Template for GE Rhetoric RHET1030 Syllabus
All General Education Rhetoric teachers are required to use the template below for their syllabi.
It includes everything required by CLAS to appear on syllabi and ensures consistency for
students.
Instructions:
 Black text is required and must appear in your syllabus exactly as given here.
 Red text is required information that is specific to your course. Edit it to reflect your
specific course and preferences.
 Green text is information you can include at your discretion (it is optional).
 After the opening page and Department goals section, which must appear as listed, you
may rearrange sections to suit your preferences, though all the black text must appear in
the syllabus somewhere.
 The final product should be informative and also reflect your unique tone and choices for
the course.
Once you’re done, all text can be changed to black, and a font of your choice can be used. The
syllabus must be approved by your Teaching Mentor before being released to students whether
posted on ICON or distributed in class (CLAS no longer requires that paper copies be
distributed).
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Rhetoric
RHET:1030:(fill in your section number)
(time and place of meeting)
(Semester and Year)
The University of Iowa
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department of Rhetoric
clas.uiowa.edu/rhetoric
Instructor: Your Name
Office Hours: (3 hrs min per wk) and by appointment.
Phone: (Faculty members should list their office phone. TA offices generally don’t have phones,
so TAs can decide if they want to share a personal number. Do not list the Dept. Office
number as your phone.)
Email: your-address@uiowa.edu (You may list only your uiowa email.)
Department Chair: Steve Duck, 164 EPB. Call 319-335-0186 or email steve-duck@uiowa.edu
Department Main Office: 171 EPB. Call 319-335-0178 or email rhetoric@uiowa.edu
Course Supervisor: Your Teaching Mentor’s name and contact info, including office hours,
phone #, and email.
Department Goals
Rhetoric is the first foundational course for the General Education curriculum for the entire
University. Most students take Rhetoric during their first or second semester of University study.
We strive to prepare students for competent and engaged participation in University life. You
should leave with the critical thinking, comprehension, research, writing, and speaking skills that
all your future courses will build upon, whatever your Major. Rhetoric is a gateway to college
learning, not a gatekeeper. It represents a foundation stone of the pathway to advanced learning.
Rhetoric is the study and art of persuasion: understanding how you are influenced by “texts”
around you, and knowing how to compose successful writing and presentations yourselves. In
Rhetoric, we consider just about everything a “rhetorical act” that attempts to persuade a specific
audience to think or feel a certain way: “texts” are speeches and essays for sure, but also ads,
films, products, art, graffiti, and even spaces. We emphasize the universal applicability of
Rhetoric and its usefulness not only in school, but also in everyday life (e.g. media awareness,
civic engagement, activism, decision-making, relationship conduct, citizenship, scientific
choices).
Our curriculum focuses on controversies, and I will lead you through a sequence that asks you
to analyze and describe the argumentation and persuasiveness of different perspectives on the
same topic, and eventually advocate positions of your own in a way that skillfully takes into
account the interests and concerns of your audience. A controversy is not just a single yes/no
issue: there are always complex points to evaluate, and our job in this course is to find those
nuances.
So why do we expect you to study Rhetoric at The University of Iowa? Because we want you
to learn how to think at an advanced level suitable for university education. We want you to learn
how to contribute more usefully to discussions and social debates. We want you to create the
best essays and presentations you can in college and beyond. Your future professors expect you
to master Rhetoric as a foundation for college-level learning, writing, and presenting in your
chosen field of study, whether it is Engineering or English. Critical thinking, sound
argumentation, and effective writing and presentation processes are essential to academic success
in any discipline or field.
Course Topics & Goals
Here is where you talk about your specific course and its take on these concepts, including
themes in readings/activities (e.g. controversies about drug policy, the American diet, higher
ed). This section should set the tone for your unique course and your persona as an instructor.
Note that the class is NOT about:
mastering their [or your] major discipline;
specific religious, political or social beliefs;
“becoming who you are” or
agreeing with the instructor's perspective on any issue.
