Instructor: Josh Hall
Office:
Office Hours: M 12:15 – 2:00 PM
Email: Joshua.Hall@gcccd.edu
RWS 200: The Rhetoric of Written Arguments in Context
We live in a world where there is more and more information,
and less and less meaning.
—Jean Baudrillard
Class: Sec. 21, 3 units, SDSU, spring 2014
Meeting Times: MWF 11:00 – 11:50 AM in ENS-106
Required Texts (please get the editions listed):
Miller, Richard E. and Kurt Spellmeyer, eds. The New Humanities Reader. 4th edition.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. (Dial Press, 2009).
Online articles (see course calendar)
Recommended Texts:
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.
A college-level dictionary.
MLA Citation (online resource): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
General Education Capacities/Goals & RWS Learning Outcomes
Our Learning Outcomes Reflect the Goals and Capacities of the General Education Program.
RWS 200 is one of several courses in the area of general education defined as “Communication
and Critical Thinking.” Focusing particularly on argument, this course emphasizes four
essential general education capacities: the ability to 1) construct, analyze and communicate
argument, 2) contextualize phenomena, 3) negotiate differences, and 4) apply theoretical models
to the real world. This course advances general education by helping students understand the
general function of writing, speaking, visual texts, and thinking within the context of the
university at large, rather than within specific disciplines. In addition to featuring the basic rules
and conventions governing composition and presentation, RWS 200 establishes intellectual
frameworks and analytical tools that help students explore, construct, critique, and integrate
sophisticated texts.
Within this framework of four general capacities, the course realizes four closely related
subsidiary goals. These goals focus on helping students
1)
2)
3)
4)
craft well-reasoned arguments for specific audiences;
analyze a variety of texts commonly encountered in the academic setting;
situate discourse within social, generic, cultural, and historic contexts;
assess the relative strengths of arguments and supporting evidence.
Our student learning outcomes for RWS 200 are closely aligned with these goals and capacities,
and reflect the program’s overall objective of helping students attain “essential skills that underlie
all university education.”
Course Objectives: To learn to write with clarity and cogency while becoming inquiring and
analytical readers and thinkers. You’ll be given practice in writing of various kinds in order to
help you develop the skills needed for further university work. The readings for this course are
rich and challenging and will serve as stimuli for your writing and our class discussions. By the
end of the semester, you will be able to:
1. Discern elements of context embedded in arguments, the clues that show what the
argument is responding to – both in the sense of what has come before it and the
sense that it is written for an audience in a particular time and place; examine a
writer’s language in relation to audience, context, and community;
2. Use concepts and arguments from one text as a context for understanding, evaluating
and writing about another;
3. Given the common concerns of two or more arguments, discuss how the claims of
these arguments modify, complicate, or qualify one another; consider how major
positions advanced in these texts relate to each other and evaluate the persuasiveness
of these positions.
4. Consider your contemporary life as the context within which you are reading a group
of arguments; position yourself in relation to ongoing research and discussion in
order to make an argument and “join the conversation.” Evaluate source texts so as to
create a space for an original contribution.
5. Building on the work done in RWS 100, you will be able to articulate what argument
a text is making, describe the work that is done by each section of the argument,
describe elements of the argument such as claims, methods of development, kinds of
evidence, persuasive appeals, and translate an argument into your own words;
6. Investigate and articulate how an argument is positioned – based on certain kinds of
assumptions, located in a way of thinking and representing issues from a point of
view;
7. Work with multiple sources in a paper, deciding what to include and what to exclude,
choosing an effective structure, and creating significant relationships among sources;
8. Evaluate the relationships among multiple positions (including strengths and
weakness) with respect to audience, avoiding simplistic judgments and
demonstrating, where appropriate, how the preponderance of the evidence supports
specific positions over others.
9. Understand and incorporate all aspects of the writing process – including prewriting,
drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading;
10. Craft a cohesive paper, and use effective metadiscourse to guide a reader through it;
11. Describe your own papers and reflect on how you wrote them; differentiate between
the content of your texts and the language and rhetorical strategies you employ;
12. Revise your own work effectively, re-reading previous work and re-envisioning it in
the light of reflection, feedback, further reading, and new sources of information;
13. Edit your writing for the grammar and usage conventions appropriate to the project.
Expectations: Always bring the assigned reading to class, and arrive having completed the
assignment(s). To succeed in this course, my expectation is that you will spend at least one hour
of outside study for every hour that you are in class.
Attendance: Attendance is paramount to your success in this course. It is imperative that you
attend each class session in order to keep up with the assignments. If you are absent, it is your
responsibility to find out what you have missed.
Grading:
Paper #1: 100 pts.
Paper #2: 100 pts.
Paper #3: 100 pts.
Paper #4: 100 pts.
Final Reflection: 25 pts.
Homework Assignments: 10 pts. each
Editing Workshops: 10 pts. each
Grading Scale:
93-100% = A
90-92% = A88-89 % = B+
83-87% = B
80-82% = B78-79% = C +
70-77% = C
60-69% = D
0-59% = F
Papers: There are four formal papers, and there will be editing workshops the week before each
paper is due. Please arrive on time and bring two copies of a complete rough draft to each
workshop. If you do not arrive on time or bring two copies, you will not be given credit for
the workshop. I am available during office hours to answer any questions you might have about
the papers.
Final Reflection: During the final exam period, you will write a reflection on your work as a
writer this semester. Bring a large Bluebook to class for the reflection.
