Instructor: Quinn Warnick, Ph.D.
Course Location: 301 Moody Hall
Class Hours: M/W/F 10:00–10:50
Dr. Warnick’s Office: 211 Premont Hall
Office Hours: M/W 1:00–3:00, F 8:00–10:00, or by appointment
Office Phone: 485-4622 (Leave a detailed message if I don’t pick up.)
Email: email hidden; JavaScript is required (This is the best way to reach me.)
ENGW 1302 Overview
Welcome to English Writing and Rhetoric 1302: Rhetoric and Composition II! This course is the second half of a two-course sequence designed to help you improve your writing skills and prepare for the academic writing assignments you will complete in the coming years at St. Edward’s. This section of ENGW 1302 is designated as an Honors course, and it is paired with another section of Honors ENGW 1302, taught by Dr. Drew Loewe. Both sections will focus on the theme of documentary work, and we will use documentary photographs, films, and audio pieces as our primary artifacts of study. In addition, you will create some short documentaries on your own and with your classmates.
Our documentary theme doesn’t mean that this is isn’t a writing course. The focus of this class is rhetoric, which can be concisely defined as the art or study of communicating effectively. In this class you will analyze effective examples of rhetoric to better understand how the key concepts of audience, context, and purpose influence the effectiveness of written and oral texts. In addition, you will develop your own rhetorical skills through frequent writing assignments, in-depth revision, peer critique, and critical reflection on your personal composing practices.
Required Textbooks and Materials
- Atwan, Robert. Convergences(3rd edition), 2009.
- A style manual of your choice. I recommend Diana Hacker’s Pocket Style Manual (5th edition), 2009.
- A USB drive for storing electronic files.
- A Google (or Gmail) account for submitting work through Google Docs.
- A Delicious.com account for bookmarking course-related websites.
- Approximately 100 sheets of paper for printing course readings and your assignments.
Course Objectives
By the end of the semester, you should be able to:
Rhetoric
- Evaluate arguments in the work of others and make arguments in your own compositions.
- Shape your writing to suit particular rhetorical situations.
Composition
- Successfully use a variety of strategies to generate ideas, create first drafts, and revise your drafts into polished documents.
- Give peers constructive feedback on their writing.
Research
- Formulate an appropriate research question, use library sources to do research, and evaluate sources.
- Incorporate sources into your own work in a variety of modes, including written, oral, and visual.
Critical Reading
- Evaluate the logic, evidence, and reasoning of arguments made by other writers, photographers, and filmmakers.
Moral Reasoning and Civil Discourse
- Identify the underlying values of arguments.
- Discuss others’ viewpoints respectfully and accurately.
Class attendance and participation
Lively discussions are essential in a course concerned with rhetoric, and most of our class sessions will be conducted in discussion/workshop format. As a result, regular attendance and active participation are important. My attendance policy is simple: you may miss three classes (for any reason) without penalty. Each additional absence (for any reason) will lower your course grade by 5%, and six or more absences may result in a failing grade for the course. Because our time in class is limited, promptness is important. Each tardy (arriving more than 5 minutes late) and each instance of leaving early will count as 1/3 of an absence. If you are late for class, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have not been marked absent.
Software and Technology
One aim of this course is to increase your electronic literacy. Hence, many of your assignments will be submitted electronically, using Google Docs or Dropbox. In addition, the major assignments will require you to use, at minimum, word processing, video editing, and audio editing software. If you are not comfortable with these programs, you may need to spend additional time outside of class reviewing online tutorials or seeking help from the Instructional Technology office on campus. Our course will meet regularly in a computer lab, which will provide opportunities to learn from and share with your peers. However, you will not be able to complete all computer work in class, so you will either need your own computer or arrange to use one of the on-campus computer labs.
As you complete assignments for this class, be sure to save all your work, both print and electronic. Do not discard any drafts, notes, papers or research materials until you receive a final grade for the course. In addition, be sure to save your work regularly in multiple formats (print and electronic) and multiple locations (computer, flash drive, Google Docs, EdShare, Dropbox). Computer problems are a part of modern life, and a crashed computer or a lost flash drive is not a valid excuse for a late paper.
Grading and Evaluation
Five major projects will constitute the bulk of your grade for this course. In addition, several short assignments, peer reviews, and regular participation in class discussions will influence your final grade. Major assignments will be penalized one letter grade (e.g., from B to C) for every class period they are late. You must complete all major assignments to receive a passing grade at the end of the semester. Shorter assignments will normally be worth 10 points, and all short assignments will be averaged together. Because these short assignments relate directly to the topic of discussion each day, they will receive no credit if they are turned in late.
