English 1302: Advanced College Rhetoric

1. English 1302: Advanced College Rhetoric Week One: Course Overview

2. ENGL 1302: First-Day Writing Prompt On a sheet of paper, please write down the following (you will turn this sheet in): • Your name, and the name you prefer to be called. • Your TTU e-mail and one other e-mail address (if available) • Your major, discipline, or area of academic interest • Please describe the last time you researched something that mattered to you, how you conducted that research, and why the subject and research were significant.

3. Class Overview • First-Day Matters: Materials, Attendance, Policies, Course Blog • Introduction to Raider Writer • Course Overview • Introduction to the Literature Review and Researched Argument • Overview of Essay Structure and Its Significance • Participation Assignment 1 and Brief Assignment 1 • Homework Overview

4. Required Texts • As soon as possible, you will need to purchase the texts for this course; you have weekly assigned readings and will need to complete your readings in order to complete your assignments. You have a few assignments due soon, so act quickly. • For English 1302, we require a print copy of First Year Writing: Writing in the Disciplines (7th Edition, 2013-2014), and the St. Martin’sHandbook, 7e, electronic version. The FYW writing book (First-Year Writing) is a physical book available for purchase at the TTU bookstore, but ONLY the 2013-2014 edition will work for this course. If you purchased an older edition, please return it, as the readings have changed. • The current edition of The St. Martin’s Handbook  can be purchased either at the bookstore or directly through  Bedford: http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/ttu.php. Please purchase the electronic version, as it has special features we will use in this course.

5. Course Blog http://smith1302ttu.wordpress.com/ • Throughout this semester, we will be using a course blog, accessible through the hyperlink above. The blog will contain weekly updates and course notes, course policies and handouts, useful links to TTU resources, and links to other writing resources. • Check the blog frequently and make use of its models and resources. A summary of our class notes will be posted each week after our class has met. These notes are not to substitute for your own weekly participation and note taking. • My contact information is available on the blog, although it may be useful for you to write it down: CONTACT: J.D. Smith, jd.smith@ttu.edu, Office: English 413 (English building, fourth floor, to the right of the main stairwell) Office Hours: T: 11:00-1:00, R: 11:00-12:00, and by appointment.

6. Attendance • Because we only meet 15 times during the semester, attendance in 1302 is vital to your success in the course. • Please come on time and have your materials prepared: excessive tardiness will be treated as an unexcused absence. Likewise, if you leave class without permission or notifying me in advance of the situation, this, too, will constitute an absence. • As mentioned in our course policies, students are allowed TWO unexcused absences during the semester. On reaching the third unexcused absence, students will have 5% deducted from their final course grade, and I will be required to notify the student’s academic dean. • Absences may only be excused under extenuating circumstances or emergencies: please stay in touch with me and let me know if you are experiencing an illness that will prevent you from attending. • If absent, you are still responsible for turning in your assignments on time. I will accept participation assignments or homework with a late penalty, but bear in mind that this will affect your final participation grade. • Please see my course policies on the blog for more details on absences.

7. Raider Writer • All of your major assignments (non-participation) are assigned and completed electronically on Raider Writer, which is akin to Blackboard. • You must sign-up for Raider Writer as soon as possible. You should receive a sign-up link via the e-mail address you have on file with TTU so that you can sign up for Raider Writer. If you are having issues signing up, please see our course FAQ on the blog. • Your official course syllabus, turn-in dates, assigned readings, and assignment directions will all be available on Raider Writer. Please sign-in often and stay on schedule with your materials. Bookmark the page if this is helpful to you. • Make sure to use the web-browser Mozilla Firefox when working in Raider Writer. Errors are known to occur on other browsers, so please make this your browser ASAP. A link is provided under the course FAQ. • Policies concerning late papers are listed under My Course Policies on the course blog. Please review these, as they are different from those listed in your official syllabus.

