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RWS 101: Rhetoric of Written Argument
Section 5, T/TH 2:00-3:15PM in
Room GMCS 307 with Michael Rancourt, PhD
mrancourt@mail.sdsu.edu, AH 3133 (sorry, no voicemail, so no phone number)
Office Hours: T/TH 10-10:50AM and by appointment.
“He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher.” – Walt Whitman
Course Description (from the Department of RWS):
RWS 101 follows the prescribed curriculum in Rhetoric and Writing Studies 100. In addition, students are required to
attend [seven] individual tutoring sessions throughout the semester. RWS 100 is described as a course about writing and
reading as critical inquiry, designed to help students undertake university-level writing projects. The focus is on rhetoric of
written arguments. Students learn to use sources in their writing and make appropriate decisions about structure, cohesion,
and rhetorical conventions.
The head of the tutoring program has this to say about that component of the course: “Out-of-class tutoring sessions are
required of every student enrolled in RWS 101, and University policy stipulates that students may proceed to RWS 200
from 101 only if they pass the tutoring component of the class.”
The tutoring component of this class is actually a way for you to complete the equivalent of two courses in one—both RWS
92, a developmental writing course, and RWS 100, the first year writing course. Therefore, it is mandatory and absolutely
necessary for students to fulfill the tutoring component. Students will see the tutor to discuss each major writing
assignment before the 1st draft is due and before the 2nd draft is due. Failure to meet with the tutor will result in a zero
credit earned for the assignment with which that session is associated. It’s harsh, I know, but it’s true. That means that
students who miss one session can only just barely pass the class, and students who miss two will not pass at all.
Learning Outcomes:
1. describing elements of an argument—claims, methods of development, kinds of evidence, persuasive appeals;
annotating the work that is done by each section of a written argument;
2. understanding and incorporating all aspects of the writing process—including prewriting, drafting, revising,
editing, and proofreading;
3. choosing effective structures for your writing, acknowledging that different purposes, contexts and audiences call
for different structures; understanding the relationship between a text's ideas and its structure;
4. identifying devices an author has used to create cohesion or to carry the reader through the text; guiding a reader
from one idea to the next in your writing;
5. effectively selecting material from written arguments, contextualizing it, and commenting on it in your writing;
6. determining when and where a source was published, who wrote it and whether it was reprinted or edited;
understanding that texts are written in and respond to particular contexts, communities or cultures; examining the
vocabulary choices a writer makes and how they are related to context, community or culture, audience or
purpose;
7. responding in writing to ideas drawn from various cultures and disciplines, using the activity of writing to clarify
and improve your understanding of an argument;
8. editing your writing for the grammar and usage conventions appropriate to each writing situation;
9. reflecting on how you wrote your papers, and revising arguments and findings based on critical reflection.
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Texts:
Required text: Keys for Writers 7th Ed. by Ann Raimes (Keys is a required book for RWS 200 and other courses at SDSU.
Keep this copy.)
The principle readings for the course will be provided as handouts and links. Many are arguments produced online, and
some are from books. PDF copies will be provided through Blackboard.
1. Selections from The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
2. “Brief thoughts on the surge in gun control discussions” by Ben Brucato
3. “Myth America Grows Up” by Rita Freedman (on-line)
4. “The Banking Method of Education” by Paulo Freire
5. “Why We Must Disestablish School” by Ivan Illich
6. The US Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson et al.
7. “Speech on Newtown massacre” by Wayne LaPierre
8. “On President Obama’s Credibility,” remarks by John McCain in an interview with CNN
9. “Senator John Mccain on the Situation in Syria” By John Mccain
10. “Choosing between bad options in Syria becomes ever more complex” editorial by The Guardian (UK)
11. “Chelsea Manning and Muhammad Ali” by Andrew O’Hehir
12. “Make Guns Smart” by Jeremy Shane
13. “Good Guys and Bad Guys: A Simplistic Argument from Gun Control Opponents” by Mary Strinka
14. “Pedagogy of the distressed” by Jane Tompkins
Additional readings on rhetorical theory and writing will also be provided.
Students will also have at their disposal a number of optional readings that can be viewed as model texts in some ways.
Assignments:
There are three main types of writing assignments in this class: formal writing assignments (FWAs), informal writing
assignments, and reflective/self-assessment assignments.
FWA1: Rhetorical Analysis, October 22nd
FWA2: Reading in New Contexts, November 12th
FWA3: Research and Reading in New Contexts, December 11th
Reflective, self-assessment writing will accompany each FWA and will be done in the (Digital) Response Notebook.
Grades:
Grades for the course are heavily weighted toward the three major writing assignments, also called “Formal Writing
Assignments” (FWA).
