ENGL 354: Modern Rhetorical Theory, Spring 2019

Course Information

Course

  • Number: ENGL 354
  • Title: Modern Rhetorical Theory
  • Term: Spring 2019

Course Description

This course studies the return of interest in rhetorical theory and rhetorical training in the 20th century. There are three units: 1) we explore various texts that situate modern life (cities, cars, and mass media, especially) as a problem that rhetoric can solve; 2) we look at some theories of persuasion that respond specifically to these various challenges; 3) we use these theories to explore a rhetorical case study.

This semester, the case study will be on rhetoric and food.

Course Policies

These are the policies that govern our class. You are responsible for knowing the information on this page before contacting me regarding policy questions.

Email

I am available to answer email from 9:00am until 5:00pm Monday through Friday. Emails arriving outside of that time will be answered at my earliest convenience, but do not count on a quick answer to emails sent late at night or on the weekends.

Grading

Per university policy, I cannot discuss grades via email. Please visit my office hours if you would like to discuss your grade on an assignment.

Grade Values

  • A 90-100
  • B 80-89
  • C 70-79
  • D 60-69
  • F 59 or less

Feedback and Assignment Points

Before each assignment, I will provide you with a copy of my grading rubric for the assignment to give you a sense of what I will be targeting in each assignment. This sheet will break down each component of your grade and add up to 100 points. I will read each assignment, mark up a rubric, and provide a few paragraphs of comments on your assignment.

These points will be weighted according to the point breakdown described on the Assignments page, which will determine your overall final grade.

Absence / Tardiness

As discussed on the assignments page, to prove your presence in class, you are asked to submit a 3x5 notecard after each class with your name, a quote from the text you want to discuss, and an unanswered question you still have after class. This is all that is required to show attendance.

If you have an excused university absence (see below), you do not have to submit a card. If you have an unexcused absence, within a week of the class you missed, email me the quote from the reading you would have put on your card and a 2-3 sentence explanation of why you think it is interesting. You do not need to explain why you were absent if you don’t want; this email will excuse your absence.

Excused Absences

Student Rule 7 covers the cases in which absences will be excused and in which late work will be tolerated. The following conditions will be excused:

  • Participation in an activity appearing on the university authorized activity list. (see List of Authorized and Sponsored Activities)
  • Death or major illness in a student’s immediate family. Immediate family may include: mother, father, sister, brother, grandparents, spouse, child, spouse’s child, spouse’s parents, spouse’s grandparents, stepmother, step-father, step-sister, step-brother, step-grandparents, grandchild, step-grandchild, legal guardian, and others as deemed appropriate by faculty member or student’s academic Dean or designee.
  • Illness of a dependent family member.
  • Participation in legal proceedings or administrative procedures that require a student’s presence.
  • Religious holy day. (See Appendix IV.)
  • Injury or Illness that is too severe or contagious for the student to attend class.
  • Required participation in military duties.
  • Mandatory admission interviews for professional or graduate school which cannot be rescheduled.
  • Mandatory participation as a student-athlete in NCAA-sanctioned competition.
  • In accordance with Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, Texas A&M University shall treat pregnancy (childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy and recovery therefrom) and related conditions as a justification for an excused absence for so long a period of time as is deemed medically necessary by the student’s physician. Requests for excused absence related to pregnancy should be directed to the instructor; questions about Title IX should be directed to the University Title IX Coordinator.

Late Work

Under Student Rule 7.4, I am under “under no obligation to provide an opportunity for the student to make up work missed because of an unexcused absence.” However, I do accept late work and will take off 5 points for every day late. These points are removed after the paper is graded, such that a paper that would have received an 85% that was 3 days late will receive a 70%.

Additionally, if you are falling behind on a project and feel that you are not going to finish on time, email me 24 hours before the assignment is due to request an extension. In this email, propose how many additional days you will need to finish the assignment. Requests for extension that do not contain this information will not be honored.

Technology

In the 21st century, it is unreasonable to accept “my computer died” as an excuse for late work. If you are working on assignments on a computer, please back up your work offsite. Sites such as Dropbox and Google Drive provide space for storing copies of your work; even a USB drive can be enough. I have recently started using BackBlaze and found it to be a great and inexpensive online, automated backup. Save multiple times throughout each work session to both your backup and your computer’s copy. In this class, I hold you accountable for making sure your technology is working correctly.

Academic Integrity

Aggie Honor Code. “An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do.” It is the student’s responsibility to know the Aggie Honor Code and to understand what constitutes scholastic dishonesty and to avoid it all costs. Anything (particularly plagiarism and cheating on quizzes or projects) that appears to be a violation of the Aggie Honor Code will be reported to the appropriate authorities. For additional information please visit: http://aggiehonor.tamu.edu/.

Also, the following is a helpful resource for describing kinds and severity of plagiarism. Note this graphic is not from A&M, where rules may differ: http://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Infographic_Did-I-Plagiarize1.jpg

American with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact Disability Services, in Cain Hall, Room B118, or call 845-1637. For additional information visit http://disability.tamu.edu.

