Welcome to English 1301: The essentials of College Rhetoric

1. Welcome to English 1301: The essentials of College Rhetoric Sections 051 & 054 Instructor: Mr. J.D. Smith

2. Today’s Class-28 Aug 2013 • Course Overview- Syllabus, Assignments, Requirements, Deadlines • Additional Course Policies • Course Materials- FYW Textbook (print), Bedford St. Martin’s Handbook (electronic custom ed.) • Raider Writer Interface • What is rhetoric, anyway? How does it apply to me? • Course blog: www. ttuenglish1301smith.wordpress.com • Homework Assignments: Brief Assignment 1 due Tuesday, September 3rd at 11:59:59 PM; ALSO, Required Readings

3. Course Overview and Policies • Official TTU Course Requirements and Policies in your textbook, First Year Writing: Writing in the Disciplines, xxi-xxix. • My additional course policies (to be covered in class) are printed on the course blog. Please read, print, and sign these policies for part of your participation grade next Wednesday! • Commit these policies to memory: students who understand the parameters and requirements of their courses tend to be the most successful. • Textbooks need to be in your hand when you walk into class next Wednesday. You cannot complete the assignments without it! • Emergency book loans are available through Student Business Services. See the link on our course blog under “Important Class Links”

4. Bedford St. Martin’s Handbook • What is it: an interactive e-book and writing guide containing readings, exercises, and full style and documentation guides. • Purchase the TTU 2013-2014 Custom Edition: you MUST have the electronic version of this text. The book can be purchased online through the TTU bookstore or via an access code from the physical store in the Student Union. Make sure that you have purchased the right edition: if you have acquired a different edition accidentally, return it ASAP so that you can be refunded. • A link to the St. Martin’s Handbook is available on the course blog. • We will use the text for assignments and readings in both 1301 and 1302; you will have access to the book for four years after purchase.

5. Syllabus and policies • The syllabus should be available in your FYW Textbook and Raider Writer. We will cover the assignments and their significance. • English 1301 Learning Objectives: Students will be able to… • Identify, discuss, and analyze various rhetorical strategies and elements of the writing process. • Analyze texts and visuals, and compose summaries and paraphrases of those works • Synthesize ideas presented in a variety of works and present those ideas in a coherent essay. • Demonstrate a competency with conventions of Standard English

6. Assignments • Brief Assignments will apply writing strategies, analytical approaches, and critical thinking skills to texts. These assignments are shorter than drafts but require careful study. You will complete 9 BAs this semester. • DRAFTS*: This semester, each of you will compose two drafts of a rhetorical analysis: the first draft will analyze the purpose, audience and rhetorical choices of an individual text. The second draft will be a revision of the first draft that will require you to employ effective revision strategies informed by readings, practice, and peer critique. • Peer Critiques: at least twice this semester, you will be asked to critique (analyze and offer constructive criticism) your peers’ writings. • Diagnostic and Writing Reviews: The diagnostic (first assignment) and review (final assignment) ask you to contextualize your writing experience. Think carefully about these and keep track of your writing goals and the strategies you use to meet those goals. Nothing can substitute for the time you spend with the page. • Participation grades, quizzes, and homework readings: we will discuss these.

7. Raider Writer • What it is: a digital interface (like Blackboard) with which you will complete all of the assignments on the course syllabus. You will compose and submit papers through RW; papers will receive comments from document instructors and will be returned to you: you must read these! They are your instructors as well. • By sometime today, you will have received a sign-up link and directions for Raider Writer in your TTU e-mail. If you have not received this link, see the FAQ page under Additional Course Materials on the course blog. If you have any trouble not answered by the FAQ, please contact me. • SIGN UP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. YOU HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT DUE BY NEXT WEEK. THE LINK TO SIGN UP WILL EXPIRE. YOU SHOULD RECEIVE IT WITHIN 24 HOURS IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY. • There is a link for RW on the course blog under Important Class Links. Bookmark this on your PC. • Use the browser Mozilla Firefox for RW. RW experiences issues with other web browsers. Mozilla Firefox is free for download and is available on most campus computers. http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/fx/