8. Course Overview • In English 1302, we will study rhetoric as it applies to researched writing. In addition to several shorter assignments (Brief Assignments on Raider Writer) that assess individual skills like analysis, revision, and synthesis, we will be working on two longer assignments (Drafts) and revisions of those assignments (Draft Revisions). Those drafts will be: 1) a literature review and 2) a researched argument. • Whereas English 1301 primarily focused on rhetoric and critical reading, 1302 expands on these skills by focusing on works of scholarly research and the methods of university-level researched writing. • 1302 is centered around the production of two longer drafts and revisions of those drafts (four altogether): 1) a literature review and 2) a researched argument (of your own devising) Pacing of course is much faster, and more assignments are due overall. • A literature review, in most disciplines, is a paper that attempts to connect the arguments and methodologies concerning a particular problem or topic in a given field. A literature review is focused on accurately synthesizing the arguments of others in context with one another. Meaning, a literature review examines multiple articles and researchers’ views on a subject and demonstrates explicitly “how” those arguments overlap. A literature review refers to the available conversation on a scholarly topic and seeks to find the pattern in past and current research. • A researched argument, conversely, takes a stance and pushes an audience toward a particular action or view; it employs research as a means to support its reasoning and claims. A well-researched argument should be formal in nature and draw from quality, scholarly sources that have been vetted and are appropriate for the argument’s logic. • There are examples of both of these documents in the back of your FYW textbook. Please read over these to familiarize yourself with these genres of writing.

9. Example Theses for the Literature Review and the Researched Argument • A literature review thesis might look like this (focuses on researchers’ views and the “common” thread running through those views as an organization structure): • “Although some researchers disagree, most research of American critics regarding the effectiveness of intelligence and espionage programs can be characterized by its concern with the ethics of globalization.” • A researched argument thesis on the same topic might look like this (Note the firm “stance” of the speaker using the phrase “should,” as in “you should do the following because of reasons a), b) , and c)): • “Because it protects domestic corporate interests, provides valuable support to troops overseas, and effectively prevents domestic and foreign attacks on American interests, the NSA program is necessary to national security and should be maintained in our government.”

10. Why Research Matters • What is the purpose of argument? How do we define it? • What is a scholarly argument? What is its purpose as compared to an informal or personal argument? • Burke’s Parlor: the importance of understanding your role in and being prepared for a conversation before you join it. • Think of a scholarly conversation as a metaphor for the way that our questions, concerns, and research overlap with those of other researchers: two researchers who publish findings on a common subject, even if they disagree on certain matters, may still be in conversation with one another. • How does research affect your personal life? Your academic and professional life?

11. Essay Structure • You may be accustomed to a five-paragraph essay structure, but five paragraphs does not fit all forms of writing. A well written literature review will usually require more because of the number of sub-points and the number of articles being dealt with. The following is a fair model for structure in most scholarly papers: • Concise introduction to topic and exigency (the concern or reason why the subject is significant) • Followed by a thesis that defines the scope and concern of the paper. If you are writing a formal paper like a literature review, it should be appropriate to that form. • Body Paragraphs • Begin with a topic sentence that concisely defines the theme or sub-topic of the paragraph. Think of it like a mini-thesis for that paragraph. • Provide any summary or context if necessary. • Follow with appropriate evidence/analysis and synthesis of information. • Connect analysis to exigency and/or thesis, and conclude the paragraph while transitioning to the next. • Conclusion • Concisely summarize the findings of the paper in connection to the thesis and exigency. • Consider the exigency in a larger context or conversation. • Conclude your work in a formally fitting manner (i. e. be mindful not to make a judgment if the paper, like a literature review, did not call for a personal argument.

