Engl 102 - Rhetoric and Composition

• Section: ENGL 102-H02
  
• Day/Time: T-R 1:15 - 2:30
  
• Room: Wardlaw Coll 101
  
• Professor: Dr. Byron Hawk
  
• Email: byron [dot] hawk [at] gmail [dot] com
  
• Office: HUO 408
• Office Hours: T-R 2:45-4:15

• Wood, Nancy. Perspectives on Argument. 7th ed. Pearson, 2012.
  
  
  ISBN-10: 0205060331
  ISBN-13: 9780205060337
  
  
• Various PDFs in Dropbox

The honors version of 102 concentrates on argumentative writing with an eye toward your academic majors. An argumentative approach to writing asks you to examine and understand specific rhetorical situations and write in relation to those common knowledges and practices. In classical Greece and Rome, for example, 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 and situations 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 academic 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.

To begin seeing differences within various rhetorical situations and move toward thinking in terms of specific disciplinary situations, the course will focus on:

1. learning basic argumentative and rhetorical principles;
2. reading closely for how these principles function in texts;
3. researching general audience and academic articles related to your major or disciplinary field;
4. and building arguments of your own on an issue in or related to your field.

• 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.
• Produce writing that employs organizational techniques and displays clear claims and supports.
• 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.

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. In accordance with University policy, anyone who misses 25% of our scheduled class periods (7 of 28) will fail the course, and anyone who misses more than 10% (3 of 28) may receive a grade penalty. If you stop coming to class, it will be your responsibility to drop. Failure to do so will result in an "F."

Students are responsible for verifying their enrollment in this class. Any schedule adjustments should be made by the deadlines published in the Academic Calendar:

• Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. - Last day to change a course schedule or drop a course without a grade of "W" being recorded.
• Monday, Mar. 28, 2022. - Last day to drop a course or withdraw without a grade of "WF" being recorded.

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

Your grade this semester will be based on:

• Participation: includes attendance, in-class work, and ungraded homework assignments.
• Rhetorical Responses: 1-page single-spaced papers that break down the argument of a single article.
• Essay 1: a 4-5 page double-spaced argumentative essay focused on an issue in your area of study and based on popular or general audience sources.
• Bibliography: a research bibliography based on a topic of interest related to your major or disciplinary field that includes general audience essays and academic journal articles along with general resources for your field such as magazines, websites, blogs, databases, and journals.
• Essay 2: a 4-5 page double-spaced analytical essay that compares argumentative writing for a general audience to argumentative writing in your major or disciplinary field.
• Final Paper: a 6-8 page double-spaced final argumentative research paper based on an issue of interest related to your disciplinary field that emphasizes academic sources and translates those sources for a general audience.

More detailed assignments will be posted on the syllabus throughout the semester.

I will use this basic grading scale: A (90-95), B+ (85-89), B (80-84), C+ (75-79), C (70-74). You should keep all assignments until after you receive your final grade for the semester in the event that there is any discrepancy.

The following is a breakdown of percentages:

Participation	10 %
Rhetorical Responses	10 %
Essay 1	20 %
Bibliography	10 %
Essay 2	20 %
Final Paper	30 %
	-------
	100 %

For the Rhetorical Responses and two Essays, you will have one week after I return papers to rewrite them for a better grade. A rewrite goes beyond a slight edit or addressing a few comments and moves into some conceptual revisiting and development. Obviously, there will be no rewrites for the Final Paper.

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, you can send the paper to me over email *before class* for a time stamp, and then bring a print copy to the next class. I will not print out papers.

I will have office hours on T-R 2:45-4:15 in HUO 408, essentially right after class. If you have another class right after ours, then ask me to schedule a time that is convenient for both of us. I 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.

Plagiarism is the equivalent of intellectual robbery and cannot be tolerated in an academic setting. It comes in two basic forms: taking a completed paper from another source or individual and passing it off as your own; or, using the exact words, opinions, or factual information from another source without giving that source credit. Writers give credit through the use of accepted documentation styles, such as parenthetical citation, footnotes, or end notes (a simple listing of books, articles, and websites is not sufficient). Student writers are often confused as to what should be cited. Some think that only direct quotations need to be credited. While direct quotations do need citations, so do paraphrases and summaries of opinions or factual information formerly unknown to the writers or which the writers did not discover themselves. Exceptions to this include factual information which can be obtained from a variety of sources, the writers' own insights or findings from their own field research, (what has been called common knowledge). What constitutes common knowledge can sometimes be precarious; what is common knowledge for one audience may not be so for another. In such situations, it is helpful to keep the reader in mind and to think of citations as being "reader friendly." In other words, writers provide a citation for any piece of information that they think their readers might want to investigate further. Not only is this attitude considerate of readers, it will almost certainly ensure that writers will not be guilty of plagiarism. For more see the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity.

In keeping with the University of South Carolina's commitment to non-discrimination--based on age, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, and sexual orientation--and providing program accessibility for qualified students with disabilities, I am happy to provide reasonable accommodation through the Student Disability Resource Center office. Students wishing to make such arrangements should contact the Student Disability Services office at 777-6142.