Env = Envision in Depth: Reading, Writing and Researching Arguments; EW = Everyday Writer

English 250 Fall 2013

NOTE:The syllabus is subject to change and may not list all readings and shorter assignments. Readings AND Reading Journals are to be completed before the class period for which they are listed. Please bring Envision and The Everyday Writer to class EVERY DAY, and either a print or electronic copy of individual readings to class on the day for which they are assigned. **For photo essays, select 1 image to bring for discussion during class.

Env = Envision in Depth: Reading, Writing and Researching Arguments; EW = Everyday Writer

Assignments

Units and Grade Distribution

Unit 1: Assignment #1: Memoir

Unit 2:Analyzing Visual Rhetorical Arguments

Assignment#2: Group Documentary Film Presentation15%

Unit 3:Analyzing Textual Arguments

Assignment #3: Textual Rhetorical Analysis15%

Unit 4:Researching

Assignment #4: Argumentative Essay15%

Oral Presentation of Arg. Photo Essay5%

Other

Assignment #5: Final Reflective Rhetorical Memoir15%

Reading Response Journals15%

Class Participation/Attendance10%

Writing Lesson Group Presentation5%

Discussion Leader5%

All work completed outside of class should be typed, printed and stapled before class. Make sure you have a backup copy of all work before you turn it in to be graded. Keep all graded assignments for potential revisions. Major essays will be penalized one letter grade (e.g., from B to C) for each class period they are late. Absences during presentations will result in a zero for that assignment, unless you notify me beforehand and reschedule.

Assignment 1

Personal Environmental Memoir - Description and Narrative of Place

English 250 Fall 2013

Due date: Thursday 5 Sept via EMAIL 5 pm

“A world is looking over my shoulder as I write these words; my censors are bobcats and mountains. I have a place from which to tell my stories. So do you, I expect. We sing the song of our home because we are animals, and an animal is no better or wiser or safer than its habitat and its food chain. Among the greatest of all gifts is to know our place.” – Barbara Kingsolver, “Knowing Our Place,” from Small Wonder

In her essay from Small Wonder, Barbara Kingsolver describes two places she lives and writes, Appalachia and Arizona. She interacts with these two places, and while she may own land or be a part of a certain community, Kingsolver insists “these places own me” (944).

Think about the places that own you. What environment(s) have been significant to your development as a person? You may decide to write about the place you were raised, or you can choose some other environment that has impacted to you. You may want to focus your essay on a particular event in order to frame your discussion.

Planning and Drafting

Questions to ask yourself:

• How do you engage with this place?

• How has this place shaped and affected you?

• Is this a natural or human-constructed environment?

• What sorts of animal and plant life exist there? What kind of non-living material?

• How does it look, sound, smell? Why is this important to you?

Some Evaluation Criteria

The essay

• provides specific and relevant examples or experiences that support the stated attitude
• contains sensory detail
• is appropriately organized into paragraphs
• contains few errors in mechanics

Assignment 2

Visual Rhetorical Analysis: Documentary

English 250 Fall 2013

Due Dates According to Presentation Schedule

Group Presentation

In groups of three or four, you will watch and analyze an assigned documentary, sharing with the class your group’s interpretation of the film’s message and rhetorical strategies. Together prepare a short presentation (10-15 minutes), including the trailer of the film. VERY BRIEFLY summarize the documentary, and then explain in detail the rhetorical context (filmmaker, year of production) and how might it fit into a larger movement around the particular issue. Then identify the documentary’s argument, evaluate the oral, visual, and rhetorical (emotional, factual or ethical appeals) strategies the filmmakers used to make this argument, and explain whether or not you think they were effective in doing so. If possible, draw connections to class readings and assignments. Be prepared to answer questions from the class.

These films are available on Instant Netflix, in the ISU library, and/or the Ames Public Library. If you have any difficulty finding a film, let me know.

Group Written Analysis

In a 2-4pp. written analysis of your group’s environmental documentary, write a BRIEF summary of the documentary (no more than 1 paragraph), identify the filmmaker’s purpose and argument, evaluate the oral and visual strategies the filmmakers used to make this argument, and explain whether or not you think they were effective in doing so.

Both your presentation and your essay must answer the following questions:

- what sources (on-camera interviews, expert opinions, graphics, newspapers, TV reports, etc.) did the filmmakers consult during the film?

- how did the filmmaker use: image, sound, music, color, etc. in the documentary?

- what emotional appeals did the filmmaker use? How did they do this? Were these strategies successful?

-what logical connections did they make to scientific, technological, socio-economic or political issues? How did they do this? Were these strategies successful?

Other Evaluation Criteria

- source, date of production, target audience, and purpose are clearly stated

- clear and interesting thesis supported by specific, concrete detail

- ethical, logical, and emotional dimensions of analysis are present

- primary and secondary sources are cited appropriately

DOCUMENTARY OPTIONS

Crude (2009) - This documentary explores the ongoing battle waged by 30,000 indigenous Ecuadorans against Chevron for dumping billions of gallons of toxic oil waste. In a cinéma-vérité feature from acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger, Crude is the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet. An inside look at the infamous $27 billion "Amazon Chernobyl" case, it is a real-life high stakes legal drama set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex situation from multiple viewpoints, the film subverts the conventions of advocacy filmmaking as it examines a complicated situation from all angles while bringing an important story of environmental peril and human suffering into focus.

Dive! (2010) -- Follow filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and his circle of friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of L.A.'s supermarkets. In the process they uncover thousands of dollars worth of good food and an ugly truth about waste in America: grocery stores know they are wasting and most refuse to do anything about it.

