Wood, Nancy. Essentials of Argument. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2008.

Kress, Anne, and Suellyn Winkle. NextText: Making Connections Across and Beyond the Disciplines. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007.

Course Description:

This version of 302H concentrates on argumentation and writing in disciplines related to the humanities. In classical Greece and Rome, rhetorical study focused on the general assumptions and strategies common to upper-class males and the arguments they put forward in the senate and law courts. In the modern world, audiences are much more diverse, so rhetorical study focuses on finding ways to identify with people across assumptions as well as within specific culture groups. Various disciplines (and even sub-fields within disciplines) form their own discursive groups that share certain terminologies, assumptions about the world, and writing and argumentative strategies. In order to begin your entry into your discipline or sub-field, you will:

1. learn basic argumentative principles and how they function in texts;
2. research articles in your discipline and analyze their rhetorical features such as common terms, genres, issues, and argumentative strategies;
3. build an argument of your own that explains one of your discipline's founding arguments, inserts yourself into a current debate in your field, or produces a reading of an object central to your area of study.

In short, the primary focus of the course, aside from providing a workshop environment for your ongoing research and writing, is to introduce you to argument theory, to the application of that theory to your discipline, and to doing ongoing research on a topic in your field.

Course Goals/Student Learning Goals:

• Use strategies that focus on writing as a communicative (i.e., rhetorical) process, to include invention, drafting, revision, editing.
• Give and receive useful criticism of student writing from the teacher and peers in order to promote effective revision.
• Produce writing that demonstrates basic proficiency in Standard Edited American English.
• Recognize and write within different rhetorical situations, to include purpose and audience, especially as related to the student's major.
• Produce writing that employs the organizational techniques and formats typical in the student's discipline or sub-field.
• Recognize the way(s) that knowledge is (rhetorically) constructed in the student's discipline or sub-field.
• Use newly emerging technologies for communication.
• Identify and use research sources (print and electronic), to include advanced online library searching of databases pertinent to the student's discipline and the critical use of web sites, and documentation styles preferred in the student's major.

Attendance:

Because this is a writing class that emphasizes the process of the class as a whole, attendance is extremely important. Everything we do builds on previous class periods and the class also relies heavily on in-class writing and group-work. Consequently, attendance will count as a part of your participation grade.

Enrollment:

Students are responsible for verifying their enrollment in this class. If I give you an override, for example, it is your responsibility to then go and sign up for the class. Any schedule adjustments should be made by the deadlines published in the Academic Calendar:

• Last Day to Add: Sept. 15, 2009
• Last Day to Drop: Oct. 2, 2009

After the last day to drop a class, withdrawing from this class requires the approval of the dean and is only allowed for nonacademic reasons. If you stop coming to class, it will be your responsibility to drop. Failure to do so will result in an 'F'.

Grades:

Students in English 302 receive a final grade of A+ (4.0), A (4.0), A- (3.67), B+ (3.33), B (3.0), B- (2.67), C+ (2.33), C (2.0), C- (1.67) D (1.0), or F (0.0); however, students must get a C (2.0) or better to complete the 302 requirement and must achieve a 2.0 for an acceptable semester. **Important notice: You should keep all assignments until after you receive your final grade for the semester in the event that there is any discrepancy.**

Assignments:

Your grade this semester will be based primarily on a series of four 1-page Rhetorical Responses, two 4-page Papers, and a final 8-page Research/Argument Paper. You will also be asked to do a bibliography of key journals, resources, and texts from your discipline and to keep up with your daily participation grades. The following is a breakdown of percentages:

Rhetorical Responses	15 %
Paper 1	15 %
Paper 2	20 %
Bibliography	10 %
Argument Paper	30 %
Participation	10 %
	-------
	100 %

Rewrite Policy:

For the four response papers and two initial Essays, you will have one week after I return them to you to rewrite them for a better grade (which of course does not mean that you will automatically get a better grade). I will take the higher of the two grades. Obviously, there will be no rewrites for the final Research/Argument paper.

Late Papers:

It is my policy to accept no late assignments. It is crucial, then, to recognize the importance of attendance in relation to late homework. If you have to be absent on a day something is due that isn't posted to the class blog, you can send the paper to me over email *before class* for a time stamp, but bring a print copy to the next class. I will not print out papers.

Office Hours:

I will have office hours on R 4:00-7:00 in Sci-Tech I 105. If you need to speak to me and cannot make these times, then ask me to schedule a time that is convenient for both of us. I also check my e-mail several times daily, so this will be the best way to contact me in a hurry if you have a question or problem, especially about what is due the next day. The only other option is to call and leave a message, but I will not receive it immediately.

Plagiarism and Collusion:

Specific Needs: