Rhetoric and Writing Studies 200:
The Rhetoric of Written Arguments in Context
Professor Matt Costello
email: matthew.costello@sbcglobal.net*
Department Office: Storm Hall West 141 (mailbox)
Office: Storm Hall 106C
Office Hour: MW 3:30-4:30,
and/or by appointment
*the email address is NOT for submitting assignments
Required Text/Materials
R&W 200: Public Issues Made Personal—available only at Cal Copy
A Notebook for notes on readings and writing assignments
*8½ x 11” loose leaf paper to complete 10-point assignments on
This Syllabus—it will be a much-needed reference throughout the semester
Course Description
While this course provides reading and writing instruction, it offers reading
material that touches on a number of different, vital aspects of our culture and common
experience. No prior knowledge of the subject matter is required. The writers provide
arguments that are worthy of consideration, and knowledge that has a connection to our
everyday lives. This is what makes for the best writing—challenging ideas, and
information that relates to our own experience.
This class continues the work of R&W 100 in that it demands a high level of
critical thinking in response to a variety of texts, as well as the ability to analyze the
“rhetorical situation”—how texts use evidence and appeals to convince an audience within
a certain context. As with 100, you will be asked to engage in a number of different
writing tasks, including shorter, handwritten responses, formal essays, timed writing, and
various types of research and analysis.
The most important distinction between 100 and 200 is the heightened emphasis
this course puts on research and the use of multiple sources, and their relationships to each
other, and to their audiences. For example, the reading in each sequence will present
multiple angles on the same basic subject, and the idea is to recognize how they relate, as
well as how they differ due to certain contexts, purposes or audiences. Your essays will
present your positions on the issues—informed arguments that show knowledge of
multiple views. You will also be providing your own sources for your essays as well, so
research will be an important component of the class. R&W also emphasizes the practical
concerns of essay writing, such as organization, what to include/exclude, using sources,
citing sources, using quotations, revision, and proofreading.
The course content consists of a variety of texts: newspaper and magazine articles,
chapters/excerpts from books, online articles, films, etc. which make arguments about
public issues like the effects of advertising and social media, as well as the pros and cons
of corporate control of medicine and food. Your task is to both understand some of the
prevalent arguments on these issues, and to make claims of your own. Your claims, and
the way you support them, will determine the value of your essays. My goal is that you
leave this class with some new insight on these issues, in part by making them personal, by
thinking about how the ideas and facts relate to you personally. In addition we will work
on improving your writing skills, your critical reading/thinking skills, and your
argumentative ability. Our four subject areas are: 1) Advertising, 2) Social Media,
3) Big Pharma, and 4) Big Food. The course will also feature timed writing, including a
timed final exam in preparation for the Writing Proficiency Assessment.
This class will be active, so it’s very important that you come to class prepared to
participate in group discussion, small group work, and writing exercises that pertain to the
assignments. Do the reading carefully. Improving on your grammar and sentence
structure is also important, and much of this work will be handled on an individual basis.
A significant amount of class time will be devoted to student and instructor feedback on
your essays, so you will be expected to use these evaluations during revision. To succeed
in this class, you need to read actively, keep pace with the assignments, submit them on
time, maintain good attendance so you don’t miss quizzes and participation points, and
write good revisions to improve your work before it’s graded.
Course Requirements
Attendance: You will be allowed four absences without a major penalty, but your final
grade will be reduced by 1/3 of a letter grade for each absence after four. These are
not excused absences—absences up to four will detract from your participation grade.
Participation: It is vital that you prepare in order to participate in class discussions and
quizzes. This means doing any assignments and essays on time. Attendance is another part
of the participation grade, as well as being on time, doing your work with effort and
integrity, and not missing any assignments. Do not sleep in class. Phones, headphones, or
any communication devices may NOT be used in class, and should be turned OFF in class.
No Plagiarism or Cheating!! Using another writer’s work as if it is yours is illegal and will
not be tolerated. It is very easy to tell when a student copies from a source or another
student. If you plagiarize material from a source, cheat by copying another student’s work,
or cheat on a quiz, the assignment will receive a zero, and the incident will go on record
with the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
Take Notes!! They will help you as you construct your essays. They are a necessary part
of the writing process, and will lead to higher grades if you put the effort into them.
3 Essays—the culminating writing project of each sequence, except the fourth sequence.
These papers must be at least three full pages, and must be typed, double spaced, with
one-inch margins on all sides and 12-point font. No cover pages are needed. These papers
will go through two drafts. If you fail to have the complete first draft on time, you will
lose five points on the graded draft automatically. First drafts must reach the middle
of page three, minimum, with one-inch margins, or you will not receive credit for
them. Submit the graded draft with the evaluation sheet.
Revisions of the Essays will be done before they are submitted for grades. Each first
draft will be evaluated in class, and the second draft will be graded. This gives you the
opportunity to rewrite until you have a polished graded draft.
1 Optional Revision: For extra credit, you may rewrite one of the essays after it’s graded if
you want to go for a higher grade. This revision will be due at the end of the semester.
Grades will only go up if the essay is truly improved. By doing the optional revision, you
are trying to earn whatever points were deducted from the graded draft. Submit the
graded draft with the optional revision, so I can see the changes.
4 10-Point Assignments: These are shorter, handwritten answers in response to the
readings, and should be two full pages long minimum, using 8 ½ x 11” paper—front and
back of one sheet. These should be seen as formal assignments and edited carefully.
4 Quizzes will be given on the readings. They will be unannounced, and usually given at
the beginning of class. If you come in as we’re going over the answers, you’ve missed the
quiz and may not make it up.
Extensions: You will be granted one extension for a late assignment during the semester.
You may use the extension for a graded essay or a 10-point assignment, and no points will
be deducted. You may also use your extension for a first draft of an essay (in order to
avoid the 5-point penalty). If you use the extension for a first draft, you will not submit a
first draft, and your graded draft is due within a week of the due date for the graded draft.
After you use your extension, late assignments will not be accepted. When you use your
extension, the late assignment is due within one week. Extensions may not be used more
than a week after the assignment was due.
Final Exam—a timed exam at the end of the fourth sequence on Big Food.
Additional Information and Rules
NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES WILL BE GIVEN.
NO UNSTAPLED OR UNTYPED PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED, except for your one extension.
**TURN OFF LAPTOPS, PHONES, i-Pods, ETC. AND DO NOT USE THEM IN
CLASS. Texting/looking at a device will cost 5 pts. off the participation grade.
STUDENT CONFERENCES: These are important student/teacher consultations about
your writing, upcoming assignments, grades, etc. Missing them counts as an absence.
Grade Breakdown
Participation
4 Essays (4x30)
4 10-point Assignments (4x10)
4 Quizzes (4x5)
Total
Grade Scale
186-200 A
180-185 A-
20
120
40
20
200
174-179 B+ 154-159 C+ 136-139 D+
166-173 B
146-153 C
131-135 D
160-165 B- 140-145 C- 126-130 D- 0-125 F
General Course Calendar (to be supplemented by detailed daily calendars)
Weeks 1-5: Advertising: Appeals, History, and Effects
Weeks 5-9: Social Media: What Does It Say About You?
Weeks 9-12: Big Pharma: Profits and Innovation Vs. Regulation
Weeks 13-16: Big Food: The Pros and Cons of Engineered Food
RWS 200 Student Learning Outcomes
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.”
RWS 200 Student Learning Outcomes
The following four outcomes describe the four major writing projects of “assignment
types” for the course. Students 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.
The following points describe outcomes to work on throughout the semester:
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.