Course Texts
Required texts or materials (available at name of bookstore):
 List required texts to purchase (see Handbook for more info)
Optional texts
Texts on reserve/how to access them (e.g. library or ICON)
Other required materials
Grading
Assignments and Activities: Briefly describe the various assignments and activities that will
make up their grade in this course. Provide a grade distribution that includes percentages or
points (e.g. Participation 10%, Informal Assignments 500 points, etc) or a description of your
holistic grading process. (See the Handbook for advice and information about grading,
assignments and distribution requirements.) New TAs in Fall Semester may omit this section
from the first draft on the advice of their Teaching Mentor, but it must eventually be provided
and is required in all Spring syllabi.
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Tell students how they can access their grades (e.g. ICON or schedule a meeting)
DO NOT MAKE PROMISES TO RELEASE GRADES BEFORE THEY HAVE BEEN
APPROVED BY THE DEO.
Your final grade will be determined on the University’s A-F grade scale, with A as the
top possible grade.
There is no final examination in this course.
Attendance & Participation: Attendance is required and is therefore not rewarded. Points may be
deducted for absences or lack of participation in class. Students are expected to attend every
meeting (unless you have an excused absence). Describe (1) what counts as active participation
and (2) how it will be assessed. For example: “Your participation grade is determined by your
active, thoughtful and informed participation in class discussion (distinct from mere attendance)
and is worth X% of your overall grade.” (See the Handbook for more advice and information
concerning attendance and participation.)
Excused Absences and Late Work: According to University policy, absences from class are
excused in the following circumstances:
 Illness or injury.
 Family emergencies.
 Mandatory religious obligations – must be documented and arranged in advance.
 Authorized University activities – must be documented and arranged in advance.
 If you have a conscientious objection to course material covered that day, you may chose
not to come, and may be asked to complete an alternate assignment or activity. See UI
Operations Manual III.15.2f). Must be arranged in advance: I always give warning for
content or activities that might fall under this category.
In all cases, I require documentation. I may ask you to complete the Registrar's “Explanatory
Statement for Absence from Class” form, which is available at
http://www.registrar.uiowa.edu/Student/FormsforStudents/tabid/79/Default.aspx
Lying about excused absences, including false use of Student Health self-reports, is a
violation of the Code of Student Life and as such will be reported to the Associate Dean for
Undergraduate Programs & Curriculum, who can impose University sanctions.
Late work is acceptable only by arrangement with me, and it may not always be logistically
possible for you to make up a public oral presentation even if an absence is excused. I will try
to accommodate you but if class is unable to accommodate an audience for your speech, you
may not be able to meet the requirement for public presentation of the speech. Include any of
your specific policies about late work here. “No late work” is not an acceptable policy in the
Rhetoric Department. Here is some language you may want to include:
Work missed during excused absences (those caused by documented illnesses, family
emergencies, religious obligations, or authorized University activities) can be made up; if
possible, contact me in advance to make arrangements regarding such absences. Students
are responsible for providing documentation for excused absences, and for finding out
about work missed during absences. I generally do not accept unexcused late
assignments. In addition, you may be penalized for work missed during unexcused
absences, including participation in discussion and other class activities. A pattern of
arriving late to class or missing deadlines is also likely to hurt your participation grade.
Course Policies
You may also want to include information on the following:
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Service Learning (or other special features)
Working with Other Students’ Writing and Speaking (a statement by the instructor
describing the various peer editing/work-shopping activities in the course)
Reading (a statement by the instructor detailing the nature and purpose of the reading
assignments. This would be a good place to discuss what students should do with
readings before coming to class.)
Expectations of the classroom community (e.g. constructive listening, respecting
diversity in our classroom as an asset to learning, dealing with differences of opinion)
Policy about texting/phone/PDA/computer use during class time.
Description of workload expectations (e.g., you can expect to read and write for at least
eight hours per week for this class, etc.)
Be sure you understand the CLAS policies on group assignments and that the criteria
for these are clearly laid out in your assignment descriptors. Clearly state the manner
in which students can work together without falling into plagiarism.
