Dr. Veronica House
The University of Colorado at Boulder
Program for Writing and Rhetoric
WRTG 1150-058, 750: First-Year Writing and Rhetoric Syllabus
Office Location: ENVD 1B78 (in basement of Environmental Design Building)
Office Phone: (only during office hours) 735-4774
Email:
Course Description: This section of 1150 is a service-learning section based on the theme of Food and Sustainability. Service-learning is a practice in teaching that combines class work with community work and critical reflection to enrich your educational experience and help you begin to see connections between what you are learning in the classroom and what is happening in the community. In this course you will choose a local non-profit organization with which to volunteer 15 hours based on your own social/political interests. I will give you several options from which you may choose including the Family Learning Center, the Boulder Carriage House, CU Going Local, and CU’s Environmental Center. Your writing assignments and readings will help you to substantiate your emotional responses to your “fieldwork,” but of equal importance, your community work and your conversations with community coordinators, activists, and the people the organizations aim to help are also research that will allow you to engage with the academic world in a new way. All of these voices and texts will expand and shape your understanding of the social issue you have chosen to investigate in your writing. You will spend a good part of the semester proposing and then enacting a writing project that you will determine with your organization’s coordinator. Through this process, you will gain an understanding of a social issue, community dynamics, problem-solving, and written advocacy. Your writing assignments will encourage you to challenge your engrained ideas, to connect theories from the classroom with fieldwork, and to interrogate in your writing the social and cultural forces that have led to the problem with which you are working. In the last part of the semester, your service projects will inform your assignment in oral rhetoric: power point presentations in which members of the class present their work, concerns, and ways in which fellow classmates can become involved.
Goals:This course emerges from a series of state-wide education requirements established by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE). WRTG 1150 First-Year Writing and Rhetoric is a course in argumentation that will enhance your knowledge of both academic and public rhetorical strategies and give you practice in producing oral and written arguments. Rhetoric is “the art of persuasion.” In this course you will examine and produce examples of oral, visual, and written rhetoric. You will learn how to:
produce different genres of writing for different contexts, purposes, and audiences
evaluate, construct, and organize effective arguments based on your content knowledge
develop civic literacy skills through work with a community organization
determine the causes and effects of a social issue
develop critical reading, inquiry,and thinking skills
develop information literacy through library tutorials and research
produce a clean, efficient writing style through drafting and revision
edit and proofread carefully
address readers’ criticisms in your revisions
reflect critically on correlations between theoretical concepts and community experiences
produce a piece of writing that addresses a community need
The course will combine discussions, writing workshops, and individual conferences. The readings, assignments, and workshops will help you to engage with rhetorical situations beyond the limits of the course, to read critically, and to participate in multi-sided arguments through appropriate language and research. We will focus on the communication strategies and forms that drive engaged citizenship and on shaping your writing and speaking so that your point is focused, compelling, persuasive, and supported with evidence.
Peer Review Writing Workshops
You will not only be writing and revising multiple drafts of your own writing, but you will also participate in peer writing workshops in which you will receive and give criticism on papers. Through your participation in these workshops, you will broaden your intended audience, learn to anticipate reader feedback as a vital part of the writing process, and look to the suggested revisions with the enthusiasm that comes with an understanding of engagement in the continuous process of improving your writing skills. You will also learn to strengthen your own writing by reading others’ work.
As peer-reviewers, you will have rough and final drafts from your partners’ previous papers with each new draft so that you can watch for patterns of problems and address possibilities for revision.
Your paper’s final grade will be dropped by 10% if you do not participate in peer-review.
Required Texts and Materials: For this class you will need:
Fast Food Nation: This text will serve as a model for you as you write your Causal paper. You will develop your critical reading and inquiry skills as you evaluate how Schlosser uses different types of rhetoric, including counter-arguments, to create his causal argument about the causes of the current state of the fast food industry and the effects that the industry has had on subjects ranging from obesity, worker rights, politics, environmental issues, and animal welfare.
Everything’s an Argument (either red or blue edition is fine): This Rhetoric reader will provide
background for each of your written and oral assignments.