Assignments

Assignment Due Date Value
Participation Cards Daily 20%
Paper 1: Modern Rhetoric 02/22/2019 20%
Exam 1: Rhetorical Theories 03/26/2019 20%
Paper 2: Case Study Analysis 04/30/2019 40%

Participation Cards

Starting the second week of class, you will be required to bring a 3”x5” notecard to class each day. These cards will serve to record your attendance in class. More importantly, they will structure class participation.

There are three required elements on a participation card for it to count as attendance:

  1. Your name (top of card)
  2. A passage that stuck with you from the reading (front of card)
  3. An unanswered question based on class discussion (back of card)

At the beginning of each class, I will give you two minutes to write out one sentence from the reading that stuck with you: that you loved, that you hated, or that confused you (you may also bring a prepared card, if you like). We will begin class discussion by going around the room and reading our passages. This activity will serve to spark our discussion of the reading.

At the end of each class, I will give you three minutes to write out (in complete sentences) an answer to the following: “What topic did we raise today that is going to keep you up tonight? If nothing, what should we have asked that would keep you thinking into the night?” This is your chance to show me what you learned in discussion, what you wished you had learned, and/or what you still want to learn. I will be using these to help shape future discussions.

If you cannot attend class, please email the quote you would have put on your card and a 2-3 sentence explanation for why you chose the quote in question.

Paper 1: Modern Rhetoric

We have identified a number of problems in the first few decades of the 20th century that make the practice of rhetoric and the study of persuasion crucial for the functioning of a mediated society. What is the single most important issue today that you think require a new theory of persuasion?

In an argumentative essay, discuss your problem, explaining what it is, giving some background on the issue, and why it is a problem that can be addressed through persuasion. You will need to rely on outside sources to support your argument, whether these are scholarly arguments about the topic, technical sources to add background detail, or popular sources to provide examples or to dimensionalize the problem.

Exam 1: Rhetorical Theories

You will be required to bring blue books for this exam.

You will be supplied with a list of quotes from the material we have discussed in Unit 2. These will be quotes we talked about in class. For each quote, identify the following information:

  1. Author of the quote
  2. Full title of the work in which quote appears
  3. Explain the importance of the quote to the argument of the work
  4. In a short paragraph, summarize the author’s full argument and what they contribute to a theory of argument

Paper 2: Case Study Analysis

For this assignment, you will write what is called a rhetorical analysis. In a rhetorical analysis, the strategies of persuasion of a particular cultural object are evaluated to explain why (or why not) a particular cultural artifact is (or is not successful) at being persuasive. Rhetorical analyses could study speeches by a politician or advertising slogans in a soda commercial; they can look at paintings, books, or anything else that participates in the creation and circulation of cultural myths.

Specifically, I want you to find a cultural object relating to food in some fashion (defined how you want, subject to my approval). Then, I want you to identify the appeals the object is making to its audience. Pay special attention to the theories of rhetoric we have identified this semester.

Schedule

Unit 1 – Rhetoric as a Solution to the Problem of Modernity

Week 1 – Why Do People Do Dumb Things?

Tue 01/15

  • Course Overview

Thu 01/17

  • Sigmund Freud, from Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Week 2 – Why Are Cities So Scary?

Tue 01/22

  • Bronislaw Malinowski, from Myth in Primitive Psychology
  • First Participation Card Due

Thu 01/24

Week 3 – What Do Words Actually Do?

Tue 01/29

  • Ferdinand de Saussure, “Object of Linguistics” & “Nature of Linguistic Signs” from Course in General Linguistics

Thu 01/31

  • Friedrich Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense”

Week 4 – How Do Words Manipulate the Public?

Tue 02/05

Thu 02/07

  • Kenneth Burke, “The Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle”

Unit 2 – Modern Theories of Persuasion

Week 5 – Why Aren't We Talking About Rhetoric?

Tue 02/12

Thu 02/14

Week 6 – What Happens When We Do a Rhetoric?

Tue 02/19

  • Paper Workshop Day

Thu 02/21

Week 7 – How Does this Work in the Real World?

Tue 02/26

Thu 02/28

Week 8 – How Else Do We Argue?

Tue 03/05

Thu 03/07

Week 9 – Spring Break!

Tue 03/12

No Class

Spring Break

Thu 03/14

No Class

Spring Break

Week 10 – Where Else Does Rhetoric Happen?

Tue 03/19

Thu 03/21

Unit 3 – Case Study: Rhetoric and Food

Week 11 – Does Food Tell a Story?

Tue 03/26

  • Exam 1
  • Bring Blue Books!

Thu 03/28

Week 12 – Is This All Natural?

Tue 04/02

  • Alexis Shotwell, from Against Purity

Thu 04/04

Week 13 – Who Makes the Most Authentic Food?

Tue 04/09

Thu 04/11

Week 14 – What Should We Have For Dinner?

Tue 04/16

Thu 04/18

Week 15 – What Should I Write My Paper About?

Tue 04/23

  • Work on Your Paper

Thu 04/25

  • Paper Workshop Day
  • Paper 2 Due 4/30 by 11:59PM