12. Participation Assignment #1 • For your first participation assignment, you will need to begin considering your research topic for the literature review. There are preapproved topics (and articles) from which you can choose, but these are not required. These can be located onI encourage you to choose a topic related to your field of interest or something you want to learn about: it will be more fun and useful to you as a student. • These topics need to be of a scholarly nature: please do not select “hot-button” topics (e.g. abortion, video games and violence, gun-control, legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, obesity, immigration, etc.). These will not serve you well in the literature review. • FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT, please read over our course policies on the course blog, the e-mail policies on the course blog, and send me an e-mail according to the description on the “E-Mail Policies” page that both 1) verifies you read and agree to the course policies and 2) proposes a potential topic for your literature review. This assignment will be worth 4 points total toward your participation grade. • A good literature review topic should be a) sufficiently narrow and b) researchable (and have scholarly articles written over it), so you might consider reading a few articles to help narrow down your topic: you might find that there isn’t any research over your concern, so start looking early. Use the TTU Library main-page and research database to look for peer-reviewed, scholarly articles.

13. Narrowing a Topic • For a literature review, your topic of research (what you will want to discuss as it occurs 8 or more researched, peer-reviewed articles) should be focused but not so narrow that you cannot find any research. EXAMPLES: • Too broad: “government espionage” • Too narrow (potentially): “the negative effects of the Cold War on the stock exchange and the American marketplace from 1948-1951” • A good start: “The effects of Cold War-era policy on the western world economy.” • If you have gone too narrow, try reducing the number of search terms and details one at a time. • If you are having difficulty narrowing, try charting out related sub-points of your topic and see if you can find peer reviewed articles over these. Look at the emphasis of those articles for potential direction.

14. Brief Assignment 1: • BA1 (to be completed online through Raider Writer) requires you to write a short essay (400-600 words) in response to the results of a grammar diagnostic and several student writing examples. Your response should answer all the questions listed in the BA1 assignment prompt in the description on Raider Writer. • Please break your response into paragraphs. You do not need to have an entire paragraph devoted to the introduction or conclusion, but an introductory sentence for the first paragraph and a concluding sentence for the final paragraph should be included. A paragraph responding to the score and exploring your writing background, followed by a paragraph responding to the student examples, and concluded by a paragraph concerning your goals for the semester would be a sufficient structure. • To complete BA1, you will need to first take a grammar diagnostic on Raider Writer. The link will be available on your Raider Writer home page. Please make sure you have a secure internet connection and at least two hours to take the diagnostic quiz. Do not attempt to close and re-open the quiz: it should be completed in one sitting. You should receive your score after completion of the quiz.

15. Brief Assignment 1 Directions, Continued • The assignment directions will ask you to respond to your diagnostic score in context with your writing experiences and university work. Please be specific in providing your writing context and responding to the prompts. Good writing is specific and aware of its rhetorical context. EXAMPLE PASSAGES • Too broad, not enough context: “During high school, I wrote a number of papers but did not do very well because of my grammar and structure. I would like to learn more about those because of my major.” • Better: “While taking 1301 at Texas Tech University, I wrote a rhetorical analysis over an essay by Sven Birkerts, which was challenging for me because I was new to rhetoric and have struggled with essay structure in the past. In 1302, I would like to focus on learning more about source integration and paragraph-level structure so that I can write more effectively. This is important to me because as a journalism major, I will professionally deal with sources, source integration, and synthesis in my studies and work.”

16. Homework Overview • The following is due (please note the dates): • Sign up for Raider Writer • Acquire course texts if you have not already • Read over the syllabus, course policies, and e-mail policies on the course blog, and send an e-mail in the required format (see Participation Assignment #1 and the policies for a model). The content should be as listed on the e-mail policy page and PA1 page. I must receive this e-mail no later than Sunday before midnight. • Begin brainstorming your topic for the literature review. • Take your grammar diagnostic on Raider Writer and complete BA1 (Due on Friday before midnight, i.e. 11:59:59 PM) • Complete all readings listed (Readings 1 and 2) by next class. Be prepared to demonstrate your knowledge of these readings. **IMPORTANT: remember that it is plagiarism to recycle or re-use any materials you have turned in for other courses for credit. If you have taken 1301 or 1302 before, start your BA1 (and all assignments) from scratch. Those who self-plagiarize will receive a zero on the assignment and may be subject to academic discipline. We have a computerized plagiarism checker and can tell if you have recycled material.