Spoke Two Languages
Assignments Read Ed Madden’s An Open Letter to My Christian Friends
Read Deborah Tannen’s Teachers' Classroom Strategies Should Recognize That Men and Women Use
Language Differently
Read Joe Loconte’s Hospice, Not Hemlock

Week 12
Monday 10/31
In Class
Discussion of EA Ch 12 and Dorfman, Madden, Tannen and Loconte

Assignments
Record an Observation in your LRO
choose possible topics for Causal/Proposal argument for Paper #3
Wednesday 11/2
In Class Continued discussion of EA Ch 12 and Dorfman, Madden, Tannen and Loconte; small group
 discussions of paper topics
Assignments Refine paper topic and begin work on first draft
Friday 11/4

In Class
Teacher conference on paper topics

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

Week 13
Monday 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
Wednesday 11/9
First draft of essay #3 due in LRO; Peer reviews of first draft of essay #3
In Class

Assignments Continue working on essay #3 using peer feedback

Friday 11/11
Work on revisions of first draft of essay #3
In Class

Assignments
Continue working on essay #3
Read EA Ch 14

Week 14
Monday 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
Wednesday 11/16
In-class writing on essay #3; Second draft of essay #3 due in LRO by end of class period
In Class

Assignments prepare for conference with instructor

Friday 11/18
In Class
Conference with instructor

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

Week 15
Monday 11/21
In Class
Conference with instructor

Assignments Complete final draft of essay #3 in LRO for 11/23

Wednesday 11/23
In-class: Final draft of essay #3 due in LRO; student evaluations of course
In Class

Assignments Complete LRO parts B.2 and C.2 due Monday 11/29
Friday 11/25
 Thanksgiving Holiday

Week 16
Monday 11/28
In Class
LRO parts B.2 and C.2 due today. Moderation readings.