Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are meeting on the Indigenous lands of Turtle Island, the ancestral name for what now is called North America. Further, we acknowledge we are meeting on the land of the Alabama-Coushatta, Caddo, Carrizo/Comecrudo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, Tonkawa and Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo, and the thousands of American Indian and Indigenous Peoples and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in Texas.
RHE 306 Introduction to Rhetoric & Writing
Required Textbooks
● Nicotra, Jodie. Becoming Rhetorical. Cengage, 2018. ISBN-10: 978-1305956773 (Included with course; linked from Canvas)
● UNC-Chapel Hill’s Writing Center Resources (online)
● Other readings available on Canvas or by instructor.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
UT’s motto is “What starts here changes the world.” In RHE 306, Rhetoric & Writing, you will take the first step in changing the world by learning how to argue effectively in the public sphere.
In this class, you will learn how to examine public rhetoric, analyze various positions that people hold, and effectively advocate your own position. You will also explore the ethics of argumentation, explaining what it means to “fairly” represent someone with whom you disagree, or how to responsibly address a community with particular values and interests. Your work in this course will help you advance the critical writing and reading skills you will need to succeed in courses for your major and university degree.
This course may be used to fulfill three hours of the communication component of the university core curriculum and addresses the following four core course objectives established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: communication skills, critical thinking skills, teamwork, and personal responsibility.
COURSE GOALS
● examine a related set of texts, learning how to identify their claims and assumptions.
● find a similar set of texts about a local issue, then perform a rhetorical analysis on them to understand how people are arguing about an issue locally.
● identify and argue for a change related to that issue.
● develop that advocacy in a multimodal argument for a specific audience.
COURSEWORK + GRADING
● Skills Activities (15%)
● Homework + Peer Review (15%)
● Essay Project 1: Analyze the rhetorical situation in a set of texts (20%)
● Essay Project 2: Rhetorically analyze a local argument (20%)
● Campaign Project 3: Propose a course of action through a written proposal and multimedia piece (30%)
Skills Activities (15%). On most Thursdays, you will be asked to work on a Skills Activity intended to help you develop critical rhetorical or writing skills. These will be due by midnight on Thursday. Some will be individual activities and some will be group or partner activities.
Drafts and Peer Review (15%). There will be a handful of project-related drats and peer review assignments dispersed across the semester, intended to develop student ability to revise.
Essay #1: Comparing Rhetorical Situations (20%). In this project, you will use the concepts from Nicotra Ch. 1-2 to examine the different positions in a set of texts dealing with the same topic. This essay will require you to summarize a set of texts and the crisis they address. It will also ask you to draw nuanced comparisons between texts and their rhetorical situations.
Essay #2: Rhetorical Analysis (20%). For this essay, you will write a detailed, researched analysis over ONE opinion source related to your chosen crisis. The essay should provide a detailed analysis of the rhetorical situation and appeals, strategically informed by other sources.
Final Advocacy Proposal & Multimedia Project (30%). Your final project will have three pieces through which you will apply the skills you've learned this semester: a formal proposal that addresses a group of local stakeholders (1000-1500 words), a visual or piece of media designed to carry your message to a broader local audience, and a design brief that explains your visual (300 words). Creating this projects a chance for you to apply the skills and analysis we've learned this semester to your own work as a message-maker.
Schedule
Please note this schedule is subject to change. I believe in responsive classrooms that adjust to student needs and interests. What follows is currently a tentative guide for the semester, but due dates and readings might shift as the course progresses. I promise you will receive timely notifications from me of changes as they occur.
WEEK 1
T 1/10: Syllabus Day and “What is Rhetoric?”