FWA1 – Rhetorical Analysis, Draft Workshop:
25 points
FWA1 – Rhetorical Analysis, 2nd Draft (turned in):
100 points
FWA1 – Rhetorical Analysis, Self-Assessment:
25 points
FWA2 – Reading in New Contexts, Draft Workshop:
25 points
FWA2 – Reading in New Contexts, 2nd Draft (turned in):
100 points
FWA2 – Reading in New Contexts, Self-Assessment:
25 points
FWA3 – Research and Reading in New Contexts, Draft Workshop:
25 points
FWA3 – Research and Reading in New Contexts, 2nd Draft (turned in):
100 points
FWA3 – Research and Reading in New Contexts, Self-Assessment:
25 points
Total Formal Writing Assignments:
450 points
Attendance:
50 points
Miscellaneous Minor Writing Assignments:
50 points
(Digital) Response Notebook:
50 points
TOTAL
600 POINTS
During draft workshops, peers will give feedback including a grade based on a detailed rubric. Writers will then revise
their papers and perform a self-assessment (written up in the [Digital] Response Notebook) based on the same rubric before
handing in the “final” draft to me. I will then give feedback in the (Digital) Response Notebook, to which students will also
respond. This constant back-and-forth serves as an ongoing conversation about students’ writing and is designed to help
foster a metacognitive awareness—students become more aware of their own thinking and their own strengths and areas
they can still improve as writers.
This class will use a standard percentage scale, as seen below:
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A = 94%-100% of possible points
A- = 90%-94% of possible points
B+ = 86%-90% of possible points
B = 84%-86% of possible points
B- = 80%-84% of possible points
C+ = 76%-80% of possible points
C = 74%-76% of possible points
C- = 70%-74% of possible points
D+ = 66%-70% of possible points
D = 64%-66% of possible points
D- = 60%-64% of possible points
F = below 60% of possible points
Tutoring Component:
Students will meet with the tutor a minimum of seven (7) times throughout the semester. The first will be in the first few
weeks of the class, and the other six will be within two weeks prior to the due date for each of the Formal Writing
Assignments (FWAs). The purpose of these sessions is to focus on areas of students’ work that needs improvement in
order to be considered college-level writing. The specific material discussed in each session may be identified by the
student, tutor, or instructor. Tutors will mark down which students did and did not show up for tutoring sessions, and
students will record a summary of the session (what was discussed, with specific examples) in their (digital Response
Notebook).
Format:
All papers should be typed in Times New Roman, 12 or 10 point font. I encourage 10 and all other paper conservation
measures including double siding if I ever ask you to bring hardcopy printouts to class (typical for draft workshops). All
such printouts should also be double spaced with 1” margins (despite the extra paper use).
Any papers submitted electronically should be either .doc, .docx, or .rtf files. If I can’t open your file, you will not
receive full credit (HINT: I may not be able to open WPS or any other type of Word Perfect or Microsoft Works file).
Never turn in a paper to me with a cover page. Instead, put a four line heading in the upper left corner of page one.
This heading and format should be as follows:
O’Student 1
Patty O’Student
Professor Rancourt
RWS 100
21 October 2006
Title of Your Paper is Not Bold
The first paragraph starts with a tab (five spaces) from the left margin. Do not skip any
additional lines before or after the title (everything in this entire paper should be double-spaced).
This is MLA format. That’s just one style, but for this department, you are supposed to use MLA, so
your paper should look like this. Get in the habit.
In addition to the heading, your paper needs to have your last name and page number (no
comma or words between them) in the header of each page. In most word processing computer
programs, you can do this by clicking on <view> and selecting <header and footer> from the menu.
Then, you add your name (Ctrl R to align to the right) and the automatic page number function.
Finally, all papers making use of outside sources should have a properly formatted Works
Cited page. See Keys for Writers for how to format this page.
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O’Student 8
Works Cited
Kwon, Carrol. “Kittens are Nice.” Norton Anthology of Kittens and Puppies. Ed. Kittens McPuppies.
New York: WW Norton, 1997. 144-59. Print.
James, Pat. The Kitten Revolution: From fluffy friend to political power. Boston: Kittenpress, 2004.
Policies:
 I encourage students to use their laptops and such to take notes in class. I mean, it’s 2013, for Pete’s sake!
 Please view this class as a community. That means, it is the task of all members of the community to take care of
themselves and each other. I am not a police officer. It is not my job to make sure you “stay in line.” I am not in
the business of telling people what to do or disciplining anyone. What I am getting at is this: if someone or
something is causing a distraction or disturbance in class, don’t wait for me to solve the problem like I am some
hard-nosed authority figure. If someone is distracting you, ask them nicely to stop doing so. The flip side of this
is that everybody should try to be aware that what they are doing might be distracting to others. Don’t take it
personally if somebody asks you to stop distracting them. Do your best to trust that they are doing so in good
faith, not because they are mean but because they are trying to concentrate.
 Attendance does count as part of the grade in the course, so it will be taken at the beginning of each class. If you
are late and miss attendance, you should see me after class or run the risk of being marked absent.
