ENGL 491 Syllabus
The Visual Rhetoric of Graphic Narratives
General Information
Term: Winter 2022
Lecture Number: 02
Hours: Online with a synchronous meeting each Wednesday 11:30 a.m.-12:50 p.m.
Location: LEARN and Microsoft Teams
Instructor
Bruce Dadey
Office: Hagey Hall 257 (not on campus winter 20220
Email: badadey@uwaterloo.ca
Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Course Description and Objectives
This course uses the principles of visual rhetoric to examine the unique features of graphic narratives as a medium and to analyze how the visual elements of graphic narratives work rhetorically to affect readers' ideas and attitudes toward elements within the text, toward the themes the text presents, and toward the world beyond the text.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course, students will
Understand the basic principles of visual rhetoric and how they apply to graphic narratives.
-
Be able to perform close visual analyses of sequential images.
-
Relate their analysis to the narrative and suasory functions of graphic narratives
Texts
Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home. Mariner-Houghton Mifflin, 2007. (978-0544709041) McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. William Morrow, 1994. (9780060976255) Moore, Alan, and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen. DC, 2019. (978-1779501127) Sacco, Joe. Palestine. Fantagraphics, 2001. (978-1560974321)
Spiegelman, Art. Maus I: The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale. (978-0679406419)
Ware, Chris. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid in the World. Pantheon, 2003. (978-0375714542) LEARN resources.
Assignments
Discussions 20%
Presentation 15%
Essay 1 30%
Essay 2 30%
Participation 5%
Details of assignments will be distributed during the course.
Tentative Schedule
|
Week |
Topic and Readings |
Activities/Assignments |
|---|---|---|
|
1 Jan. 5-7 |
Introduction to Course Introduction to Rhetoric of Fiction and Visual Rhetoric |
Class (Wed.) |
|
2 Jan. 10-14 |
Comics and Visual Rhetoric Understanding Comics |
Post (Tues.) Class (Wed.) Reply (Fri.) |
|
3 Jan. 17-21 |
Maus |
Post (Tues.) Reply (Fri.) |
|
4 Jan. 24-28 |
Maus McGlothlin |
Post (Tues.) Class (Wed.) Reply (Fri.) |
|
5 |
Watchmen |
Post (Tues.) |
|
Jan. 31-Feb. |
Class and Presentation (Wed.) |
|
|
4 |
Reply (Fri.) |
|
|
6 Feb. 7-11 |
Watchmen |
Post (Tues.) Class (Wed.) Reply (Fri.) |
|
7 |
Palestine |
Post (Tues.) |
|
Feb. 14-18 |
Class and Presentation (Wed.) Reply (Fri.) Paper 1 Due (Fri.) |
|
|
Feb. 21-25 |
Reading Week |
|
|
8 |
Palestine |
Post (Tues.) |
|
Feb. 28-Mar. |
Class (Wed.) |
|
|
4 |
Reply (Fri.) |
|
|
9 Mar. 7-11 |
Jimmy Corrigan |
Post (Tues.) Class and Presentation (Wed.) Reply (Fri.) |
|
10 Mar. 14-18 |
Jimmy Corrigan |
Post (Tues.) Class (Wed.) Reply (Fri.) |
|
11 Mar. 21-25 |
Fun Home |
Post (Tues.) Class and Presentation (Wed.) Reply (Fri.) |
|
12 Mar. 28-Apr. 1 |
Fun Home |
Post (Tues.) Class (Wed.) Reply (Fri.) |
Paper 2 due April 8.
Course Policies
Assignments and Class Procedures
All assignments are to be submitted to the appropriate course location by 11:55 p.m. of the due date, unless otherwise specified.
Assignments that are late without good reason will be penalized at a rate of two percentage points for every week day late (10% per week). Discussion assignments will not be accepted if late.
Class discussion is a prominent part of the course, so students are expected to attend all synchronous classes and to come with the readings completed. In my lectures and in my questions to the class and individuals I will assume the assigned readings have been done. Attendance is one of the foundations of your participation mark (You can't participate if you're not in class!), but it is also based on how active you were in class. In general, you are given two absences' grace, and then your base mark goes down one per cent for every class missed. From there, the mark might go up based on your class activity, but too many absences could lead to a mark of zero.
We will often be using email to communicate with one another. All email communication will occur through your uWaterloo account, which you should check regularly.
Academic integrity
In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check the Office of Academic lntegrity for more information.]
Grievance
A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department's administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
Discipline
A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions.
[Check the Office of Academic lntegrity for more information.] A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about "rules" for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.
Appeals
A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.
Note for students with disabilities
AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.