TH 1/12: The Basic Rhetorical Situation Introduction and Practice
WEEK 2
T 1/17: Rhetorical Appeals
TH 1/19: Writing about Rhetorical Appeals Practice
WEEK 3
T 1/24: Extended Rhetorical Situation
TH 1/26: Researching the extended rhetorical situation for a text
WEEK 4
T 1/31 Researching sources
TH 2/02 Summarizing and comparing sources in writing (ONLINE; NO CLASS)
WEEK 5
T 2/07 Writing Day (Draft 1 Due)
TH 2/09 Peer Review & Revision Day
Essay #1 Due Sunday, February 12th
WEEK 6
T 2/14 Choosing a crisis
TH 2/16 Researching and choosing your crisis
WEEK 7
T 2/20 Closely examining extended rhetorical situations
TH 2/22 Writing specifically about rhetorical situations
WEEK 9
T 2/28 Closely examining rhetorical appeals
TH 3/2 Writing specifically about rhetorical appeals
WEEK 10
T 3/07 Writing academically/professionally
TH 3/09 Writing/academically/professionally
SPRING BREAK March 13-18
WEEK 11
T 3/21 Writing day (Draft 1 Due)
TH 3/23 Peer review & revision day
Essay #2 Due Sunday, March 26th
WEEK 12
T 3/28 Visual + multimodal rhetoric
TH 3/30 Writing about visual + multimodal rhetoric
WEEK 13
T 4/04 Stasis Theory: Explaining & Defining
TH 4/06 Explaining & Defining Practice
WEEK 14
T 4/11 Stasis Theory: Evaluating & Proposing
TH 4/13 Evaluating & Proposing Practice
WEEK 15
T 4/18 Framing problems and solutions with words and pictures
TH 4/20 LAST CLASS DAY - Project help activity
FINAL PROJECT DUE Friday, April 28
Class Policies
Longhorn Textbook Access Program. RHE 306 is participating in the Longhorn Textbook Access Program. This means you have immediate access to the course textbook, Becoming Rhetorical, through the “My Textbooks” tab in Canvas. You are not required to purchase an access code from the bookstore or online because the cost will be included on your What I Owe page at a reduced price. If you prefer to get your textbook elsewhere, you may opt out of this program by the 12th day of class. For more information, review the Cengage RHE 306 course page and the Longhorn Textbook Access page on the University Co-Op website.
Inclusive Community Guidelines. Be respectful of your colleagues. There is zero tolerance for slurs or derogatory language. In general, don’t discriminate based on race, gender presentation, marital status, religion, disability, age, or sexual orientation. Everyone in our class has the right to be addressed in accordance with their personal identity. The university provides me with a class roster containing each student’s legal name and sex marker. I will gladly address you by the name and gender pronoun with which you identify. Please let me know your name and pronouns early in the semester, so your peers and I can address you appropriately. If you find a reading or assignment triggering in any way, or suspect that you will be triggered, please contact me as soon as possible. I am happy to speak with you about the content of the material in advance and/or provide you with an alternative assignment. If you are troubled by or feel unsafe in any class discussion, please speak with me as soon as possible so that we can work to resolve the immediate problem and prevent future issues.
Accessibility. Your success in this class is important to me. If there are aspects of this course that prevent you from learning or exclude you, please let me know as soon as possible. Together we’ll develop strategies to meet both your needs and course requirements.I am committed to making all course materials as accessible as possible, and to working with students if any of these materials are inaccessible. We will all need some accommodations in this class, because we all learn differently. If you need specific accommodations, let me know. Any conversations we have about accommodations are confidential. I am happy to take extra steps to ensure accessibility for all students.
Safe Space Policy and Discussion Guidelines. This class will always strive to be a safe space for learning and development; that is, a space where we can develop and refine the knowledge and skills necessary for culturally competent practice. Learning requires stretching beyond comfort zones, and yet feeling safe is a prerequisite for a good learning environment. As we all bring diverse experiences to our shared classroom, here are some general guidelines to help create the environment we want.
● It is never okay to laugh at, belittle, or harass a colleague because of their opinion or point of view. Always think about how your comments will support our learning as a group.
● Make a commitment to understand unfamiliar positions from the context or point of view of your peers.
● Speak for yourself rather than for a group (use your “I” statements).
● Be present –really listening to your colleagues will dramatically improve your in-class experience and prevent most understandings.
● Take risks in speaking honestly; this will help the learning of the group.
Late and Missed Work. For Major Assignments: Every student in this class is automatically granted ONE two-day extension for ONE major assignment. However, you must email me ahead of time and let me know you are using your allotted extension. This is intended to help you as you juggle courses and personal lives this semester. Please use your extension wisely. Excepting your single allotted extension, I will accept major assignments for TWO DAYS after the due date. A letter grade will be dropped for every day it is late. You do not need to email me if you are submitting late work, because Canvas tracks your submission time. If assignments are turned in more than three days late, they will be considered missing. Detailed guidelines and grading explanations will be given for each major assignment. For Minor Assignments. You may miss ONE Skills Activity without penalty. Again, this is intended to help you manage your courses and lives. Please use your allotted misses wisely. I will accept Skills Activities one day late for one point off. I will accept Homework and Peer Review for THREE DAYS after the due date for a point off (an “Incomplete”). You do not need to email me if you are submitting late work, because Canvas tracks your submission time. If assignments are turned in more than three days late, they will be considered missing.