Rhetorical Arts Application Form – REVISION 5-2-2015
Name:
Course Number:
Course Title:
Department:
College:
Date submitted:
The semester when you first expect the course to be taught:
RHETORICAL ARTS
I. Description of Purpose and Content
The Rhetorical Arts course fosters articulate expression, critical thinking, and moral reflection,
enabling students to engage in written and oral public debate with persuasive force and stylistic
excellence. This course emphasizes such rhetorical concepts as invention, arrangement, claims
with supporting evidence, exigency, and audience. Emerging out of Renaissance humanism,
Jesuit rhetoric (or Eloquentia Perfecta) developed the classical ideal of the good person writing
and speaking well for the public good and promotes the teaching of eloquence combined with
erudition and moral discernment. Developing this tradition in light of modern composition study
and communication theory, the Rhetorical Arts course complements the other Foundation
courses with topics such as ethics and communication, virtue and authority, or knowledge and
social obligation. The Rhetorical Arts course furthers the development of essential skills in
written and oral communication and information literacy, as well as providing opportunities for
active engagement with essential components of the Jesuit and Marymount educational
traditions.
HOW DOES YOUR COURSE FIT THIS CATEGORY?
1. Please provide a course description and explain how your course fits the overall
purpose and content of this Core category. Include any learning objectives specific to
your course.
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2. Please provide a preliminary list of readings and/or textbooks for the course.
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3. Please describe possible assignments (or types of assignments) for your course,
including a grade breakdown (weighting of assignments). For longer assignments,
you may include an additional attachment(s).
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II. Learning Outcomes
HOW DOES YOUR COURSE ASSESS EACH LEARNING OUTCOME? How do you
measure whether and to what extent students have achieved the learning outcomes
below? Referring to the assignments your described in Part I, please explain for those
outside of your field how your course addresses each of this Core category’s learning
outcomes. (Please note that a single assignment may address multiple outcomes, and
that for learning outcomes asking that students “value” particular issues or concepts, the
course does not need to assess student opinion or belief but level of engagement with
Rhetorical Arts Application Form – REVISION 5-2-2015
that issue or concept.)
Rhetorical Arts students will:
1. Understand the rhetorical tradition of the good person writing and speaking well for the
public good.
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2. Apply this understanding of the rhetorical tradition to different contexts of public
communication.
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3. Refine foundational skills in critical thinking obtained in the First Year Seminar.
[BOX for text, limit 300 words]
4. Develop written and oral communication skills that enable them to express and interpret
ideas – both their own and those of others – in clear language.
[BOX for text, limit 300 words]
5. Identify, reflect upon, integrate, and apply different arguments to form good, independent
judgments in public debate.
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6. Conceptualize an effective research strategy and then collect, interpret, evaluate and
cite evidence in written and oral communication.
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7. Distinguish between types of information resources and how these resources meet the
needs of different levels of scholarship and different academic disciplines.
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III. Defining Characteristics
The Rhetorical Arts course will:
1. Teach written and oral communication skills.
2. Aim to develop the rhetorical competence necessary for effective engagement in public
discourse.
3. Continue to develop the critical thinking, information literacy, and research skills begun
in the First Year Seminar.
4. Be organized by a subject matter that complements other Foundation courses
(especially the First Year Seminar)—e.g. ethics and communication, virtue and authority,
or knowledge and social obligation.
5. Familiarize students with the rhetorical tradition of the good person writing and speaking
well for the public good.
6. Be taught by an instructor with established competence in the Jesuit rhetorical tradition,
a competence that may be established by the instructor’s participation in a preparatory
program offered by LMU experts in this domain.
Rhetorical Arts Application Form – REVISION 5-2-2015
7. Require substantive critical reading
8. Include formal instruction in grammar, structure, style, and citation.
9. Assign at least 30% of the final course grade on the basis of written work, making use of
multiple drafts for the purpose of revision, editing, and proofreading and providing some
form of feedback on all submitted assignments.
10. Assign at least 30% of the final course grade on the basis of oral expression.
11. Assign at least 10% of the final course grade on the basis of information literacy, with a
librarian-led workshop and one or more course-integrated assignments.
HOW DOES YOUR COURSE MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS?
What do students do (e.g., solve, research, read, write, revise, practice, collaborate,
review, study, perform) and what do you provide as an instructor (e.g., in-class
instruction, written feedback, reading/viewing assignments) to address the
characteristics above (you may use the numbers above to refer to specific
characteristics)? You may refer to assignments or readings listed in Part I. Note that a
single assignment or form of instruction (e.g., lecture, discussion, group work) may meet
multiple requirements.
[BOX for text, limit 500 words]
To submit your proposal, you should:
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Send the proposal electronically to newcore@lmu.edu
CC your chair and Dean on the proposal. Your chair and dean can approve your
proposal by sending an e-mail message stating approval to newcore@lmu.edu.
Once we receive your chair's and dean's approval, your course proposal will be
reviewed by the appropriate core area committee of the UCCC. No proposal will be
reviewed by a core area committee without both your chair's and dean's approval.
The core area committee may approve the proposal, request revisions (this is very
common), or reject the proposal. Rejections may be appealed to the full UCCC.
Once the course is approved, you will receive word from the UCCC, who will copy your
chair and dean.