101B W22 Lesiuk

ENGL 101B: Introduction to Rhetoric Winter 2022

University of Waterloo Department of English

Mondays and Wednesdays: 10:00 am – 11:20 am in EV3 4412 

Section 001

(Assuming we go back to in-person instruction.)

We acknowledge that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (also known as Neutral), Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River.

Instructor Information

Instructor:                 Michael Lesiuk

Email:                        mlesiuk@uwaterloo.ca

Office Hours:             Mon/Wed 1:30 p.m – 2:30 pm (virtual, so please email!)

Course Description

In this course you will study some of the essential concepts, frameworks, and controversies in the history and theory of rhetoric. What does Aristotle mean when he says rhetoric is the “counterpart of dialectic”? What is the relationship between rhetoric and logic? Or between rhetoric and an informed—or a misinformed—civitas?

In addition to questions such as these, we will also explore the relevance of rhetorical theory and criticism to a variety of social, intellectual, and cultural fields, such as law, politics, philosophy, literature, and advertising. As we do this, you will also be improving your own facility with rhetoric, as you use its tools to construct persuasive arguments of varying sorts.

You should leave the class with a firm grasp of basic concepts of rhetorical theory, a sense of the history of rhetoric, and deeper  appreciation  for  rhetoric  as  an  inventive, critical, multimodal, and multidisciplinary enterprise that Quintilian called an “encompassing art” (ars circumcurrens).

Textbooks

Sellnow, Deanna. The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture: Considering Mediated Texts. Third edition. SAGE, 2018. Available online through our library.

Keith, William M., and Christian O. Lundberg. The Essential Guide to Rhetoric. Bedford/St.

Martin’s, 2018.

Other readings will be on LEARN under “Content,” either as PDFs or links.

Weekly Discussion Tasks                                                                        30%

Weekly discussion tasks will effectively be your “participation” grade. Since this course is going to be at least partly online (and because the value of a course like this is not in merely watching recorded lectures), our in-class “discussion” will be replaced by these weekly discussion tasks.

Everything for that week is due Friday 11:59 p.m.

The weekly discussion tasks will include things like “give a reading response for next week’s reading” or “complete this very easy quiz” or “post      in our discussion forums.” They will also replace things like a formal essay proposal. Tasks will have more in-depth explanations, so you know exactly what I’m expecting and where to post the response (a dropbox, a discussion topic, etc.).

The tasks will be worth varying amounts of points (approx. 1–5) but the total for the tasks will always be worth 30% of your grade. The number of points for a given task should give you a hint as to the work involved. Something worth 4 points should take longer than something worth only 1 point.

Since I want to encourage risk-taking, pushing boundaries and more open discussions, the grading for these is simple: if you do it, and you follow the guidelines in good faith, you get an “A” (i.e., 90%). Even if you say something that is objectively “wrong” you can still get a 90%. If you knock it out of the park, you get an A+ (100%). You only get below A if there’s something from the guidelines really off the mark, or it was submitted late, or there’s some indicator that you haven’t done the required readings or watched the required videos, or something of that nature.

Take-Home Midterm                                                                             20%

In Week 7, you’ll have a take-home midterm. There will be short answer questions and an essay question. I will be very open about what will be on the midterm and what won’t be on the midterm. The midterm will be designed so that it can be done in approximately 2 hours; however, you’ll have all week to do it.

Take-Home Exam                                                                                   25%

At the end of the semester, you’ll have five days (Mon-Fri) to complete a take-home exam. It’ll be a lot like the midterm, but a little longer. Again, as the term progresses, I’ll be very open about what will be on it. You will have to memorize specific ideas and demonstrate understanding of those ideas, but there will be no trick questions or big surprises.

To do well, you need to do the readings, come to class, listen attentively, take thorough notes, ask questions and engage in the discussions and workshops.

The final exam is cumulative. This means that you will be responsible for material already covered on the midterm, as well as material that has been covered since the midterm. Like the midterm, it will be designed so that you can do it in 2 hours, but you’ll have the full week to do it. This way, you can work around any other exams or final assignments you have.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay                                                                       30%

“Serious rhetorical analysis […] makes texts move like bullets in The Matrix, their motion slowed and their trajectories magnified for careful study. - John J. Ruszkiewicz and Jay Dolmage

The final essay should be a critically-informed analysis of one rhetorical artifact or text. Your essay should have a thesis statement, and it should deploy at least three scholarly secondary sources in order to explain central aspects of your artifact’s persuasive force.

By “rhetorical artifact or text” I mean something like a speech, a written argument, a novel, a television episode, or a poem, but you could also analyze a T-shirt, an advertisement, or a website interface. Anything that makes a coherent argument will work.

By “critically-informed” I mean that you should use a critical approach that is informed by ideas and concepts we will explore in the course, and this means you will have to do some secondary research in addition to our textbook. You should cite at least three scholarly secondary sources. (You are welcome to cite more sources, scholarly or not.)