Weighted Assignments
Major units and shorter assignments will be weighted as follows:
- Project 1 (Definitional Essay): 5%
- Project 2 (Rhetorical Analysis of a Documentary): 15%
- Project 3 (Research Paper): 25%
- Project 4 (Prospectus for Documentary Film): 10%
- Project 5 (Digital Documentary Film): 30%
- Short Assignments and Class Participation: 15%
- TOTAL: 100%
For each of the first three projects, I will comment on your work and assign you a preliminary grade for the project. You will then revise and resubmit the project for a final grade. Revisions are typically due a week after I return a paper to you, but specific deadlines will be posted on the class website. Revision is a challenging and often messy process, but it is absolutely essential to your development as a writer. Please be aware that only projects reflecting significant, content-related revisions will receive final grades higher than the preliminary grades. Merely correcting punctuation and grammatical errors will not improve your grade.
Grading Scale
All major assignments will be evaluated on the following scale:
- A: 90–100
- B: 80–89.99
- C: 70–79.99
- D: 60–69.99
- F: 0–59.99
Final grades will follow this same scale. Please note that St. Edward’s does not use a +/- grading scale and I do not round up when calculating final grades.
Grading Criteria
All major assignments will be evaluated using the following criteria:
A—Superior Accomplishment. Shows excellent analysis of the assignment and provides an imaginative and original response. Successfully adapts to the audience, context, and purpose of the assignment. Contains no mechanical errors and requires no revisions. The assignment is ready to be presented to the intended audience.
B—Commendable. Shows judgment and tact in the presentation of material and responds appropriately to the requirements of the assignment. Has an interesting, precise, and clear style. Contains minor mechanical errors and requires revision before the assignment could be sent to the intended audience.
C—Competent. Meets all the basic criteria of the assignment, and provides a satisfactory response to the rhetorical situation. There is nothing remarkably good or bad about the work, and equivalent work could be sent to the intended audience following revisions to the organization, style, or delivery of the assignment.
D—Needs Improvement. Responds to the assignment, but contains significant defects in one of the major areas (communicability and organization; content and development; style; grammatical conventions and mechanics). The assignment could not be presented to the intended audience without significant revision.
F—Unacceptable. Provides an inadequate response to the assignment or shows a misunderstanding of the rhetorical situation. Contains glaring defects in one or more of the major areas (communicability and organization; content and development; style; grammatical conventions and mechanics). The assignment could not be presented to the intended audience.
Eliminating Distractions
During recent semesters, I have noticed that my students are becoming increasingly distracted during class. Not surprisingly, most of these distractions are technological in nature: cell phones, iPods, nonacademic websites, etc. As a result, I have developed a simple technology policy: Cell phones (including texting), MP3 players, and other handheld devices should never be used during class. If you bring a laptop or tablet to class, please use it only for class-related purposes. IMing, checking email, web surfing, etc., are incredibly disrespectful of our time together. I suspect that many of you, like me, suffer from Technology Distraction Disorder,TM so it may be best to avoid any potential problems by leaving your technological devices in your bags or pockets during class. If you violate this policy repeatedly, I will ask you to leave the classroom and mark you absent for that day.
Disability Accommodations
If you have a medical, psychiatric or learning disability and require accommodations in this class, please let me know early in the semester or as soon as you are eligible. You will first need to provide documentation of your disability to the Student Disability Services Office, located in Moody Hall 155 in Academic Planning and Support Services.
Academic Integrity
The Student Handbook states the following:
St. Edward’s University expects academic honesty from all members of the community, and it is our policy that academic integrity be fostered to the highest degree possible. Consequently, all work submitted for grading in a course must be created as a result of your own thought and effort. Representing work as your own when it is not a result of such thought and effort is a violation of our code of academic integrity. Whenever it is established that academic dishonesty has occurred, the course instructor shall impose a penalty upon the offending individual(s).
In a writing course, violations of this Academic Integrity policy typically take the form of plagiarism. I do not tolerate plagiarism in any form, and I am exceptionally skilled at identifying plagiarized work. If you submit plagiarized work in this course, you will receive an automatic 0 on the assignment. Depending on the severity of the plagiarism, you may also fail the entire course. In addition, I will report the incident to the Office of Academic Affairs.
Plagiarism occurs when a writer, speaker, or designer uses someone else’s language, ideas, images, or other material without fully acknowledging its source by quotations marks, in footnotes or endnotes, and in lists of works cited. In this course, we will draw upon text, images, and other electronic materials found online; the fact that such material is online does not lessen our obligation to give credit where credit is due. Occasionally, students will unintentionally plagiarize material because they have failed to keep track of their sources as they acquire them. You can avoid this problem by keeping detailed records of your research activities in this class.
As a professor, my academic integrity obligates me to report all cases of plagiarism (regardless of the circumstances) to the university. If you have any questions about plagiarism and how it relates to your work, please talk to me before you turn in an assignment. Once plagiarized work has been submitted for a grade, I have no choice but to enforce this policy.