ENGL5010/Seminar in Composition & Rhetoric/Thompson/Spring 2K8

Contact: mthompson@csustan.edu,  rhetster on AIM,  667-3591,  L195G at M 2:00-5:00, T 2:00-2:30 and by appt. 

The policies and syllabus will be updated as is needed due to changes in assignments, due dates, etc. Please refer to the online version for the most current information and check regularly for announcements posted to BlackBoard.

Approximate Class Format: This list provides a general idea. Times allotted may vary quite a bit in a given class session, and some elements may not be included in some class sessions.

1. 6:00-6:10: Questions, complaints, comments, and requests--time for clarifications and possible changes .
2. 6:10-6:40: Reports on Collaborative Discussion Topic
3. 6:40-7:15  Reports on Reader Responses
4. 7:15-7:30  Break
5. 7:30-7:50: Presentation on "outside" text.
6. 7:50-8:20: Lecture/continued discussion of the week's topics and readings.
7. 8:20-8:30: In-class writing and reflection.
8. 8:30-8:45: Read around and discussion of in-class writing.
9. 8:45-9:00: Determination of Collaborative Discussion Topic.

1. Must be able to attend class and conferences, arriving on time and prepared.
2. Must do all the work assigned for the course on time. This may seem simple, but it sometimes seems extraordinarily difficult to do.
3. Must be self-directed enough to prepare for and execute earnest, thoughtful work during class time and outside of class.
4. Must be willing and able to do research and photocopying of university-level texts outside of class.
5. Must be willing and able to work collaboratively, including collaborative research and thoughtful responses to peers' papers.
6. Must be willing to make considerable revisions of papers. 

Texts and Supplies: Required texts--The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present, Second Edition; packet of course materials..

A. Reader responses (RR) lead into the weekly class meeting and are a place to allow thoughtful exploration which interweaves  issues connected to teaching, writing, your experience as teacher/student, previous readings, classmates responses to previous readings, and the readings under consideration for the week. See the graphic: http://rhet.csustan.edu/5001/RRgraphic.rtf  These responses will form the basis of your contribution to the ongoing class discussions. As such, your RR  must be posted to your group's discussion board by 6 p.m. PT Sunday of each week beginning the second week of classes (i.e., one day prior to class time).  RRs are not meant to summarize or comment on all the reading for the week. Select what you think is an important point, questions, issue, etc. RRs cannot be submitted after the beginning of class; RRs submitted late but by class time will receive a reduced grade.  [Limits: 350-400 words ea.] Each class meeting one student from each group will report the single most important point/issue from his or her group's reader responses.

B. Collaborative discussion (CDT) follows from the weekly class meeting and will require that you engage in dialogue with others on a discussion board. Provide at leas one substantive contribution to the discussion each week by 6 p.m. Sunday. (i.e, within six days after the end of class). The entire discussion should flow from the initial posting--that is, don't start a new thread for your response(s). Each class meeting one student from each group will report the single most important point/issue from his or her group's discussion.

C. A research essay  (RE) based on 12-15 journal articles or essays on a topic concerning rhetoric. Some of the mainstream composition journals are College Composition and Communication, College English, JAC, Research in the Teaching of English, Rhetoric Review, Written Communication. When you locate a useful article, be sure to use the works cited page to locate other related articles and journals. Note that lack of preparation for the conference may lower your grade for this essay. Your research will be greatly facilitated by working with a reference librarian. Speak to a reference librarian by calling 667-3233; set up a F2F appointment by calling 664-6558.

The essay includes the four sections described below; use the italicized words as headings in your paper. You may include other sections as you see fit:

1. Usefulness: details why one might find the collection useful (brief)
2. Perspectives: talks about the range of perspectives on and approaches to the issue at hand (general/fairly brief)
3. Discussion: discusses (analytically, comparatively, and synthetically) the three or so most salient works (specific/extensive). [Remember that analysis looks at the parts and how they work together, comparison plays one component off against another, and synthesis seeks to re-combine into something new (thesis antithesis-syn/thesis)
4. Direction: recommends new directions for research in the area (what new questions come to mind?) (brief)

The proportion of parts is important:

Usefulness

Perspectives

Discussion

Direction

Use MLA style for the bibliographic and internal citations. A part of the grade for this paper will come from your presentation of the RE during the final weeks of class. See http://rhet.csustan.edu/5001/Presentation.htm  With approval prior to the conference this essay may be done as a collaborative project by two students resulting in one text. [Limits 6-8 pages single-spaced as gauged with Times New Roman 12-point font excluding works cited and visuals .]