 Blackboard will be used to share documents (including turning in written assignments) and communicate with
members of the class. For this reason, and others, students should have access to a computer connected to the
internet. Fortunately, there are many computer labs open to students on campus.
 Students with disabilities who may need academic accommodations should discuss options with me during the
first two weeks of class and provide documentation of support from the office of Student Disability Services.
They are located in Calpulli Center, Suite 3101 (third floor) and can be reached at (619) 594-6473 or by email at
sdsinfo@mail.sdsu.edu.
 Plagiarism is a serious offense and essentially is using another writer’s work without giving proper credit to the
original writer. It is cheating! This includes specific words as well as ideas and thoughts embodied in those
words. Plagiarism will result in automatic failure of the class, will be reported to the Dean, and may result in
expulsion from the school. For real.
Schedule:
WEEK 1
1. August 27th – Introductions and overview
2. August 29th – Writing in the Humanities (and elsewhere)
WEEK 2
3. September 3rd – Fundamentals of writing: grammar, mechanics, and style
4. September 5th – Self-assessment and peer-assessment
DUE: MINOR WRITING ASSIGNMENT – Writing and Rhetoric Biography (BRING TO CLASS ON PAPER
OR COMPUTER)
WEEK 3 – Tutoring this week (1)
5. September 10th – Writing arguments/rhetorical theory
Read Ramage, Bean, and Johnson “Moving your audience:Ethos, pathos, kairos” (109-122)
1. September 12th – Analyzing rhetoric (and prereading strategies)
Read selection from Kuypers Rhetorical Criticism as Art (13-22)
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WEEK 4 – Tutoring this week (1)
6. September 17th – Charting a text
Read The Declaration of Independence by Jefferson et al.
7. September 19th – Rhetorical précis and summary
WEEK 5
8. September 24th – Arguments on Syria I
Read and analyze (chart) “Choosing between bad options in Syria” (editorial from The Guardian)
9. September 26th – Arguments on Syria II
Read and analyze (identify thesis and support) two arguments by Senator John McCain, “Senator John Mccain on
the Situation in Syria” and “On President Obama’s Credibility.”
WEEK 6
10. October 1st – Arguments on Guns I, “Brief thoughts”
Read “Brief thoughts on the surge in gun control discussions” by Ben Brucato
FWA1, Rhetorical analysis assignment discussed
11. October 3rd – Arguments on Guns II, “More Good Guys”
Read and analyze (audience, appeals) “Speech on Newtown massacre” by Wayne LaPierre
WEEK 7 – Tutoring this week (2)
15. October 8th – Arguments on Guns III, “Really, good guys?”
Read and analyze (opposing view) “Good Guys and Bad Guys: A Simplistic Argument from Gun Control
Opponents” by Mary Strinka
12. October 10th – Arguments on Guns IV, “Smart Guns”
Read and analyze (appeals, context) “Make Guns Smart” by Jeremy Shane
WEEK 8 – Tutoring this week (3)
13. October 15th – FWA1 Workshop
14. October 17th – Individual meetings and workday
WEEK 9
15. October 22nd Arguments on Gender I, The Second Sex
FWA1 2nd draft due
Read Simone de Beauvoir’s Second Sex (selections)
16. October 24th Arguments on Gender I, The Second Sex continued
FWA2, Reading in New Contexts discussed
WEEK 10 – tutoring this week (4)
17. October 29th – Arguments on Gender II, “Myth America”
Read “Myth American Grows Up” by Rita Freedman
18. October 31st – Arguments on Gender III, “Chelsea Manning and Muhammad Ali”
Read “Chelsea Manning and Muhammad Ali” by Andrew O’Hehir
WEEK 11 – Tutoring this week (5)
19. November 5th – FWA2 Workshop
20. November 7th – Individual meetings and workday
WEEK 12
21. November 12th – Arguments on Education I, “The Banking Model of Education”
FWA2 2nd draft due
Read “The Banking Model of Education” by Paulo Freire
22. November 14th – Arguments on Education I, “The Banking Model of Education” continued
FWA3, Research in conversation assignment discussed
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WEEK 13
23. November 19th – Arguments on Education II, “Distressed”
Read “Pedagogy of the distressed” by Jane Tompkins
24. November 21st – Arguments on Education II, “Distressed” continued
WEEK 14 – Tutoring this week (6)
25. November 26th – Arguments on Education III, “Disestablishing School”
Read “Why we must disestablish school” by Ivan Illich
November 28th – Thankstaking break, no class.
WEEK 15 – Tutoring this week (7)
26. December 3rd – FWA3 Draft workshop
27. December 5th – Individual meetings and workday
WEEK 16 – Tutoring this week (7)
28. December 9th – Individual meetings and workday
29. December 11th – (Digital) Response Notebook assessment and FWA3 due