RWS 200-77 Tuesday/Thursday, 9:30-10:15
The Rhetoric of Written Argument in Context
Dr. Steve Merriam
smerriam@mail.sdsu.edu
Spring 2013
Office: AH 3119 / 619-594-6331
Office Hours: T/Th 6-7pm
Rhetoric refers to the study, uses and effects of written, spoken and visual language.
Context refers to the larger textual and cultural environment in which specific rhetorical acts take place.
Course Description
This course advances general education by helping you understand the general function of
writing, speaking, visual texts, and thinking within the context of the university at large, rather
than within specific disciplines you may be studying at SDSU. In addition to featuring the basic
rules and conventions governing composition and presentation, our course will establish
intellectual frameworks and analytical tools that help you explore, construct, critique, and
integrate sophisticated texts. You will use the skills developed here throughout your college
career . . . and beyond.
We will focus particularly on argument, emphasizing four essential general education
capacities, including the ability to:
 construct, analyze and communicate argument, using essays in our course text
Rereading America as a starting point;
 contextualize phenomena, i.e., recognize the assumptions and cultural conditions that
lurk behind an argument;
 negotiate differences, and understand the power behind spirited disagreement;
 apply theoretical models associated with rhetoric to the real world.
Course Text
Columbo, Gary, and Robert Cullen, Bonnie Lisle. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for
Critical Thinking and Writing. 8th ed.
Raimes, Ann. Keys for Writers (latest edition)
Course Deliverables/Grade Distribution
You will write four papers in this class, develop four rhetorical précis and complete various
writing projects associated with each paper. Each paper, including those associated projects,
will be worth 20 points (20% of your grade). You will also write a Collaborative Proposal Memo
for the final group paper worth 5 points (5% of your final grade). Your participation in the
course makes up the remaining 15 points (15%). Please refer to our Blackboard site for the
complete point values associated with each paper.
Paper Types:
The following outcomes describe the four main writing projects or "assignment types" for the
papers in the course.
Course Syllabus, RWS 200-77, Spring 2013, Dr. Merriam
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The first paper will ask you to construct an account of an argument and identify
elements of context embedded in it. For our purposes, the word “context” means the
clues that show what the argument is responding to--both in the sense of what has
come before it and in the sense that it is written for an audience in a particular time and
place. Paper #1 also asks you to examine a writer’s language in relation to audience,
context and community.
In the second paper, you will dig deeper into the elements of context embedded in a
text. You can expect to research those elements and show how your own understanding
of the argument is developed, changed, or evolved as you investigate its context.
For the third paper, you will investigate the common concerns of two or more
arguments, discuss how the claims of these arguments modify, complicate or qualify
one another.
The final paper asks you, in a group setting, to consider your group’s contemporary,
current life as the context within which you read the arguments assigned in the class.
Your group will position itself in relation to these arguments and additional ones you
have researched in order to make an argument, drawing on available key terms,
concepts or frameworks of analysis to help shape the argument.
Paper/Précis Format and Submission Guidelines
All précis, drafts and final versions of your papers should be submitted through Turnitin using
the link that appears in the paper’s folder on Blackboard. All interim and final drafts of your
papers will be due at 11:59 on the submission date. Précis will be due by 9:30am on the day
indicated on our calendar. Please refer to the Course Calendar for due dates.
The final draft of your essay should be between 1,550 and 2,150 words—this works out to
between 5- 7 pages in length. The draft that you submit for revision must be at least 1,300
words. All written work—précis, memos, and all paper drafts—must be typed double-spaced in
Times New Roman 12 point font, with one-inch margins on all sides. Put only your name and
class meeting time in the upper left corner of the first page. Put your last name in the upper left
corner on the following pages, with page numbers on the lower left. Indent each new
paragraph in the text five spaces.
A very strong word of advice: Never wait until the last minute to upload any version of your
work to Turnitin. The links to submit your précis or drafts will disappear exactly at the time
indicated by the submission link, usually 9:30am or 11:59pm on the date due. You must upload
your work before that time or I can’t take it. The Turnitin system will not accept late
submissions.
Grading
Your work will receive a numerical score which I will then translate into letter score from A to F,
including plusses and minuses. I will evaluate it based on a rubric I circulate—and which we will
discuss—when I distribute the essay’s prompt. In general, your ability to logically, clearly and
accurately support your views in writing plays a large part in the evaluation process.
Course Syllabus, RWS 200-77, Spring 2013, Dr. Merriam
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However, your work will also be evaluated based on such issues as its fulfillment of the
assignment, the quality of detail, its originality, the effort you put into the paper and its
accuracy in mechanics and the conventions of the English language.
Unfortunately, due to time restraints caused by increased enrollments, I must keep written
comments on essays to a minimum. As I have mentioned in class, I am not at all happy about
this. I will give you feedback on your papers, but to ensure your work is returned in a
reasonable time, I must sacrifice extensive commenting. To offset this very distressing reality of
modern university life, I will gladly discuss any grade your work has earned during scheduled
office hours or at another mutually agreed upon time. I have dedicated several hours to you per
week for this purpose. Sometimes it’s more convenient to discuss a paper in person.
Please monitor your grades using Blackboard’s Grade Book throughout the semester. In the
unlikely event of a grade discrepancy, it is your responsibility to contact me and discuss the
anomaly.
Rewrites/Revisions
If your paper receives a grade of “C-” or lower, you may rewrite that paper for a better grade.
