FORT VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY

 Department of English and Foreign Languages
 ENGL 2150  Introduction to Rhetorical Theory

course web site:  http://www.keithmurphy.info/ENGL2150/2150.htm

Instructor: B. Keith Murphy, Ph.D.

URL:  http://www.keithmurphy.info
Office: CTM105.
Office hours:  call Ms. Nicholson at 6454 to make an appointments.  Virtual office hours posted online.
Telephone: (478)825-6454 Fax: (478)825-6000
Email: Sophist@Bigfoot.Com  or murphyk@fvsu.edu Yahoo! Instant Messenger ID:  Docsophist

DEPARTMENTAL POLICIES

Course Description:
(Prerequisite a grade of “C” or better in ENGL 1102 or permission of instructor.)  English 2150  is a course wherein students will be introduced to the basic concepts and primary schools of thoughts which comprise both ancient and modern rhetoric.  Such areas include Aristotelian criticism, Jungian Archetypal criticism, Feminist thought, and Post-Modernism.  Students will understand basic concepts in rhetorical analysis and criticism and produce critical analysis of appropriate texts from literary or popular culture genres.

Course Objectives:
Upon the completion of this course, the successful student will develop a fundamental vocabulary and knowledge base for working with rhetorical theory.  Successful students will be able to recognize major theorists and schools of though and their contributions to the body of episteme.  Successful students will demonstrate basic rhetorical analysis of text and produce written rhetorical criticisms of specific texts.  Successful students will also apply various basic critical lenses to a multitude of rhetorical “texts” and draw useful, applicable, conclusions from their analysis.

In order to achieve these goals, the student will perform the following tasks:

• The student will write thoroughly researched, clearly explicated and articulated, and well-documented rhetorical criticisms.  These papers will require the student to choose an artifact (a piece of “text” [a communicative act]) which carries significance.  They will then choose an appropriate theory with which to use as a critical lens to examine their artifact.

• With the papers described above, as well as shorter written assignments asking for analysis of artifacts that arise from current events, the students will be required to deal with, in their analysis and writing, the basic rhetorical tenet that societal pressures are inherently a construct of language.

General Education or Major Outcomes:

• Writes clearly and correctly.  The successful student will be able to write strong, basic rhetorical criticisms where they apply a specific theory to a specific artifact and draw conclusions. 
• Facility with computers and information technology will be enhanced through the use of technology such as the Internet and databases for research purposes.
• Comprehends critically and thinks logically and critically.  The successful student will, through their critical writing, demonstrate an understanding of the forces of society, of culture, of narrative, of gender, and a broad base of additional language based exigencies which shape text; both as the rhetor creates it and as it  as viewed by a reader.

Grading Breakdown:

·         Portfolio (Which is a compilation of all drafts of all assignments you wrote this semester.  This will include the three mini-crits and the term length research project.) = 80 % of final grade

·         Research Project (This term length project is aimed at producing a rhetorical or literary criticism paper that is of acceptable quality for presentation at academic conferences.) = 10% 

·         Three mini crits and other assorted shorter writing assignments = 10%
 

Final grades are determined as follows: A=90-100%; B=80-89%; C=70-79%; D=60-69%; F=59-0%.

Course Policies:

1. Attendance. The student will attend class regularly. Attendance will be recorded daily. If a student arrives late, it is their responsibility to make certain the instructor records them as present. The student, not the instructor, is responsible for any work missed whether or not the absence is excused. Be Aware: This is NOT a class that one can pass by merely getting there in time to sign the roster.

FVSU has an official policy on "cuts" or unexcused absences which states that students may be absent from class a number of times equivalent to the credit hour value of the class. This is a 3 credit class, thus, you have 3 allowed absences. The policy also states:

The student may expect to lose one percentage point for each absence in excess of the above scale. (Points to be deducted from the final course average.) Exceptions to this policy in regard to point reduction may be approved by the instructor involving death in the family, illness of the

student or member of the immediate family, or military duty. It is the student's responsibility to provide legitimate written excuses (From the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs) to the instructors of classes involved. Other reasons not covered here must be cleared with the appropriate school office.

An absence may be excused if cleared with the instructor in advance or if the student can provide a written excuse with the date, signature, and phone number from some responsible person. Graded assignments missed due to excused absences may be made up within one weeks of the student's return to class; however, it is the student's responsibility to initiate such arrangements and to persist in efforts to complete the work within the deadline.

Assignment Format:

Unless instructed otherwise, all essays must be typed or LEGIBLY written in blue or black ink on 8 1/2" by 11" paper. The research project MUST be typed. All assignments become the property of Fort Valley State College; they will be kept on file for one quarter after the present semester and then destroyed.

Required Texts and Materials:

Texts:

James L. Golden, Goodwin F. Berquist, and William E. Coleman and J. Michael Sproule.  The Rhetoric of Western Thought.  (Dubuque, IA:  Kendall/Hunt) Current Edition.  Required.

Mark R. Stoner and Sally Perkins.  Making Sense Of Messages: A Critical Apprenticeship In Rhetorical Criticism.  (NY:  Houghton Mifflin), 2004.  Required

If you order books online (through Amazon.com, Froogle.com, Ebay or other sites which sell used books, be aware that -- IF YOU BUY A USED BOOK -- Amazon (or whomever the retailer may be) is acting as the middle man and it may take weeks for the little used book store in Pahrumph, Nevada to get around to putting your book in the mail.  So, if you want them quickly, buy new books.

The student will also be expected to photocopy library and internet materials uncovered as a result of their individual research programs.

Materials: Pens and writing paper.

High Density 3.5" diskette.

A standard college desk dictionary.

One standard ream of photo-copier paper.

Email Address: All students are expected to have an active email address through which they can contact the instructor and the instructor can contact them.  If you do not have an email address, you may register for one at:  http://bunniwerks.zzn.com

Grading Criteria:

To earn a grade of C, an your critical essays must:

• Contain either a clearly implied or explicitly stated central idea.
• Be unified and coherent. The paragraphs must stand in clear relation to the thesis and each other.
• Be fully developed. Each paragraph should contain a leading idea and specific details or examples that clarify, support, and explain the leading idea.
• Contain clear sentences that are in general conformity with standard English. Errors in grammar and/or mechanics must be so minimal that they do not distract from the meaning of the essay.
• Preferably the essay will end with a paragraph, or at least a sentence, which conveys a sense of completion.
• Offer clear evidence of sufficient research and academic citation on both the subject under analysis and the theory used as critical lens.
• Demonstrate a solid understanding of the theory being applied to the artifact.
• Demonstrate the ability to synthesize ideas in the application stage and to produce original thought and heuristic thought in the conclusion stage of the work.

An essay fulfilling the above criteria represents acceptable collegiate work. To exceed this criteria, an essay must show superiority in content and development, organization and coherence, sentence style, research, original thought, creativity, synthesis, and/or vocabulary.

Not sure about plagiarism?  Click that link or check out these web sites:

·         http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/hc/plagiarism.html

·         http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html

·         http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

·         http://www.collegeboard.com/article/0,3868,2-10-0-10314,00.html

Tentative course schedule and reading assignments:  

Portfolio is due on last day of classes before reading day!!!