University of Puget Sound

English 101: "See What I Mean?": The Rhetoric of Words and Images (A First-Year Seminar in Writing and Rhetoric)

My Office: Wyatt Hall, 336

My Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30-10:30 a.m.; Monday,1:00-2:00 p.m., and by appointment. I teach five days a week, so I am around quite a lot. You may also leave brief messages on the board next to my door.

Telephone: x3434; x3235 (messages). Electronic Mail: ostrom@ups.edu

Home Page: www.ups.edu/faculty/ostrom/ A copy of this syllabus is posted on the home page.

The University of Puget Sound does not discriminate in education or employment on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, religion, creed, age, disability, marital or familial status, sexual orientation, Vietnam-era veteran status, gender identity, or any other basis prohibited by local, state, or federal laws. This policy complies with the spirit and the letter of applicable federal, state and local laws, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Questions about the policy may be referred to the University's Director of Human Resources and Affirmative Action (253-879-3116) or the Office of Civil Rights, Department of Education, Washington, D.C. 20202.

Welcome to the seminar. Although we have already met, let me also welcome you once more to the University and the beginning of your college career.

This seminar studies these two important, ubiquitous phenomena: arguments and seeing. One of our major objectives, then, is to develop a greater understanding of argumentation and perception.

Your college career and your studies will be composed mainly of arguments. In this case, the word "arguments" doesn’t mean squabbles or shouting matches but refers to claims people make about something and try to support with evidence, information, reasoning, and thoughtful presentation. Whatever you study, you will be encountering arguments. You will want to or be asked to analyze these, and you will want to or be asked to make your own arguments.

In your college career, you will also be looking and seeing—as in reading (almost constantly), revising ("seeing" something you write or speak a second time), viewing (films, art, plays, models of molecules, mathematical formulae, sporting events, downpours of rain, Rainier in all its glory on a clear winter’s day). And, as you already realize, you are part of a generation whose world is saturated with images; some people might even prefer a military metaphor and claim that your generation is "bombarded" by imagery.

What are some different, productive ways to look—and look again—at a text? This is one question we’ll return to. The "text" might be an essay, a building, a poem, a speech, or a film. These texts will be making explicit or implicit arguments—even buildings, many claim, make an argument to the different people who look at them, maintain them, live in them, or study in them; so even though a building isn’t literally printed, it can be read—interpreted.

How can we improve the ways we communicate what we see in texts and arguments? How can we make convincing arguments—in writing and orally--about what we think about what we see? These are other guiding questions that connect argumentation and seeing.

One of several links between the topics we read, write, and talk about is that the topics will always return, in some fashion, to argumentation or seeing and usually to both.

If you complete it successfully, the seminar will also give you experience in some kinds of writing, speaking, and analysis you’ll be asked to do in college in the next few years and in the civic arena during and after your college career. No doubt your writing, speaking, and analysis have developed substantially already in your dozen or so years of formal education. This course builds on that progress.

Another objective of the seminar is to study and apply fundamental concepts of rhetoric (including argumentation), which is one of the original seven "liberal arts" that emerged over two thousand years ago. (The term "liberal arts" in this context refers to a spectrum of subjects worthy of study; it does not refer to "liberal" as in not-conservative, nor does it refer to "arts" merely in the sense of painting and music.)

Rhetoric is hard to define because it involves so many things. As mentioned earlier, it includes ways of analyzing written texts, speeches, and visual "texts" like films and architecture. It includes discovering ideas, taking positions, gathering evidence, thinking about what the people we communicate with expect from our writing and speaking, anticipating arguments that oppose our own, changing our minds about issues, arranging presentations and essays for the best effect, and so on.

Although rhetoric can be messy, it’s an extremely important subject to study, partly because we’re constantly involved in rhetoric, whether we’re deciding what to think about a news conference or an MTV video, disagreeing verbally with a friend, applying for a job or a scholarship, speaking to a group, or writing an essay about politics, biology, economics, or literature.

Some of the first rhetoricians were Sophists ("wise persons") who had interesting names like Antiphon, Prodicus, and Gorgias of Leontini. One of their goals in life was to help people function more effectively in society by means of rhetoric. Rhetoric has constituted the center of higher education since at least 450 BCE. It’s changed a lot since then, but one of its goals remains the same and informs the writing-and-rhetoric seminars at Puget Sound: to make you more effective scholars and citizens. Knowledge of rhetorical situations is a form of power--power to define and express yourself, power to resist being manipulated and ill defined by the words of others.

Writing well is essential to most courses you’ll take and all majors you’re considering in college—and to endeavors you’re likely to pursue four or five years from now. Different persons for whom you write, however, will have different definitions of "writing well," and we'll discuss some of these different expectations and how to handle them. The same goes for "speaking well."