As writing assignments in this course are considered cumulative, however, you may only
rewrite one paper this semester, and you may rewrite that paper only once. The better of the
two grades will be recorded (not an average.) To rewrite, you must meet with me during my
office hours (or at an agreed upon time) to discuss your plans for improvement within two
weeks from the time the original graded essay is returned to you.
Also, realize this time frame negates rewriting the very last paper of the semester. All rewrites
must be submitted in hard-copy form and you must also bring the commented-on hard copy of
the original essay—printed from your computer, not on a laptop—to the meeting.
Rewrites will not be accepted unless these steps have been completed.
Please be aware that this rewrite policy is not intended as a deadline extension, but rather as
an opportunity to improve serious work. As such, if your original essay is incomplete, obviously
hurried, or missing entirely, it will not be eligible for rewriting. In other words, only essays of at
least 1,550 words that represent both a serious effort and a direct response to the prompt may
be rewritten.
Late Work
Because of the volume of work, the number of assignments, the increased enrollment, and the
pace of the class, I cannot accept late work except in very, very rare circumstances. All work
must be submitted via Turnitin by the designated time, which for this class is 11:59pm on the
date due. Never email me your papers or leave hard copies in my mailbox, under my office door
or on my desk (unless, of course, I ask you to do so).
Course Syllabus, RWS 200-77, Spring 2013, Dr. Merriam
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Attendance and Participation
Attendance counts for 15% of your grade for the course. While you are expected to attend all
scheduled classes, I understand that things come up. You can miss two class meetings without
an excuse, and one more with a valid excuse. After that, one point will be deducted for each
class missed. I take roll each day, and class group work, reading quizzes, homework assignments
completed in class etc. cannot, for any reason, be made up.
I never consider participation simply occupying a seat in a classroom. I will use the following
criteria when I consider your class participation score at the end of the semester.
The Good: What you should do.
The Bad: What you should not do.
Attend class
Be absent from class physically (skip class)
Arrive on time
Walk in late
Offer valuable insights to our discussions
Text or surf
Review your colleagues’ work thoughtfully
Be absent from class mentally (check out)
Work collaboratively on group writing projects
Talk or otherwise distract the class/group
Ask pertinent questions
Study for another class
Stay engaged in our discussions, even if they lag for a
brief period
Read non-RWS 200 related materials during our
discussions
Comment or question in class at least once every two
weeks
Let fear determine what you should or should not say,
denying the class your experiences
Contribute
Sleep
Freedom of Speech
Although this is an academic environment in which free speech is encouraged, I expect students
to treat each other with respect and adhere to ethical and tolerant standards. We can’t tolerate
racism, sexism, plagiarism, ethnocentrism, homophobia, ageism, sizeism, or other -isms in this
course. Please don’t consider these guidelines a limitation of your constitutional rights or a
dismissal of your opinions, but a call for simple common courtesy. Express your views . . . just
do it politely.
Electronic Devices
If it has a battery, has been charged, or plugs into a wall, turn it off before class begins.
This policy applies to laptop computers and phones. If you want to take notes—always a good
idea—take them on paper in class with a pen or pencil and then after class transfer them to the
Course Syllabus, RWS 200-77, Spring 2013, Dr. Merriam
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electronic device of your choosing. If you decide to disregard this request, i.e., if you distract
your colleagues and me by using your electronic device(s) in class—I will warn you once. The
next time, I will ask you to leave. Never text in this class.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious offense and will result, minimally, in a failing assignment grade.
Plagiarism includes not citing or otherwise giving credit to outside sources; submitting another
person’s work as your own, including other students’ work, essays found online or work
purchased from essay brokers, etc. Want to lift a single sentence and not attribute it to its
source? That’s plagiarism.
For every essay and précis you submit, Turnitin will produce an Originality Report indicating
where, in your paper, you have used the work of others. Sometimes these reports are very
thorough, but in the end, you are responsible for addressing those places marked as nonoriginal content—yet another reason you should try to submit your drafts earlier rather than
later in the paper process. Of course, you can always ask me if you think something may
constitute plagiarism. To sum: Always do your own work. Any points lost to plagiarism cannot
be made up.
RWS 200 Student 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.
Within this framework of four general capacities, the course realizes four closely related
subsidiary goals. These goals focus on helping you:
 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; and
 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 Rhetoric and Writing Program’s overall objective of helping students attain
“essential skills that underlie all university education.”
Our Own Semester Outcomes
The following points describe outcomes for our work together this semester. If you engage the
course diligently, I’m confident you will be able to realize each of the following 11 outcomes.
1. Building on your work in RWS 100, you will be able to articulate what argument a text is
making, describe the elements of the argument (claims, methods of development, kinds
Course Syllabus, RWS 200-77, Spring 2013, Dr. Merriam
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of evidence, persuasive appeals etc.) identify the work done by each section of the
argument and translate an argument into your own words;
2. Understand and incorporate all aspects of the writing process— including prewriting,
drafting, revising, editing and proofreading;
3. Articulate what key terms, definitions, concepts, statements of a problem or issue are
established by a text;
4. 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;
5. Work with multiples sources in a paper, deciding what to include and what to exclude,
choosing an effective structure, and creating significant relationships among sources;
6. Analyze and assess arguments made by visual texts; incorporate visual images into your
documents;
7. Craft a cohesive paper and use effective metadiscourse to articulate the project of the
paper and guide a reader through it;
8. Describe your own papers and reflect on how you wrote them; differentiate between
the content of your texts and the language and rhetorical strategies they employ;
9. Assign significance to the arguments you read;
10. 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;
11. Edit your writing for the grammar and usage conventions appropriate to the project.
Course Syllabus, RWS 200-77, Spring 2013, Dr. Merriam
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