- Assorted readings in Bb Course Library (Bb) and (web link)
- Bizzell and Herzberg, The Rhetorical Tradition, 2nd Edition (Bedford, 2001) (B/H)
- One full-length theory text (from our course list; to be purchased on your own)
Feel free to share texts and economize. However, due to the nature of our discussions and collaborative traces, it is imperative that you bring texts to class on dates they are assigned without exception. Readings marked B/H should be brought to class as a whole text so that we can work between chapters if needed. Readings marked Bb and web link should be brought to class in either digital (laptop, e-Reader, iPad) or print format.
Distribution of Assignments
- 55% Weeklies (Exploratories and Performance Papers)
- 10% Mid-term Project (Critical Book Analysis + Presentation)
- 25% Final Project (Critical Research Project + Presentation)
- 10% Final Exam (Written, Take-Home)
Diligent Reading and Active Participation
Please be prepared to read with rigor (we’ll be reading between 50-75 pages each week), allowing yourself plenty of time to grapple with difficult texts and complicated perspectives on those texts. While you are in class, please do what you must and whatever is in your power to make our discussion accessible, productive and useful to everyone. This takes a great deal of energy, I realize. Some of the texts we read will seem impenetrable at first, either because the authors are dense writers or because their ideas are sometimes challenging of your worldview. Still, I expect you to spend time with the material and work through it. While such theoretical work can be difficult, and frustratingly abstract, it is also rewarding. Our approach to work and scholarship is inevitably entangled with theoretical frameworks. In reading theoretical work, we come to see our own frameworks more clearly, just as we are exposed to new ones.
Attendance and Timeliness
All assignments must be submitted by their due date without exception. Much of your work will consist of building intellectual community through discussion, debate, presentations, and collective knowledge-making, and this will absolutely factor into my evaluation of your work. Thus, although you don’t need me to tell you that regular attendance is absolutely necessary, it bears repeating so that you know this is my expectation. You should not miss any class, excepting the rare occasion of a conference presentation or illness. On that rare occasion—should it arise—I expect you to contact me ahead of time with appropriate written documentation of the reason you may be away so that I can determine what action to take, if action is warranted. Please keep in mind that 1 class = 1 week of class.
Academic Integrity
It may seem redundant for me to articulate a statement on academic integrity for savvy scholars of information and text, but you should know that I expect you to maintain this, without fail. For this course, you are responsible for reading and abiding by the FSU Academic Honor Policy, and for living up to your pledge to “… be honest and truthful and … [to] strive for personal and institutional integrity” in all things (http://academichonor.fsu.edu/policy/policy.html). Unless otherwise specified, all of your work for this class should be authentic, original, and specific to the tasks I have assigned, rather than written for another class. Cheating and all forms of misrepresentation—including plagiarism—can result in automatic failure of the course.
Support Services
The Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) can arrange for assistance, auxiliary aids, or related services if you think a temporary or permanent disability will prevent you from fully participating in class, or if you need our course materials in an alternative format. Contact them at (850) 644-9566 (voice), (850) 644-8504 (TDD), or http://www.disabilitycenter.fsu.edu/ with individual concerns. You must be registered with the SDRC before I can provide classroom accommodations, and you should bring a letter to me requesting accommodations in the first week of class.