The End of the Line (2010) -- Based on the critically acclaimed book by Charles Clover, THE END OF THE LINE charts the devastating ecological impact of overfishing by interweaving both local and global stories of sharply declining fish populations, including the imminent extinction of the bluefin tuna, and illuminates how our modern fishing capacities far outstrip the survival abilities of any ocean species. Scientists explain how this depletion has slipped under the public radar and outline the catastrophic future that awaits us an ocean without fish by 2048 if we do not adjust our fishing and consumption practices.

Food, Inc. (2008) - Examines the costs of putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact. Director Robert Kenner explores the subject from all angles, talking to authors, advocates, farmers, and CEOs, like co-producer Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma), Gary Hirschberg (Stonyfield Farms), and Barbara Kowalcyk, who has been lobbying for more rigorous standards since E. coli claimed the life of her two-year-old son. The filmmaker takes his camera into slaughterhouses and factory farms where chickens grow too fast to walk properly, cows eat feed pumped with toxic chemicals, and illegal immigrants risk life and limb to bring these products to market at an affordable cost.

Gasland (2010) -- In 2009, filmmaker Josh Fox learned his home in the Delaware River Basin was on top of the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation containing natural gas that stretches across New York, Pennsylvania and huge stretches of the Northeast. He was offered $100,000 to lease his land for a new method of drilling developed by Halliburton and soon discovered this was only a part of a 34-state drilling campaign, the largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history. Part mystery, part travelogue, and part banjo showdown, Gasland documents Josh's cross-country odyssey to find out if the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing - or fracking - is actually safe. As he interviews people who live on or around current fracking sites, Josh learns of things gone horribly wrong, from illness to hair loss to flammable water, and his inquiries lead him ever deeper into a web of secrets, lies, conspiracy, and contamination - a web that potentially stretches to threaten the New York Watershed. Unearthing a shocking story about a practice that is understudied and inadequately regulated, Gasland races to find answer about fracking before it's far too late.

If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (2011) – The remarkable story of the ELF rise and fall told through the transformation and radicalization of one of its members, Daniel McGowan. Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Marshall Curry weaves a chronicle of McGowan facing life in prison with a dramatic investigation of the events that led to his involvement with the ELF, creating a film that is equal parts coming-of-age tale and cops-and-robbers thriller. Using never-before-seen archival footage and intimate interviews with cell members and with the prosecutor and detective who were chasing them, If a Tree Falls asks hard questions about environmentalism, activism, and the way we define terrorism.

The Last Mountain (2010) - A spellbinding tour along the frontlines of America's most spirited battle over the environment and the economy. Set deep in the heart of Appalachian West Virginia, this consciousness-raising film captures a rowdy band of citizens as they try to stop a giant coal company from blowing up a pristine mountain for its coal. A tale of greed and courage, folly and forward-thinking, The Last Mountain is brimming with the coal hard facts and vivid testimony from the hardscrabble people whose lives are intertwined with coal. Featuring environmental activist and lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr. and the stunning visuals of Appalachia, The Last Mountain is an informative indictment of America's energy policy, and it points the way to a brighter, greener future.

VISUAL RHETORICAL ANALYSIS PLANNING SHEET

Title of Documentary:Year of Production:

Director:Writer:

Producer/Production Company:Associated Organizations, Sponsors, etc.:

Write a BRIEF summary of the documentary.

What issue or subject is the documentary addressing?

What is the message or argument of the documentary? What is the purpose?

What sources (on-camera interviews, expert opinions, graphics, newspapers, TV reports, etc.) did the filmmakers consult DURING the documentary? Why do you think these were included?

How did the filmmakers use oral/visual elements (i.e. image, sound, music, color) in the film? Which of these elements was most effective? Which of these elements was least effective? Explain your answer.

What emotional appeals are the filmmakers using during the film? Are these successful in supporting the purpose of the documentary? Why or why not?

What logical connections does the film make to scientific, technological, socio-economic, or political ideas? Are these successful in supporting the purpose of the documentary? Why or why not?

Evaluation Criteria

Thesis: ___/5

- contains clear, focused, specific language

- presentation follows and aligns with opinion stated within thesis

- thesis is an analysis of the documentary, rather than the subject itself

Substance: ___/10

- analysis is thorough and uses specific quotations, anecdotes and images from the film

- all elements of the presentation requirements are present

- every member of the group participates equally

Organization: ___/10

- the presentation follows logical progression

- slides are easy to read and easy to follow

Style: ___/10

- students use language appropriate for academic setting

- students use vocabulary relevant to the course, and to the subject matter

- presentation is practiced, clean, and sufficient in length

Mechanics: ___/5

- slides are free of mechanical errors, including

- functions of grammar

- spelling

- punctuation

TOTAL: _____/40

Assignment 3

Rhetorical Analysis of a Written Text

English 250 Fall 2013

Rough Draft Due: Tues 8 Oct

Final Draft Due: Tues 15 Oct via EMAIL 5 pm

Essay Requirements: 3-5p; Double-spaced, stapled; 12 pt. font Times New Roman or Garamond; MLA formatted works cited/bibliography; AT LEAST 3 credible, academic sources; Catchy/Explanatory Title

A rhetorical analysis examines how a text works—how its words, its structure, its ideas connect—or don't connect—with a given audience. Your analysis will show how a text fulfills its purpose for a particular audience. Because this purpose is fairly open-ended, you’ll need to focus your analysis on specific elements the author uses to achieve his or her purpose.

To assist your readers in understanding your analysis, be sure to