Adds/Drops & Transfers
All section changes are handled on-line, unless you are told you MUST have an Add/drop slip by
your advisor. Add/drop slips are valid only if signed by the DEO of the Rhetoric Department: I
have no authority to sign them. No Adds are permitted after the first Friday of the Fall
semester and after the first Monday of the Spring semester. Transfer students are placed in this
course based on your transcript. If you have questions, contact the Rhetoric Office.
Calendar of Course Assignments and Exams
This is a tentative calendar and is subject to change. Updates will be posted to ICON and shared
in class. You are responsible for tracking course activities, readings, and assignments as the
semester progresses.
You may present the course plan calendar either as a grid like the one below or in different
format, but the details of projected assignments [due dates, ‘essay’ or ‘speech’, for sure and
scope and title if possible] should be included here. New TAs may omit these details on the
advice of their Teaching Mentor in the first draft of the syllabus for first semester but it must be
included eventually, where “eventually” means by the end of the second week. For second semester
it should always be included in the first draft. It is important for students to be told the
approximate length of each week's readings that will be expected and for them to know when the
major assignments are due. These must be listed even in an outline of the detailed plan.
Date:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
In-class (Planned):
Readings/Material to
be Covered:
To Do Before
Class
Due In Class
UI Policies and Procedures
Administrative Home
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the administrative home for Rhetoric. Different
colleges may have different policies. See the CLAS Academic Handbook.
Diversity & Inclusion
The University of Iowa prohibits discrimination in employment or in its educational
programs and activities on the basis of race, national origin, color, creed, religion,
sex, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or
associational preference. No acts of discrimination will be tolerated in this class.
Understanding Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment subverts the mission of the University and threatens the wellbeing of
students, faculty, and staff. We share a responsibility to uphold this mission and to contribute
to a safe environment that enhances learning. Incidents of sexual harassment should be
reported immediately. See www.uiowa.edu/~eod/policies/sexual-harassmentguide/index.html for assistance, definitions, and the full University policy.
Accommodations for Disabilities
A student seeking academic accommodations must register with Student Disability Services
and meet with me privately to make particular arrangements. http://www.uiowa.edu/~sds/
Electronic Communication
Students are responsible for all official correspondences sent to their standard University of
Iowa e-mail address (@uiowa.edu). Students should check their account frequently.
Academic Fraud
Any instance of a student falsely presenting work that is not their own (e.g. plagiarism,
cheating) is academic fraud and taken seriously by the College. The instructor reports any
suspicion of fraud to the department and follows procedures outlined in the CLAS Academic
Handbook. Consequences may include failure of the assignment or course, suspension, or
expulsion.
Resubmitting work for which academic credit has already been given is fraud. It does not matter
where or when the work was previously submitted.
Any student who has previously submitted work for grading in Rhetoric and who resubmits that work
is committing academic fraud. For that reason, students repeating Rhetoric for a second grade option
or for any other reason must submit work that is new or that has been substantially revised in terms of
effort and extension of thought and quality.
Making a Suggestion or a Complaint
We may not always see eye to eye. If there is a problem, please speak to me first. Often we
can resolve the issue without need for further action. I may consult with the course supervisor
for advice. If matters are still unresolved, feel free to speak with Carol Severino (carolseverino@uiowa.edu), the department officer charged with dealing with student concerns. If
she cannot resolve the issue, then it goes to Steve Duck, the DEO. Complaints must be made
within six months of the incident. See the CLAS Academic Handbook.
Reacting Safely to Severe Storms
In severe weather, the class members should seek shelter in the lowest, innermost part of the
building, away from windows. The class will continue if possible when the event is over.
(Operations Manual, IV. 16.14) Sign up for http://hawkalert.uiowa.edu/
Clarifying Student Collaboration
Some of your work may be collaborative. Each student on a research team is expected to
complete a similar amount of work and to contribute equally to the project. Each student will
complete a self-evaluation and a group evaluation, describing this equality or the lack of it
during the group’s work. For more information, see the assignment sheet, the grading rubric,
and the self-evaluation form for the project. Students who misrepresent themselves as equal
partners in this collaborative project but who are actually letting others do the bulk of the
work will be reported to the College for academic dishonesty. If you have questions, it is your
responsibility to ask them.