Homework Assignments: You will be required to turn in a one-page response to each reading
that we discuss over the course of the semester. For these assignments, I am interested in your
reaction—intellectual, emotional, psychological—to what you have read. Did you enjoy it?
What did it make you think, believe, or feel? There are no correct answers here—just be sure to
write an original, thoughtful, and grammatically sound response.
*All work done outside of class must be in MLA format, typed, and stapled (Handwritten
assignments will not be accepted, and five points will be deducted from essays that are not
stapled).
*Papers will be accepted up to one class period late for a full letter-grade reduction of the
original grade.
*The homework assignments and final reflection cannot be made up.
*I do not accept papers or assignments via email.
Classroom Etiquette: Thoughtful, respectful contribution to class discussions is welcomed and
highly encouraged. Please arrive on time; if you are late, enter as quietly as possible and choose
a seat at the back of the room or close to the door. With regard to the burgeoning ubiquity of
technological gadgets, I ask that you turn off and put away your phone before each class
session begins. Texting, checking Facebook, and other phone-related disruptions are highly
disrespectful to both me and your classmates. If you are on your phone during class, you will be
marked absent. I do understand, however, that genuine emergencies arise, so if you are expecting
an urgent or important call, please let me know before class begins.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism—presenting someone else’s work as your own—is a serious offense and
will result in an “F” for the work plagiarized. Instructors are also required to report all cases of
plagiarism to the university judicial officer, who may impose further penalties. If you have
specific questions regarding plagiarism, refer to the university guidelines or see me.
Special Needs: If you have special learning needs or are registered with Student Disability
Services, please let me know early on so that I can accommodate you.
Best wishes for a successful semester!
*I reserve the right to revise the syllabus and course calendar at any time
RWS 200 Course Calendar
*Read each assignment before we discuss it in class. For Monday 1/27, for example, you will
need to read Mark Edmundson’s “On the Uses of a Liberal Education.” Assignments due are in
bold.
Week 1
W 1/22 Introduction to the course
F 1/24 Introduction to Rhetoric and Context
Week 1
M 1/27 Mark Edmundson, “On the Uses of a Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored
College Students” (find online, print, and read)
http://www.mjfdesign.net/terri/9optedmundson.pdf
Edmundson Homework Assignment Due
W 1/29 Edmundson cont’d
F 1/31 Edmundson cont’d
Week 2
M 2/3 Mark Edmundson, “Dwelling in Possibilites” (find online, print, and read)
http://chronicle.com/article/Dwelling-in-Possibilities/7083
Edmundson Homework Assignment #2 Due
W 2/5 Edmundson cont’d
F 2/7 Edmundson cont’d
Week 3
M 2/10 Paper #1 Editing Workshop #1—Bring two copies of a complete rough draft
W 2/12 Paper #1 Editing Workshop #2—Bring two copies of a complete rough draft
F 2/14 Daniel Gilbert, “Immune to Reality”
Gilbert Homework Assignment Due
Week 4
M 2/17 Gilbert cont’d
Paper #1 due
W 2/19 Gilbert cont’d
F 2/21 Malcom Gladwell, “The Power of Context”
Gladwell Homework Assignment Due
Week 5
M 2/24 Gladwell cont’d
W 2/26 Gladwell cont’d
F 2/28 Paper #2 Editing Workshop #1—Bring two copies of a complete rough draft
Week 6
M 3/3 Paper #2 Editing Workshop #2—Bring two copies of a complete rough draft
W 3/5 Martha Stout, “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday”
Stout Homework Assignment Due
F 3/7 Stout cont’d
Paper #2 due
Week 7
M 3/10 Tim O’Brien, “How to Tell a True War Story”
O’Brien Homework Assignment Due
W 3/12 O’Brien cont’d
F 3/14 O’Brien cont’d
Week 8
M 3/17 Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
Vonnegut Homework Assignment Due
W 3/19 Vonnegut cont’d
F 3/21 Vonnegut cont’d
Week 9
M 3/24 Vonnegut cont’d
W 3/26 Paper #3 Editing Workshop #1—Bring two copies of a complete rough draft
F 3/28 Paper #3 Editing Workshop #2—Bring two copies of a complete rough draft
Week 10
M 3/31 Holiday—No Class
W 4/2 Spring Recess—No Class
F 4/4 Spring Recess—No Class
Week 11
M 4/7 Annie Dillard, “The Wreck of Time” (Find online, print, and read)
http://www.midwayisd.org/cms/lib/TX01000662/Centricity/Domain/115/The_Wreck_of_
Time.pdf
Dillard Homework Assignment due
Paper #3 due
W 4/9 Dillard cont’d
F 4/11 Dillard cont’d
Week 12
M 4/14 Nicholas Carr, “Is Google Making us Stupid?”
Carr Homework Assignment Due
W 4/16 Carr cont’d
F 4/18 Carr cont’d
Week 13
M 4/21 Jean Twenge, “An Army of One: Me”
Twenge Homework Assignment Due
W 4/23 Twenge cont’d
F 4/25 Twenge cont’d
Week 14
M 4/28 Paper #4 Conferences
W 4/30 Paper #4 Conferences
F 5/2 Paper #4 Conferences
Week 15
M 5/5 Paper #4 Editing Workshop #1—Bring two copies of a complete rough draft
W 5/7 Paper #4 Editing Workshop #2—Bring two copies of a complete rough draft
Week 16
M 5/12 Final Exam Period (10:30 AM – 12:30 PM)
Final Reflection