"He who does not study rhetoric will be a victim of it"
found on a Greek wall from the 6th Century B.C.

Introduction
Last year, at a job interview, a member of an interview committee asked me why I thought it important to teach undergraduates a course in “rhetorical theory.” “Because our students spend four years at university reading and analyzing the logical, ‘academic’ discourses of the various arts and sciences,” I answered. “But they leave us to live in a world where texts are not put together the same way, do not abide by the ‘rules’ of academe. If we fail to prepare students to interrogate such texts, then our students may end up at the whims of those who produce such texts.” This course is the product of that answer.

One of the earliest rhetorical theorists and teahcers, Aristotle defined rhetoric as the ability to find the "available means of persuasion" in a given situation. Following his lead, then, I will note that the objectives of this particular course are deceptively simple: We will investigate the various components that go into persuading a particular group at a particular time to do/think/feel/believe a particular thing. Because our focus is on writing and speaking techniques that persuade others (and ourselves, often), we will be reading and listening to many “texts” and applying to these texts the analytical lenses we will be learning about during class time and in our textbooks. I will note, as well, that the study of rhetoric knits together many aspects of English Studies, for rhetoricians investigate the producers of texts, the texts themselves, the contexts in which the texts may have developed, and the audiences the texts were intended to engage.

Goals of English 4540
Students in this course will

Texts

• Crowley, Sharon and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, 3rd Ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004.
• Handbook of Your Choice (or use the online handbooks available at "Relevant Links")

Instructor Expectations
I expect the students I'm working with to work with me, to be in class and on time each class meeting, to devote a minimum of six (6) hours per week outside of class to course-related work and not to wait until the end of the semester to try to complete/revise all of their work. I expect students NOT to complain about writing, reading, and research, but to try to invest in and enjoy the projects we will work on during the semester. And I expect student-writers to feel that they can talk to me about their work, their concerns about their writing, and their goals for this course. I do NOT expect students to be "expert" writers, readers, or researchers, for if they were, they wouldn't need this course, but I DO expect them to work extremely hard to develop those three skills over the course of the semester.

I do NOT believe in a "bell-curve" or in making the students' grades for this course fall along an A — F continuum. Every student who works at the A-level consistently (based on the Course Outcomes Rubric) should expect to receive an A in the course, keeping in mind that A-writers complete all work on time and at an exceptional level throughout the semester; they come to class everyday during the semester; they do not ask for extended deadlines more than once; they don't make excuses for poor or late performance; they are exceptional peer-responders to their class colleagues; they take a leadership role in the class, consistently going beyond the "minimum" requirements for assignments; and they seek the one-to-one help they need (from teachers, peers, or the University Writing Center) throughout the semester rather than procrastinating and expecting someone else (teacher, peer, writing consultant) to solve their problems for them. If you can be that sort of student, I look forward to awarding you the A you will have earned.

Projects
Within the first two weeks of the semester, students will be asked to choose a particular issue/problem that they want to investigate this semester. All of their minor and major projects will be centered on that particular choice, so students are advised to choose carefully and thoughtfully.

• Minor Analysis Projects (15%)
  Throughout the course, students will work on small projects that require rhetorical analysis. These projects are designed to give students fluency with rhetorical concepts like ethos, pathos, logos, kairos, etc by analyzing various texts that somehow speak to the students’ chosen problems/issues so that they may more easily and effectively produce the longer Major Analysis Project. Students who do not complete these minor projects on time will not be allowed to turn in the major project, which will result in their inability to pass the course. Part of this process will involve rough drafts, peer reviews, and extensive revision. The grade for these projects will be based on students’ engagement in this process as much as the products they create.
• Major Analysis Project (30%)
  Later in the semester, students will begin to mesh together their minor projects (significantly revised) in order to produce a more complete rhetorical analysis of their chosen problem/issue. Part of this process will involve rough drafts, peer reviews, and extensive revision. The grade for the project will be based on students’ engagement in this process as much as the careful and thought-provoking analysis which I expect to see in the written product itself.
• Minor Persuasive Projects (15%)
  As students work on their minor analysis projects, they will also be asked to produce short persuasive pieces which emphasize particular rhetorical concepts the class may be addressing. Some of these will be produced during class; others will be assigned as homework. Creativity is strongly encouraged.
• Major Persuasive Project (30%)
  As students develop their rhetorical skills and begin to work toward their Major Analysis Project, they will be expected to complete a carefully constructed persuasive text based on their course problem/issue. As with the minor persuasive projects, the major project may take any number of different forms (grant proposals, web pages, PowerPoint presentations, advertisements, pamphlets, newspaper editorials, political cartoons, satire, etc.), and creativity is strongly encouraged.

** The remaining 10% of your course grade will be "studentship" or "engagement," defined as being in class at each meeting and participating fully in class projects. **

Attendance
Although students may choose to be absent from class as frequently as they’d like, these absences will adversely affect course grades by affecting in-class performance (thus your "engagement" credit will suffer). Because some minor projects will be compelted in class and/or as part of a group, students who choose to miss class will not be able to complete the projects and will receive a zero (0) for participation in said project. Students who miss NO days of class during the semester will receive a three (3) point bonus on their final average.  It is your responsibility to sign-in to class each day.  ** If you were in class and forgot to sign-in, then you were absent. **

Late Work
Although I often accept late work from first-year students, I expect juniors and seniors to tackle their tasks more responsibly. As such, I will gladly accept early projects by e-mail if students cannot make it to class. However, students are still allowed one late project, as long as that project comes in within one week of the original due date. Because my schedule is so full, students should not expect immediate turn around on late projects; they will be returned as soon as I can get to them, which may be several weeks from the time they were turned in. Since projects build on each other, students are encouraged to turn materials in on time or early so that they do not get behind while waiting for my schedule to open up to provide time for response.

Conferences
Students should schedule conferences with me when they do not understand comments I've made on their projects or when they become confused about the expectations of this course. Likewise,I may require a certain number of individual and/or group conferences during the semester. Each scheduled conference that students miss will result in a zero (0) grade averaged into their major projects. If students cannot make a scheduled conference, I need to know six (6) hours in advance so that we can reschedule and so that other students can make use of my office time.

Academic Integrity
Students are expected to be honest about individual effort and responsible to peer/secondary source materials that are included in their projects. Both plagiarizing and turning in work written partially or completely by someone else are forms of academic dishonesty and carry serious penalties, the least serious of which is a grade of zero on the particular assignment (and thus a D, at best, in the course), but could also result in failure of the class and even expulsion from the university. Students who keep up with their work and consult with their peers and their professor have no reason or need to "cheat."

Computers in the Classroom
Because we meet in a computer-mediated classroom, we will make almost daily use of the machines.  However, certain computer-related behaviors will not be tolerated.  You may check your email or free-surf the web as you please before and after class, but after I announce the beginning of class by starting the roll, any student still using email, chat programs, or web browsers for non-class-related activities will loose points for participation or may even be considered absent from class for the day. **Likewise, students retain sole responsibility for keeping electronic copies of all their work.**  Lost or stolen disks, erased disks, home computer crashes, printer problems, etc. do NOT excuse you from turning in work or having copies of all your work on disk at the end of the semester.  Remember to make frequent back-up copies of files and keep copies on multiple disks.

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs
East Carolina University seeks to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based on a covered disability must go to the Department for Disability Services, located in Brewster A-114, to verify the disability before any accommodations can occur. The telephone number is 252-328-6799.