Knowing Words: This book, created especially for First-Year Writing at CU, will provide background reading to several assignments, including the work you do with information literacy, or library research. The book also provides information on course policies and resources on campus. If you don’t find what you need on this syllabus, check Knowing Words.
A folder in which you will submit papers
Daily access to email /knowledge of your identikey for library tutorials
Coursework: You will be graded on the following:
FFN and “Power Steer” Take-home test (5%)
Causal Analysis I (15%)
Proposal Letter, Blog, or other piece of writingfor the community(10%)
Causal Analysis II (15%)
Clayton Packet work (15%)
Service Work (15%)
Oral Presentation (10%)
FFN assignment (3%)
RIOT tutorial (3%)
Attendance, participation, preparation (9%)
Grades: In addition to the final drafts, you are required to produce a first draft for each paper. We will do peer editing of these drafts in class. This is worth 10% of the grade. You will be graded not simply on the final paper you turn in, but on the quality of the entire writing process. Your grade on the final paper will take into account your incorporation of comments and responses to your drafts. You will turn in all previously-commented-on papers in your folder with each final paper.
Your final semester grade will be calculated according to the above percentages. Participation is based on how much and how well you contribute to discussions compared with your classmates. Please note that if you consistently fail to fulfill any of the class work assignments, you may fail the course. Do not throw away any drafts, notes, papers or research materials you produce during the semester, until you receive a final grade.
Your work with a non-profit organization is central to the course. I will call your coordinators periodically throughout the semester to check on how things are working. Please recognize your responsibility to this outside organization and the opportunity you have to transform your educational experience into one that promotes involvement, experiential learning, and real change.
Late Assignments and Drafts: Papers, drafts, and other out-of-class assignments will be turned in at the time they are due. Late final drafts turned in one day (24 hr. period) late will receive a loss of a full letter grade, a class day late will be a loss of two letter grades. No work will be accepted more than one class day late. No class work (including peer reviews) or quizzes can be made up! If you cannot attend class on the date an assignment is due, arrange to have a classmate or friend drop it off during scheduled class time.
Attendance: You are expected to be punctual, to attend class daily, and to participate in all in-class editing, revising, and discussion sessions. If you have more than five absences, you will fail the course. Failure to be prepared for class may also be counted as an absence. For your attendance grade, two absences is a B, three a C, four a D, five an F. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to contact a classmate for the information and assignments you missed. If you miss a documentary viewing, you are required to watch the video on your own time and write a one-page response for me.
Conferences: At any point in the semester, you are welcome to schedule a conference to discuss any aspect of your work. If you have signed up for a conference and find that you are unable to keep the appointment, please notify me as soon as possible by e-mail. The conference schedule can be very tight, and another student might be able to use the time if you have to postpone an appointment.
Cell phones and computers: Cell phones must be put on silent and put away during class, and texting is not allowed. You will lose a percentage point from your final semester grade for every time you text in class. No computers are allowed in class. Transcribe your notes onto a computer OUTSIDE of class.
Writing Center: If you want additional help with your writing, the Writing Center (Norlin Writing Commons on first floor) is a great place to go to brainstorm ideas, improve your thesis or essay organization, or work on writing skills. You need to make an appointment in advance (they suggest more than a week ahead). Check the Writing Center website for information on hours and services:
Scholastic Honesty and Plagarism: Turning in work that is not your own or any other form of scholastic dishonesty will result in a major course penalty. If any part of a paper up to two sentences is plagiarized, you will receive a zero on the paper with no possibility for a rewrite. If any more than two sentences is plagiarized, you will fail the course and the incident will be reported to the Honors Council. All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include cheating, plagiarism, academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. I will report all incidents of academic misconduct to the Honor Code Council. Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Additional informationmay be found at and .
Disabilities: If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, Willard 322, or
.
Religious holidays: Campus policy requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled assignments or required attendance. Let me know in the first two weeks of class if you will miss any scheduled classes/assignment due dates because of religious observances. See policy details at .
Discrimination and harassment: CU’s Policy on Discrimination and Sexual Harassment applies to all students, staff, and faculty. Any student, staff or faculty member who believes s/he has been discriminated against or sexually harassed should contact the Office of Discrimination and Harassment at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550.