D. Presentation on an assigned text:   These will be articles or sections of  the course text that you will read and present to the class. Your tasks are to explain the important points of the text and to provide a one-page handout which includes an aesthetically-pleasing, hand-drawn graphic (see the APHG) as a means to help us understand your presentation.

E. Presentation on CDT/RR: Each week one person from each group will be assigned to report on the most important element/focus of the the collaborative discussion topic and the reader responses. Focus and specific reference are important to this presentation are important See http://rhet.csustan.edu/5001/CDTRRpres.htm

F. The midterm examination is an in-class, closed-text essay examination based on concepts covered to that point of the class.

Important notes about submitting and re-submitting work:  If your work is submitted on time, you will have one week from the time I provide a response to revise and resubmit. The time for resubmission of the Research Essay may be more or less than one week--a final submission date will be specified.

Notes: 1. This class will employ the +/- grading system; 2. No quizzes, no extra credit work. 3. More than two absences will warrant an 'F' for the course grade. 4.Incompletes (I’s) will be assigned only when clearly warranted and when at least 80% of coursework has been completed. 

Disabilities: If a disability may prevent full demonstration of your abilities, please contact me personally as soon as possible so we can discuss accommodations necessary to ensure full participation and facilitate your educational opportunity.

Plagiarism: If you plagiarize, you will fail the course. See the English Department policy on plagiarism http://www.csustan.edu/english/dept/plagiarism.html . Review the samples of acceptable and unacceptable paraphrase at: http://rhet.csustan.edu/2000/plagiarismparaphrase.htm. Complete the exercises at http://www.dianahacker.com/writersref/  (click on Research Exercises then on MLA*). If you have questions about whether you are using a source fairly, ask me. The University also severely penalizes plagiarists.

*You might find it useful to do all the exercises in this MLA section of the Hacker site which include work on thesis statements, recognizing common knowledge, integrating sources, in-text citation, identifying elements of sources, and works cited pages.

Open University/Extended Education: University policy dictates that this course, if taken through Open University/Extended Education, might not count toward the M.A. in English.

Due dates: [To top] The Reader Response deadline is the Sunday evening before class and the Collaborative Discussion deadline is the Sunday evening after class on a 6 p.m. CST deadline.

Week One (2/18): What is rhetoric?  & A few orienting highlights from classical, medieval, and renaissance rhetoric

Week Two (2/25): Enlightenment rhetorical theory.

Week Four (3/10): Enlightenment rhetorical theory

Week Five (3/17): Nineteenth-century rhetorical theory

Week Six (4/7):  Modern and postmodern rhetorical theory.

Week Seven (4/14): Midterm Examination (1 hr). Modern and postmodern rhetorical theory.

Week Eight (4/21): Modern and postmodern rhetorical theory.

 Week Nine (4/28):  MEET in L195G.  Research Essay conferences: By this point in the term you will need to have a clearly defined overall topic, have collected at least 5 articles on that topic, and have some sense of the topics you will discuss in your essay. Bring your articles, the plan for your essay, and questions with you.

Week Ten (5/5):  Modern and postmodern rhetorical theory

Week Eleven (5/12): Ancient and postmodern rhetorical theory

Week Twelve (5/19):  In-class presentations of Research Essays. See http://rhet.csustan.edu/5001/Presentation.htm 

Week Thirteen (5/21) In-class presentations of Research Essays. See http://rhet.csustan.edu/5001/Presentation.htm 

Research Essay due Tuesday 5/27 electronically, attached to and pasted into email,  by 6 p.m. Indicate revisions in bold type. See the release form.