Your analysis should slow things down and uncover aspects of the text or artifact that one would not otherwise notice. You might analyze what the text is arguing, if you think your text’s “real” argument is in some way hidden or occluded; or, you might analyze how the text is constructing its argument, if you think that’s particularly interesting or unique; or, given the rhetorical situation, you might evaluate the effectiveness of the text’s argument.

I suggest looking at our textbook from Deanna Sellnow, The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture. You’ll see that each chapter takes a different critically-informed rhetorical perspective—Neo-Aristotelian, Marxist, Feminist, Narrative, and so on. You do not have to explicitly adopt one of these perspectives, but they should give you a good indication of what I mean by “critically-informed.” Also, you’ll see that each chapter in Sellnow’s book includes a sample student essay and a list of additional “References” that are relevant to the specific rhetorical perspective, and these are generally all excellent starting points for your secondary research.

I will give out a rubric and a sample format closer to the deadline. You will be graded on the following criteria:

• The articulation and strength of your thesis (is it clear? nuanced?);
• The sophistication and depth of the analysis (is this original, or is it arguing something we really already know?);
• The macro-level quality of the writing (does the structure follow a logical organizational pattern? does each paragraph build on the previous one?);
• The micro-level quality of the writing (are the sentences clear?);
• The MLA formatting (is it on-point?).

Late Penalties for Assignments

• The late penalty for the Weekly Discussion Tasks is 30% per day (!).
• The late penalty for the essay is 5% per day, and it is capped at 30% after six days. After six days, I will still accept it, but you should come talk to me.

Class Expectations

Discussion Etiquette

No one should ever be teased, or made to feel small, embarrassed, self-conscious, or unsafe. Don’t do any of those things. Be open-minded. Be active in the discussions, ask relevant questions, make salient observations, look for and point out connections between readings and discussions. Don’t be afraid to ask stupid questions. Contribute to a classroom atmosphere where your peers are not afraid to ask stupid questions.

Accommodations

Every student with a permanent or temporary disability has the right to UW’s AccessAbility Services, located on the first floor of the Needles Hall extension (1401). This is true for every class you take at this university. The AccessAbility office collaborates with all departments to arrange accommodations, but you must register for these services to take advantage of them. Please visit https://uwaterloo.ca/accessability-services for more information on how to do this. I am happy to talk to you about any accommodations as well, but you do not have to do this (since you also have a right to privacy).

Mental Health

Human beings need support systems. I, and the rest of the faculty and staff in Arts, encourage you to seek out mental health support if you need it. The university has a variety of on-campus services and support systems you can use, and there are also off-campus options. The faculty of arts has a page with links, phone numbers, and a bunch more information right here: https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/get-mental-health-support-when-you- need-it. Again, I am happy to talk, but this is in no way required.

“What happens if we return to in-person learning?”

The short answer is that the weekly discussion tasks will change slightly. You’ll have fewer weekly to do’s (maybe just one or two small homework assignments to help you with the essay), and then beyond that I’ll grade you on in-class participation.

Participation will work like this: at the end of each in-person class, you can hand in an index card with how you contributed/participated in the discussion. At the end of the semester, I’ll count up the number of cards from you I have, and I’ll divide by the total number of in-person classes we had. So, for example, if we had 12 in-person classes, and I have 10 good index cards from you, your participation grade is 10 divided by 12, or 83%. How much this participation grade is worth, in terms of the larger weekly discussion tasks category, will depend on how far into the semester we are when we make the switch.

I will also distribute a more in-depth reading schedule, since it will no longer be feasible to give you the readings for the week on Monday morning and expect you to have the readings done by class time.

No matter what, both the midterm and the exam will be take-home. Also, no matter what, for the week of the midterm, we will have no class.

Course Schedule

Please note: This schedule is subject to slight topic changes.

Week 1: Jan 5 – Jan 7

Course Intro & Welcome

Week 2: Jan 10 – Jan 14

Rhetoric and Audience

Week 3: Jan 17 – Jan 21

Neo-Aristotelian Analysis & Organization

Week 4: Jan 25 – Jan 28

Style

Week 5: Jan 31 – Feb 4

Narrative Analysis

Week 6: Feb 7 – Feb 11

Marxist Analysis

Week 7: Feb 14 – Feb 18 

Take-Home Midterm (~2 hours) released Monday, due Friday at 11:59 p.m.

Week 8: Feb 28 – Mar 4

Feminist and Gender Analysis

Week 9: Mar 7 – Mar 11

Dramatistic Analysis

Week 10: Mar 14 – Mar 18

Media Analysis

Week 11: Mar 21 – Mar 25

Essay Workshopping & Review

Week 12: Mar 28 – Apr 1

Essay Workshopping & Review

Week 12.5: Apr 4 – Apr 5

Rhetorical Analysis Essay due April 5th at 11:59 p.m.