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RWS 200: The Rhetoric of Written Arguments in Context
Spring 2013
TTH 12:30-1:45 (Section 73)
Instructor: Stephany Farley
Office: AH 3178
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:30pm-3:30pm, or by
appointment
Email: sfarley@rohan.sdsu.edu
Mail: RWS Main Office, AH 3101
RWS Main Office Phone: 619-594-6515
“The old patterns, no matter how cleverly rearranged to imitate progress, still condemn us
to cosmetically altered repetitions of the same old exchanges, the same old guilt, hatred,
recrimination, lamentation, and suspicion.”
-Audre Lorde
Required Texts and Materials:
-Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow
-Helena Maria Viramontes, Under the Feet of Jesus
The Theme of the Course:
This course explores the modern legacies and echoes of slavery in the United States. NOTE
OF CAUTION: This instructor does not believe and/or endorse ideas that any historical
experience is comparable to or equal to slavery as experienced by African-Americans prior
to Emancipation. For example, we will be exploring the institution of the prison. It would
be a disservice to the African-American experience to claim that these two institutions are
the same. Even though they may have some similarities, as Michelle Alexander will make
clear, I do not wish to equate the prison-industrial complex with slavery. Rather, we will be
looking at the prison-industrial complex and how that institution continues some of the
legacies set in place and modeled by the institution of slavery. Similarly, we will examine
the lives of migrant farm workers and victims/survivors of sex trafficking to illuminate the
ways in which these institutions and practices may also continue the barbaric practices of
slavery. To reiterate, this class is not intended to be comparative. Rather, it seeks to look
at connections between experiences and to examine how racism has morphed over time.
Course Objectives:
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.
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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; 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 program’s overall objective of helping students attain “essential
skills that underlie all university education.”
The following points describe outcomes to work on throughout the semester, to be attained
over the 15 weeks:

Building on the work done in RWS 100, students 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—claims, methods of development,
kinds of evidence, persuasive appeals; translate an argument into their own
words;

understand and incorporate all aspects of the writing process--including
prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading;

articulate what key terms, definitions, concepts, statements of a problem or issue
are established by a text;

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;

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;

analyze and assess arguments made by visual texts; incorporate visual images
into their documents;

craft a cohesive paper, and use effective metadiscourse to articulate the project of
the paper and guide a reader through it;

describe their own papers and reflect on how they wrote them; differentiate
between the content of their texts and the language and rhetorical strategies
they employ;

assign significance to the arguments they read;

revise their own work effectively, re-reading previous work and re-envisioning it
in the light of reflection, feedback, further reading and new sources of
information;