Daily Reading, Assignment, and Work Schedule
Unit One: Rhetorical Analysis
During this unit, you will learn about various kinds of oral, visual, and written rhetorical arguments. While you familiarize yourself with the academic vocabulary surrounding the study of rhetoric through your reading of Everything’s An Argument, we will use a documentary about food and a journalistic book to apply your new knowledge and determine how and why arguments are constructed for particular audiences, and the power they have to change perceptions.
M August 22: Introductions: to one another and to service-learning
Handout of non-profit options
Watch beginning of documentary about food
Read Syllabus: become familiar with the goals and rules of the class; read all highlighted unit sections so that you understand how the course will progress
Read handout (I will send this via email): “Introduction to Service-Learning” and type answers to “Check Your Understanding,” parts A-C
W 24: Discuss reading and your responses
Finish documentary
Read Everything’s An Argument Chs. 1 and 5
Read Fast Food Nation Introduction and Chs. 1-3 (jot down where you see Schlosser using the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos so that you are prepared to share your ideas in class)
FFN Assignment
M 29: Discuss types of rhetorical arguments from reading
Work in groups on FFN’s rhetoric
Read FFN Chs. 5-6 pgs. 111-147 (you are skipping Ch. 4) – keep doing the cause/effect lists
W 31: Group presentations / discussion of FFN
Read email handout “Introduction to Critical Reflection” and complete “Check your understanding”
Read FFN Ch. 7-9 (keep doing the cause/effect lists)
Read Xeroxed book review of Tomatoland
W September 7: What is critical reflection?
Sign up for one-on-one meetings with me
Read Michael Pollen article “Power Steer”
At-home Fast Food Nation and “Power Steer” test—due on Monday in our meetings
Over the next week, you’ll need to contact your non-profit to make sure what they need matches what you’ll need in terms of work, hours, and your schedule. Your choice is due to me NO LATER THAN next Monday. This counts as threehours of work, so get this done.
***Contact the Volunteer Resource Center on campus if you need help. Tell them it is service-learning work for a writing course based on food issues, not volunteer hours. They will understand the difference.
Unit Two: Causal Argument
Fast Food Nationis an extended sociological and political causal argument and will serve as a model for you as you construct your own cause/effect paper, an assignment that will emphasize critical reading and thinking, as well as information literacy. In many courses across disciplines, you may be asked to research and determine causes or effects of a particular problem or issue. This research paper will give you the skills to take the broad social issue with which you are working with your non-profit, determine a specific problem that the organization addresses, and then research causes or effects of that problem. Not only is this excellent practice in conducting research on a national and local level and constructing an academic paper, but it will also give you a deepened knowledge about the social issue with which you are working.
M 12:One-on-one meetings in my office to discuss your non-profit choice
At these meetings you will turn in your test.
Read EA “Causal Arguments” Ch. 11
W 14: Assign Paper #2 Causal Argument and explain library tutorial
Apply cause/effect argument to FFN Chs.6-9
Start your service-learning work this week, if you haven’t already! Ask about the main causal issues.
Read EA Ch. 16
Do Library Tutorial, all modules – a grade for each module will be sent to me and will factor into your RIOT grade for the semester. The address is below and is available starting today. This tutorial takes a few hours, so plan accordingly.
/home.htm
A note from the library: “If any of your students have difficulty logging in, please have them email with their name, identikey username, and course number.”
M 19: Library orientation day—meet in Norlin Library
Read handout: “Critical Reflection Fundamentals: The Standards of Critical Thinking” and complete “Check Your Understanding”
Read EA Ch. 19
Begin research
W 21: Discussion on critical thinking and reading skills
Read EA Ch. 18
Begin writing rough draft
M 26: ***Show Food, Inc.
Hand out sample introductions and revision checklist—remember that this is not a persuasive paper
continue working on rough draft (USE REVISION HANDOUT and STANDARDS OF CRITICAL THINKING TABLE)
W 28: ***Finish Food, Inc,
Continue revising Causal Paper
M October 3: Full-Class Peer Review Workshop with drafts
Revisions of Causal Argument based on Revision Checklist, Standards of CT, and peer comments
Bring two copies of your revised paper to next class