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RWS 100: The Rhetoric of Written Argument
San Diego State University, Fall 2014
Section C0, TT 8:00-9:15, EBA-260
Instructor:
Office:
E-mail:
Office Hours:
Professor Sean Cissel
Storm Hall 114A
scissel@mail.sdsu.edu
MW 2:00-3:00, TT 9:30-11:00, and by appointment.
Description of the Course
General Education Capacities/Goals & RWS Learning Outcomes
Our Learning Outcomes Reflect the Goals and Capacities of the General Education Program. RWS 100 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 100 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)
craft well-reasoned arguments for specific audiences;
2)
analyze a variety of texts commonly encountered in the academic setting;
3)
situate discourse within social, generic, cultural, and historic contexts; and
4)
assess the relative strengths of arguments and supporting evidence.
Our student learning outcomes for RWS 100 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.”
Assignment Types: the following four outcomes describe the four main writing projects or "assignment types" for
the course. Students will be able to:
1.
Describe and analyze an author’s argument, claims, project, support and rhetorical strategies.
2.
Construct an account of an author’s project and argument and carry out small, focused research tasks to
find information that helps clarify, illustrate, extend or complicate that argument; use appropriate reference
materials, including a dictionary, in order to clarify their understanding of an argument.
3.
Construct an account of one or more authors’ projects and arguments and explain rhetorical strategies that
these authors—and by extension other writers—use to engage readers in thinking about their arguments.
4.
Construct an account of two authors’ projects and arguments in order to use concepts from one argument
as a framework for understanding and writing about another.
Outcomes across the semester: the following points describe outcomes to work on throughout the semester, to be
attained over the 15 weeks. Students will be able to:
5.
describe elements of an argument--claims, methods of development, kinds of evidence, persuasive
appeals; annotate the work that is done by each section of a written argument;
6.
use all aspects of the writing process--including prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading;
7.
choose effective structures for their writing, acknowledging that different purposes, contexts and
audiences call for different structures; understand the relationship between a text's ideas and its structure;
8.
identify devices an author has used to create cohesion or to carry the reader through the text; use
metadiscourse to signal the project of a paper, and guide a reader from one idea to the next in their writing;
9.
effectively select material from written arguments, contextualize it, and comment on it in their writing;
10.
determine when and where a source was published, who wrote it and whether it was reprinted or edited;
understand that texts are written in and respond to particular contexts, communities or cultures; examine the
vocabulary choices a writer makes and how they are related to context, community or culture, audience or
purpose;
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11.
respond in writing to ideas drawn from various cultures and disciplines, using the activity of writing to
clarify and improve their understanding of an argument;
12.
analyze and assess the relative strengths of arguments and supporting evidence
13.
analyze and assess arguments made by visual texts; incorporate visual images into their documents;
14.
craft well reasoned arguments for specific audiences
15.
edit their writing for the grammar and usage conventions appropriate to each writing situation;
16.
assign significance to the arguments that they read;
17.
reflect on how they wrote their papers, and revise arguments and findings based on critical reflection.
Required Textbooks
Keys for Writers. Ann Raimes and Maria Jerskey.
Thank You for Arguing: Revised and Updated Edition (2013). Jay Heinrichs.
Outliers: The Story of Success (2008). Malcolm Gladwell.
Assignments
15%
Essay 1
20%
Essay 2
20%
Essay 3
20%
Essay 4
15%
Quizzes (lowest two will be dropped).
10%
Participation/shorter assignments.
Grading Scale
A
93-100%
A90-92
B+
87-89%
B
83-86%
B80-82%
C+
77-79%
C
73-76%
C70-72%
D+
67-69%
D
60-66%
F
Below 60%
Written assignments are due at the beginning of class on the dates listed on the syllabus. I do not accept
assignments via email, and I will not accept late copies of Essay 4. For assignments other than Essay 4, I will
subtract twenty points for every class date that an assignment is late. I will only accept assignments on class
dates; in other words, if an assignment is due on Thursday, and you put it in my mailbox on Friday, I will not accept
it until Tuesday anyway, so you might as well just give it to me on Tuesday at class. Make sure you save your work
frequently while composing it and after you finish, both to the computer’s hard drive and to a disk. SDSU computer
labs, especially, can easily erase your work if you do not save it to a disk. Sending a copy of your work to your own
email address as an attachment is also a good idea; doing so saves your work in cyberspace. Make sure the
computer and printer you use are in proper operating condition to avoid any last-minute disasters like crashed
systems, infected flash drives, broken or out-of-ink printers, et cetera. Computer problems and the like do not
excuse late or incomplete assignments.
Grading Rubric
I will give you a handout concerning the rules for writing in this class. Keep it; use it; bond with it.
An A essay contains a completely developed thesis or point of view and supports it throughout; is well organized
and coherently developed; clearly explains or illustrates key ideas; demonstrates variety in sentence structure;
clearly displays facility in the use of language; uses outside sources critically and insightfully; and is nearly free
from errors in mechanics and grammar. In short, an A essay makes the reader say, “Dang! That’s really good stuff!
Far superior to the writer’s peers.”
A B essay contains a well-developed thesis or point of view and generally supports it throughout; is generally well
organized and coherently developed; explains or illustrates key ideas; demonstrates some variety in sentence
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structure; displays facility in the use of language; uses outside sources critically and insightfully for the most part;
and is generally free from errors in mechanics or grammar. A B essay makes the reader say, “Hey, that’s pretty darn
good. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it; it’s clearly better than the average essay.”