edit their writing for the grammar and usage conventions appropriate to the
project.
Assignment Types: the following outcomes are directly related to the three main writing
projects or "assignment types" for the course. Students will be able to:
1. Construct an account of an argument and identify elements of context embedded in
it, 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
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particular time and place; examine a writer’s language in relation to audience,
context and community;
2. follow avenues of investigation that are opened by noticing elements of context;
research those elements and show how one's understanding of the argument is
developed, changed, or evolved by looking into its context;
3. given the common concerns of two or more arguments, discuss how the claims of
these arguments modify, complicate or qualify one another;
4. consider their contemporary, current life as the context within which they are
reading the arguments assigned in the class; position themselves in relation to these
arguments and additional ones they have researched in order to make an argument;
draw on available key terms, concepts or frameworks of analysis to help shape the
argument.
Course Activity Requirements:
Conference session (at least 2)
Attendance (promptness, no/few absences)
Readings
Homework assignments
In-class participation
3 essays (original work – no plagiarism)
Journals
Presentation
Grading/Evaluation:
Assignment
3 Essays (Rough Drafts and Final Drafts)
Assignments (Homework, Journals, etc.)
Participation (Attendance, In-class participation, and Blackboard
postings)
Presentation
Total:
Letter Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
Points
930-1000
900-929
870-899
830-869
800-829
770-799
Due Dates: Subject to Change
Points
600pts (200pts
each)
150pts
150pts
100pts
1000pts
Letter Grade
C
CD+
D
DF
Points
730-769
700-729
670-699
630-669
600-629
0-599
Project One
Conferencing
W 2/27
TH 2/28
Project Two
W 3/27
TH 3/28
Final Draft
T 3/5
T 4/2
W 5/8Project Three
W 5/15
TH 5/16
Presentation
TH 5/2, T 5/7
*All assignments, percentages, and due dates are subject to change at instructor’s discretion
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Course Policies:
Attendance/Missed assignments: Work is done in class as well as out of class. If you do not
come to class and fail to turn in an assignment or miss a task, you will receive a zero for
that item. Assignments done in class cannot be made up. Assignments must also be turned
in as a hard copy (unless otherwise specified). If you foresee an absence and still want
credit for your work, email your homework to a classmate who can print it out and turn it
in for you.
Note: More than two missed classes will result in a lower grade.
Conferences: You are required to meet with me for your first two essays. Each conference
will take approximately fifteen minutes, but if you feel you need more time, please let me
know. Failure to show up to a mandatory conference will lower your final essay grade one
step (for example, an A- will drop to a B+).
Participation: You will be working in groups with other students during class activities.
Your effort and contribution to these collaborative efforts will be taken into account as part
of your assignment grades, as will your individual participation throughout the semester.
Journals: Journals will be due by 10:00am every Tuesday. They will be emailed to me, and
each journal will follow a prompt that I will provide at the beginning of the semester. 13
Journals (worth 10 points each) will be required over the course of the semester, and each
must be 1 page, double-spaced, in a standard font (12 pt.), with one-inch margins.
Late work: Late work will not be accepted. If you have an extenuating circumstance, you
are welcome to discuss it with me.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is considered a failing grade. Any assignment that is plagiarized
will receive a zero. Any student found to have plagiarized may be subject to discipline under
university policies. Please see me if you have any questions regarding plagiarism.
Student Athletes: If you are a student athlete with away games scheduled during the
semester, let me know by the end of the first week of class, and present me with a copy of
your team travel schedule. We will then make appropriate scheduling arrangements.
Disability Discrimination Prohibited: No otherwise qualified handicapped person shall, on
the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or
otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any academic or other postsecondary
education program receiving federal funds. If you are registered with Disabled Student
Services (DSS), I am happy to work with you to accommodate your learning needs.
Essay format and revisions: Your essays should follow MLA guidelines. They should be
typed (12 pt. font), double-spaced, with one-inch margins. You are allowed one essay
rewrite. You may choose to rewrite either your first or second essay. However, your revised
essay grade will not override your original score. Rather, the two grades (original and
revised) will be averaged.
Conduct: You are expected to be respectful and courteous. Since the purpose of this course
is for all students to improve their rhetorical skills and abilities, a cooperative and engaging
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atmosphere will benefit all. Any disruptive student will be asked to leave class that day,
resulting in an absence. Please be courteous to your fellow students by turning off cell
phones and iPods, and refraining from laptop work or conversation unrelated to this course.
Support Services: Research materials are regularly available at the SDSU library.
Additionally, drop-in RWS tutoring services are available in the library on the bottom floor
under the dome to the right of the circulation desk. Tutor times vary per semester so check
the schedule early on in the course for availability.
RWS 200 Schedule (Spring 2013)
*readings are to be completed before the class period beside which they are listed
Unit 1: Constructing an Account of an Argument and Its Context
WEEK DATE
CLASS PROJECT
TH
Introduction to RWS 200
1/17
Review of rhetoric concepts
“Claiming an Education”
1
T
Review of rhetoric concepts
1/22
“Problems of Language in a Democratic State,” and one of
the following: “Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty
Setting There Is” (Including Updates 1 and 2),
“Oppression”, or “White Privilege and Male Privilege”
TH
Review of rhetoric concepts
1/24
“Something About the Subject Makes it Hard to Name”
and handout on racial identity development
T
The New Jim Crow, Chapter 1
1/29
2
3
4
5
6
TH
1/31
T
2/5
TH
2/7
T
2/12
TH
2/14
T
2/19
TH
2/21
T
2/26
TH
2/28
T
3/5
The New Jim Crow, Chapter 2
The New Jim Crow, Chapter 3
Guest Lecturer
The New Jim Crow, Chapter 4
Guest Lecturer
The New Jim Crow, Chapter 5
Mandatory Conferencing (also offered on W 2/27)
Essay 1 Final Draft Due
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7
TH
3/7
Intro to Project 2
Schedule for additional projects (i.e. the remainder of the semester) will be provided as
needed.