English A409-001 Bobet 324/x3841 Contemporary Topics: Rhetoric Office: T and Th 12:30-1:30 Katherine H. Adams [email protected] As the catalog indicates, this course examines theories of persuasion and the writing process. Requirements: l. Attendance is required. The final grade will be lowered a letter grade for each absence beyond four. 2. All papers must be completed on time. Grades will be lowered one letter for each day (not class day) that a paper is late unless you make a prior arrangement with me. 3. We will write regularly about the readings, both at home and in class. At-home entries should be typed and turned in on the class day for which they are assigned. 4. No cell phones; no Internet; no headphones: be with us in class. Textbooks: Plato, Symposium & Phaedrus, Dover Press Aristotle, The Rhetoric, Dover Press Syllabus: Aug 27 Introduction Classical Rhetoric: The Triangle Aug 29 Gorgias, Encomium of Helen, Blackboard Reading Plato, Gorgias, Blackboard Reading Sept 3 Plato, Phaedrus Sept 5 Plato, Phaedrus Sept 10 Works concerning Aspasia, RT, 56-66 Sept 12 Aristotle, The Rhetoric Sept 17 Aristotle, The Rhetoric Sept 19 Cicero, Of Oratory, RT, Blackboard Reading Sept 24 Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory, Blackboard Reading Sept 26 Exam Speaker and Message Oct 1 Alexander Bain, English Composition and Rhetoric and A.S. Hill, The Principles of Rhetoric, Blackboard Reading Oct 3 Piaget's Theory of Intellectual Development, 26-68, Blackboard Reading Oct 8 Piaget's Theory of Intellectual Development, 69-91, 113-55, Blackboard Reading Oct 10 Janet Emig, The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders, Chapters 2, 3, and 4, Blackboard Reading Oct 17 Janet Emig, The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders, Chapters 5, 6, and 7, Blackboard Reading Oct 22 William Perry, Forms of Intellectual Development in College, Blackboard Reading Oct 24 Peter Elbow, Writing without Teachers, Blackboard Reading Donald Murray, Learning by Teaching, Blackboard Reading Oct 29 Frank O'Hare, Sentence Combining, handout Oct 31 Exam Message and Audience Nov 5 Paper #1 Due—Oral Reports Nov 7 Kenneth Burke, A Grammar of Motives, Blackboard Reading Nov 12 Kenneth Burke, Language as Symbolic Action, Blackboard Reading Film Viewing, Triumph of the Will Franklin Roosevelt, Declaration of War, handout Nov 14 Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge and The Order of Knowledge, RT, Blackboard Reading Nov 19 Jacques Derrida, Signature, Event, Context, Blackboard Reading Nov 21 Mikhail Bakhtin, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language, Blackboard Reading Nov 26 Marshall McLuhan, The Medium Is the Message, 1-160, on reserve Paul Levinson, “The Song of the Alphabet in Cyberspace,” Digital McLuhan, Blackboard Reading Dec 3 Viewing of Richard Nixon’s Checker's speech Study of speech text, Blackboard Reading Obama’s Speeches and Political Web Sites Dec 5 Helene Cixous, The Laugh of the Medusa and A Woman Mistress, Blackboard Reading Judith Butler, "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution," Blackboard Reading Deborah Tannen, from Gender and Discourse, Blackboard Reading Final Exam: Friday, May 6, 9:00-11:00 Paper #2 Due—Oral Report Assignments and Grading: In-Class and At-Home Writing 30% Paper One and Oral Presentation 20% Paper Two and Oral Presentation 20% First Exam 10% Second Exam 10% Final Exam 10% .