College Writing

An Introduction to the Art of Argumentation

Fall 2014

Instructor Info:Course Info:

Name: Ashley Squires, PhDNumber:

Email: me/Day:

Office: NES 2113Room:

Office Hours: TBA

Course Description:

On television, in the newspaper, and on the internet, arguments are all around us. We make arguments when we speak to our instructors, our parents, our friends. We encounter them when we read signs on the highway or consult our favorite popular culture blog. Arguments—speech acts designed to persuade—are at the core of human communication, though many of us never think about understanding how to interpret and produce them as essential skills for developing literacy and fluency.

College Writing is designed for students at an advanced level of English language study who wish to have a firmer grounding in writing before proceeding to content courses where more highly developed writing skills are required. Though continuing to build English language fluency is a goal for this course, at its heart, this is a course in argumentation that will help you develop the skills necessary to understand, break down, and critique someone else’s argument while also helping you develop a process for constructing and presenting your own ideas in a persuasive form.

We will be using Michael Lewis’s recent best-sellerFlash Boys, an exciting and thought-provoking account of how recent technological developments have impacted Wall Street, as a model argument. Readings, discussions, and paper topics for the course will cluster loosely around the theme of finance and Wall Street culture.

Required Texts:

The Bedford Handbook, 9th edition

Michael Lewis, Flash Boys

Assessment:

Wiki contributions – 10%

Grammar Exercises (homework/quizzes) – 10%

Short Essays – 20%

Research summaries (3)

Short analyses (2)

Thesis proposals/bibliographies (3)

Major Essays – 60%

Rhetorical analysis essay

Cultural analysis essay

Final argument (essay + presentation)

Attendance:

You are counted absent if you miss more than twenty minutes of any given class period. Regular and timely attendance is essential to doing well in this class. You are allowed 3 “free” absences for the entire semester. Each subsequent absence will result in the deduction of 1 point from your final grade. If you have an extreme setback that requires you to miss multiple weeks of class and that you can document, you should come discuss it with me as soon as humanly possible.

Late Work:

Written assignments must be uploaded to my.nes.ru prior to class on the day the assignment is listed on the syllabus. I will continue to accept work submitted after that point at a penalty of 1 point per day.

Make-up Work:

If a student receives a failing grade in the course, he/she may complete an additional writing project equivalent to the missed or failing assignment. This project must be completed during the designated make-up period and will be assessed by a three-member panel, including the course instructor.

Electronics:

Laptops, tablets, and e-readers are permitted so long as they do not become a disruption. If I suspect that an electronic device is being used inappropriately, I will ask you to turn it off and put it away. Cell phones should be turned off and kept in your bag or pocket.

Communication:

Students should check their nes.ru accounts regularly, as important information about the course (emergency cancellations, deadline changes) may be communicated in that way. Email is also the best way to reach me, though understand that I do not respond to email after 22:00 or before 9:00. If you have a question about an assignment, you should not wait until the morning it is due to ask.

Schedule (subject to change):

*Homework assignments and required readings are listed on the date they are due.

Unit I – Recognizing and Understanding Arguments

Week 1 (September 1 – 5)

Introduction, self-assessment.

What is an argument?

Week 2 (September 8 – 12)

Reading and summarizing an argument.

Read: Flash Boys, Ch. 1.

Grammar Review: Verbs

Types of Arguments.

Write: Research Summary 1 (article provided)

Week 3 (September 15 – 19)

Finding and documenting arguments; creating a working bibliography

Write: Research Summary 2

Grammar Review: Articles

Understanding audience, context, and the concept of kairos

Read: Flash Boys, Ch. 2.

Write: Research Summary 3

Unit II – Evaluating Arguments

Week 4 (September 22 – 26)

Introduction to rhetoric – logos, ethos, pathos.

Read: Flash Boys, Ch. 3.

Grammar Review: Prepositions

Evaluating evidence, reason and logic.

Write: Short Analysis 1

Week 5 (September 29 – October 3)

Rhetorical strategies.

Read: Flash Boys, Ch. 4.

Grammar Review: Comma usage.

Planning and structuring an extended analysis essay.

Write: Short Analysis 2

Grammar Review: Semi-colons and colons.

Week 6(October 6 – 10)

Gathering evidence, quoting the work of others, and writing good paragraphs.

Write: Thesis proposal and bibliography for rhetorical analysis essay.

Grammar Review: quotation marks.

Peer Review.

Write: Complete draft of rhetorical analysis essay.

Unit III – Arguments in Art, Literature, and Popular Culture

Week 7(October 13 – 17)

Analyzing visual arguments

Read: Flash Boys, Ch. 5

Arguments in culture—Bartleby (short story)

Read: Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

Write: Final draft of rhetorical analysis essay

Week 8(October 20 – 24)

Arguments in culture —Margin Call(film)

Read: Flash Boys, Ch. 6

Arguments in culture—Margin Call (film)

Write: Thesis proposal for cultural analysis essay

Week 9 (October 27 – 31)

Consultation Week – no class

Week 10 (November 3 – 7)

Federal Holiday – no class

Revising in Response to Feedback; Peer Review

Write: Draft of cultural analysis essay

Unit IV – Making Arguments

Week 11 (November 10 – 14)

Selecting a topic and a thesis.

Read:Flash Boys, Ch. 7

Style Points: Writing clear sentences

Stases of argument.

Write: Final draft of cultural analysis essay

Week 12 (November 17 – 21)

Gathering evidence.

Read: Flash Boys, Ch. 8.

Write: Final paper thesis proposal and bibliography.

Style Points: Passive vs. active voice.

Structuring your argument.

Write: Paper outline.

Week 13 (November 24 – 28)

Fallacies of argument.

Style Points: Word choice.

Peer Review.

Write: Complete draft of final paper.

Week 14 (December 1 – 5)

Flash Boys final discussion.

Read: Flash Boys, Epilogue.

Style Points: Idiom.

Presenting your argument.

Write: Final draft of final paper.

Style Points: Pronunciation.

Week 15 (December 8 – 12)

In-class presentations

Week 16 (December 15 – 19)

In-class presentations

Week 17 (December 22 – 26)

Exam Week – Final Revisions due December 26