A C essay contains an adequate thesis or point of view and generally supports it; shows some organization and
development; explains or illustrates some of the key ideas; demonstrates some facility in the use of language;
incorporates sources, but allows sources to dominate and/or restrict flow; and may display errors in mechanics or
grammar, but not a consistent pattern of such errors. A C essay makes the reader say, “Not bad at all. It’s written by
an intelligent student who put some work into it, but it doesn’t rise above the average level of his or her peers.”
A D essay contains an underdeveloped thesis or point of view that is poorly supported; is inadequately organized or
developed; inadequately explains or illustrates key ideas; uses sources but poorly deploys them; contains a pattern or
accumulation of errors in mechanics or grammar; and has limited or inappropriate word choices. A D essay makes
the reader say, “Well, this is not particularly appealing. This is not up to the level set forth by this student’s peers.
Needs greater effort.”
An F essay has no thesis or clear point of view, a circular thesis or point of view, or a completely unsupported thesis
or point of view; is poorly organized or unorganized with very little development; has little or no relevant detail; has
no sources or uses sources uncritically; and has serious errors in mechanics and/or grammar. An F essay makes the
reader say, “I have serious doubts about this student’s level of interest and about the effort he or she put forth. This
is just not adequate.”
Essay Format: Please adhere to MLA style (see Keys for Writers, or the website
<http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html> for a fairly thorough discussion of MLA style)
throughout your essays, including cosmetic concerns (i.e., what your essay looks like). Please purchase a small box
of paper clips at the beginning of the semester, if you do not have any already.
Grammar and Punctuation Errors: Competent grammar and punctuation are necessary elements of written
language. In your four assignments, I will put a check mark at the end of any line of text in which a grammatical or
stylistic error occurs and deduct one point for each error:
√p
= a misused, unnecessary, or missing punctuation mark.
√g
= a grammatical error.
√pv
= a passive voice verb construction.
√e
= an empty expression, such as those that use “there” or “it” without a clear antecedent.
Two check marks at the end of a line means two errors, three check marks means three errors, and so on. For
Assignments 1, 2, and 3, you may correct each error within a week of my returning the assignment to you and bring
it back to me on the check-marked copy to regain those points. You must correct your errors on the check-marked
copy, or they will not count.
Spelling, Proofreading, and Essay Format Errors: Any time you misspell a word, commit a proofreading or
typographical error (for example, omitting a word or writing a word twice in a row), or use incorrect essay format
(for example, incorrect spacing, font, or page numbers), I will deduct one point that you cannot get back. If you
spend sufficient time on your essay and revise it, you should not make any of these errors.
Attendance: The expectation is that all students will be present and engaged in every class meeting. Quizzes cannot
be made up except in cases of pre-excused, university-related absences. Absences for peer workshops will result in
significant loss of participation points.
Electronics/Classroom Etiquette: Please do not use electronic devices in class.
Communication with Me: Email and office hours are the best means through which to get in touch with me. From
time to time, I will need to email you regarding the class. Check your email at least twice a day. You are
responsible for keeping your email account active and making sure your inbox is not full. I will only deal with the
email address on file with SDSU Blackboard. If you need to contact me, please try to email me before five o’clock
if you want a response that day.
Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty will result in an F for the semester. I will also submit to the university
a formal complaint, which could result in expulsion. You will not get another warning from me.
Forms of academic dishonesty include the following:
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Collusion – lending your work to another person to submit it as his or her own;
Fabrication – deliberately creating false information on a works cited or reference page;
Plagiarism – the presentation of another person’s work as your own, or the presentation of work that you've written
for an assignment for a different class, even if you revise it.
Access: If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for this class, it is your
responsibility to contact Student Disability Services at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt of your
accommodations, you should contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. Please note that
accommodations are not retroactive, and that accommodations based upon disability cannot be provided until you
have presented your instructor with an accommodation letter from Student Disability Services. Your cooperation is
appreciated.
Tentative Schedule
All readings and assignments must be completed by the beginning of the class day listed. This schedule is subject to
change.
Week 1
8/26: Course introduction, syllabus.
8/28: Heinrichs (JH) chap. 13-14.
Week 2
9/2: Gladwell (MG) Introduction, chap. 1.
9/4: MG chap. 2.
Week 3
9/9: MG chap. 3.
9/11: MG chap. 4-5.
Week 4
9/16: MG chap. 6-7.
9/18: MG chap. 8
Week 5
9/23: MG chap. 9, epilogue.
9/25: Reading from Blackboard.
Week 6
9/30: Full draft of Essay 1 due. Peer workshop.
10/2: Essay 1 due.
Week 7
10/7: JH chap. 1-2.
10/9: JH chap. 3.
Week 8
10/14: Group conferences. No regular class meeting. JH chap. 4-5.
10/16: Group conferences. No regular class meeting. JH chap. 6.
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Week 9
10/21: Full draft of Essay 2 due. Peer workshop. JH chap. 7-9.
10/23: Essay 2 due.
Week 10
10/28: JH chap. 10-11.
10/30: JH chap. 12, 19.
Week 11
11/4: Reading from Blackboard.
11/6: Reading from Blackboard.
Week 12
11/11: Veterans Day. Campus closed.
11/13: Essay 3 due.
Week 13
11/18: Reading from Blackboard.
11/20: Reading from Blackboard.
Week 14
11/25: Reading from Blackboard.
11/27: Thanksgving. Campus closed.
Week 15
12/2: Group conferences. No regular class meeting.
12/4: Group conferences. No regular class meeting.
Week 16
12/9: Full draft of Essay 4 due. Peer workshop.
12/12: Essay 4 due.