The word "seminar" springs from a word that means "seed plot" or "garden." Probably we won’t get around to any gardening this term, but in a figurative sense we’ll work closely together to cultivate ideas, arguments, and interpretations. Regular attendance, productive participation, and cooperation are essential to a seminar and to college, as they are to gardening.

One of several myths I hope we can dispel is that writing is a solitary act. You are responsible for what you write and when you turn it in, but experienced writers know that their work involves collaboration: seeking advice and knowing what to do with it; testing ideas and altering them; taking a piece of writing through several revisions; keeping the process flexible. The same can be said of speakers and the processes that lead to effective presentations.

As we build on what you already know and try to develop your writing, your grasp of rhetoric, and your oral presentations, we’ll spend time considering the following specific elements:

1. The need to consider interpretations, controversies, and issues from multiple perspectives—that is, to see complexities.
2. Persuasive strategies—including audience-analysis, solid reasoning, effective use of evidence, anticipating opposing arguments, and effective organization of ideas & topics.
3. Methods of evaluating arguments, texts (literary and non-literary, oral and written), and images. In many cases, using these methods will result in (gasp) our having to change our minds. In other cases, we might be examining logical fallacies—intended or accidental mistakes in reasoning.
4. Important conventions of standard written English—including a few aspects of grammar, punctuation, and diction (choice of words) that may still seem unclear to you.
5. Various oral and written composition strategies—ways of putting together successful essays and presentations. We’ll improve upon what you already know about drafting, revising, and editing. We’ll look at different ways to express a significant thesis or point of view, develop it clearly for a particular audience, and support it effectively using different narrative, expository, analytical, and persuasive modes. You’ve done much of this in high school already, so again, we’ll be moving from where you are now in your writing toward where you will need to be later in college.

6. Using source materials in rhetorically effective ways and becoming more familiar

with appropriate, academically honest uses of sources. For example, how do

we determine which sources on the Internet are reliable and which ones aren’t?

By now you should have already purchased the following required books for the course:

Donald McQuade and Christine McQuade, Seeing and Writing. (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000). A book on writing, rhetoric, and analysis.

Alfread Rosa and Paul Eschholz, The Writer’s Brief Handbook. 4^th edition. (New York: Longman, 2001). A book to consult about questions concerning grammar, punctuation, usage, style, methods of citing sources of information, and related matters.

David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 5^th edtion. (New York: McGaw Hill, 1997). A broad introduction to the systematic study of film, its rhetoric, and ways of writing about film.

1. Come to class every session, and please come on time. Missing class can affect your grade severely and even result in disenrollment. I prefer that you don't eat in class; every professor has his or her pet peeves. The occasional cup of coffee won't disturb me.

2. Listen well--to each other, to me, to someone whose ideas may be different from yours. You do not need to agree or even pretend to agree. Express different opinions. But listen, too.

3. Keep up with the reading and contribute to class discussions. I can offer only so much inducement in the form of quizzes, tests, and making "participation" a significant determiner of your grade. The rest is up to you.

4. Make the most of essay assignments; temperamentally, some of you will like the earlier assignments more than the later ones, and vice versa. But one aim of the course is to give you the tools to negotiate kinds of writing with which you feel uncomfortable at first, so remain receptive. Take DUE DATES FOR DRAFTS as seriously as you take those for final versions. And take peer review seriously.

5. If you get behind in class, or feel overwhelmed by an assignment, or by your coursework in general, or if you do not understand something we have discussed, please see me sooner rather than later. Feeling confused or overwhelmed at college is not a weakness; in fact, it's fairly common, especially in the first semester. Missing class is one of the worst things you can do.

THE WRITING CENTER

The Center for Writing and Learning (Howarth Hall) is a service for all Puget Sound students who are working on papers. Its purpose is to help you get started, organize ideas, revise, and think about the rhetorical situation. It is certainly not a remedial center for so-called "problem" writers; it exists because all writers have problems.

I expect all of you to use the Center to help develop each essay, and the Center will also have consultants available to help you with oral presentations. Make visiting the Center part of your college routine. Don't expect your first visit to work miracles. It may take several visits to get used to the consultations. To make an appointment, visit the Center or call X3404. Toward the middle and end of the term, call well in advance.

Bring a spiral or hardback (I prefer National 43-571 or the new "Wired" brand) notebook to class each session.

The notebook will also contain on-the-spot, in-class writing and some work on style, punctuation, and sentence grammar. It will also contain responses to reading. Please note:

1. It is not a diary.

2. It is separate from your everyday class notebook.

3. I will "spot check" the notebooks from time to time, with no warning. I will also collect the notebooks at least once during the term--and at the end of the term. I will also talk to you about your notebook during one or more of your conferences with me. It is graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

4. BRING IT TO CLASS EVERY SESSION.

The essays you turn in must be typewritten (word-processed), double-spaced, with adequate margins, and they MUST be accompanied by your notes, scribblings, and rough drafts, or I will not accept them.