8. Brief Assignment 1: Pre-Semester Diagnostic • After you have signed up for Raider Writer, you should be able to find a link to the Grammar Diagnostic. • THE GRAMMAR DIAGNOSTIC CAN ONLY BE TAKEN ONCE. YOU MUST NOT EXIT THE PAGE OR COMPLETE IT IN SECTIONS. If you exit the page, you cannot reenter and the assignment will stand as is. • You will need your TTU e-mail address, your instructor’s name (Smith), and section number (051 or 054) to take the diagnostic. • Set aside at least one to two hours to take the diagnostic: find a computer with a consistent internet connection. If you know your connection at home is spotty, try the TTU Library computers. • Familiarize yourself with the readings for week 1 on your syllabus BEFORE taking the diagnostic (if you haven’t already). You will need your textbooks for this. • Do not wait until the last second to take this test. The diagnostic is only part of the BA1. The assignment itself is a reflection over the diagnostic results contextualized with your previous writing experiences. The earlier you take the diagnostic, the better.

9. BRIEF ASSIGNMENT I: THE WRITING • Read the assignment directions for BA1 on RW THOROUGHLY. Word count matters: this is non-negotiable. Going over is OK and potentially necessary to develop your thoughts, but turning in papers under the limit is unacceptable. • This is a reflective assignment, so the use of the first-person voice (“I…”) is formally appropriate. We will discuss this. • Essay format means PARAGRAPHS. You must organize your thoughts: think about topic sentences (set the theme for a paragraph) and how you support your claims with concrete details and specific references. • I expect a thorough reflection that contextualizes your previous experiences with writing and employs reasoning in responding to the prompt questions. Specific references means being particular not only about what you’ve written, but how you write. Be particular about the writings you’ve completed in the past and use examples. • When discussing expectations and results, explain your reasoning to your reader: if you are happy or disappointed, take it a step further. Why was your score expected or a surprise to you? What experiences informed your belief? • Use this as an opportunity to set writing goals for yourself: know what you need to improve and think about how you might approach that. What do you want to learn about writing that no one has taught you before?

10. More on BA 1 • Your results should be available for review shortly after you have submitted the diagnostic. Make sure to note your score first, as specified in the directions. Complete sentences and developed paragraphs are a must. Look for your scores on RW: make sure that the e-mail you used to register for RW matches the one you used for the diagnostic! • Put effort into this assignment: a successful BA will develop paragraphs in a thoughtful manner. One or two sentences will not cut it. Structure at least two to three organized paragraphs that use specific details and references.

11. DUE NEXT WEEK • BA 1: DIAGNOSTIC AND REFLECTION • Readings 1 and 2 (see Raider Writer Syllabus). There will be a quiz over these readings in the next class. • Additional readings and reflection (for participation grade): please read George W. Bush’s “Post-Katrina Speech from Jackson Square, New Orleans,” September 15, 2005, p. 287 in your FYW Textbook. For this reading, note specific patterns, word choices, and strategies you think are significant in this speech. Type these out, and in one to two paragraphs describe why you think they are significant to the purpose and audience of the speech. • On the same page as the speech response: formulate a question you have about rhetoric or college writing that is not already answered by our texts. Write this out (titled: Question) above your analysis and response to the Bush text. • Read, Print, and Sign my additional course policies. You will find this under Additional Materials on the blog.

12. What is rhetoric? • Rhetoric, put simply, is “the art of persuasion.” We might also think of it as intentional language: language that aims to produce a particular effect in a particular audience • Think about the relationship between an author’s purpose, their approach, and their audience. How does one inform the other two? Does media affect this relationship? How so? • What is a rhetorical situation? Would the language of a text-message be appropriate for a job interview? Would you write a grant proposal in the same manner you would ask your sibling (or parent) for a loan? • What sorts of texts do you see everyday? Do they all have the same purpose, or are their multiple meanings behind some?

13. Think about politics • To whom does a politician speak in their line of duty? What do they want for themselves, what do they want for others, and how do they go about accomplishing these with language? • Read the following excerpt and note the choices that seem strange or powerful: “The literati sent out their minions to do their bidding. Washington cannot tolerate threats from outsiders who might disrupt their comfortable world. The firefight started when the cowardly sensed weakness. They fired timidly at first, then the sheep not wanting to be dropped from the establishment's cocktail party invite list unloaded their entire clip, firing without taking aim their distortions and falsehoods. Now they are left exposed by their bylines and handles. But surely they had killed him off. This is the way it always worked. A lesser person could not have survived the first few minutes of the onslaught. But out of the billowing smoke and dust of tweets and trivia emerged Gingrich, once again ready to lead those who won't be intimated by the political elite and are ready to take on the challenges America faces.”-Rick Tyler, Spokesman for Newt Gingrich, 2011.