If you work on a word processor, print out partial drafts along the way and include these in your folder. Working on a computer is no excuse for not including drafts.

Each essay should have an interesting title, centered, not underlined, not in quotation marks, with initial capitalization only. Do not use a title page. Put your full name and the date in the upper left-hand corner of the first page. Combine your last name with each page number. Make sure you use page numbers. Keep an extra copy of the essay for yourself. Use a letter-quality printer with dark ink. If you type, use a dark ribbon. Use good quality bond paper. Do not use erasable bond.

Submit the essay in a plain manila folder, not an envelope, that bears your name. Include all rough drafts, notes, and scribblings in the folder, behind the final draft. Do not use plastic folders or anything fancier than manila. Clip the essay. Don't staple it.

Unless otherwise specified, essays are due at the beginning of class.

If you turn in an essay late, you should assume that I will read the essay but that I will not grade it, except to record an `F.' I will not read essays that are not accompanied by rough draft(s) and notes. Before you turn in your first essay, read the section on plagiarism and its consequences in the ACADEMIC HANDBOOK. Unannounced quizzes cannot be made up. In general, if you miss an assignment, do not assume that I will let you make it up. It is a good idea to assume the opposite.

THE RANGE AND PURPOSE OF ESSAY TOPICS

I will assign essay topics, but these will leave you with plenty of flexibility and with numerous choices to make as a writer.

Throughout the course, we will frequently return to four areas of writing: defining the purpose of what we write; defining the audience for what we write; getting and using responses to rough drafts; and revising--a different animal from editing. These four areas form a foundation on which to build many other considerations of rhetoric.

I will distribute a detailed assignment sheet each time.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

You will be required to develop and deliver several oral presentations. These will allow us to explore differences and similarities between oral and written rhetoric, and they will give you some practice that will, we hope, help you when you have to make presentations later in college and later in life. As with the essays you write, there will be a process for developing these presentations and for understanding how they will be evaluated.

ATTENDANCE AT FILMS

We will view some films and parts of films. Sometimes these will be shown outside of our class time. Attendance at these screenings is a requirement of the course. Discuss scheduling conflicts with me well in advance.

Other necessary materials: plenty of paper and pens; a writer's notebook; a couple of manila folders. Buy a dictionary if you don't own one yet. An affordable paperback one is fine.

Photocopying: On several occasions, I will ask you to photocopy (or print extra copies of) your essays, at your own expense.

Writer's notebook: worth about 10 per cent of your grade; evaluated periodically throughout the term and at the end of the term on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Keep up with the assignments and reading and come to class, and your notebook should be fine.

Participation in workgroups, pairs, discussions; giving and taking criticism; about 20 per cent (total).

Oral presenations: 20 per cent (total).

Essays: About 50 per cent (total).

SCHEDULE OF CLASS MEETINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Although it is detailed, this schedule is subject to change. Bring your syllabus to class every session so you may note changes. I will always elaborate upon and clarify assignments, which are often tersely described below, and you will always have an opportunity to ask questions about them. The syllabus will also be posted on my homepage.

Wednesday, September 4. Review of syllabus, my expectations, your responsibilities. A brief exercise in writing and seeing. Thinking and writing about the words "rhetoric" and "argument."

Friday, September 6. For today, re-read syllabus in detail. Read ACADEMIC HANDBOOK regarding plagiarism and attendance. Read the "Introduction" to Seeing & Writing as well as the following pages: 2-11, 16-23, 26-30, 51-60, and 61-62. Why do we ignore the ordinary? Why might it be important to re-examine the ordinary and analyze what has become routine?

Monday, September 9. For today, write in your notebook about how your friends and or family members "argue" in the rhetorical sense. The rhetoric of "ordinary arguments." Options for essays discussed.

Wednesday, September 11. Five pages of material for your essay due. Developmental work in class. A warm-up exercise for oral presentations. Hand out clause-pattern information.

Friday, September 13. Draft due.

Monday, September 16. Essay due. Bring a pencil and a dictionary to class and, as always, your writer's notebook. An introduction to some rhetorical terms, including ethos, pathos, and logos; claim; and types of argument (causation, definition, etc.)

Wednesday, September 18. Thinking about "place" and analyzing the rhetoric of an essay: For today, read, in Seeing & Writing, pages 68-75 and 98-100. Also read David Guterson’s essay, "No Place Like Home: On the Manicured Streets of a Master-Planned Community," 88-97. Read the essay carefully, and make a record of what you agreed with, disagreed with, understood clearly, and found unclear. Whom do you think Guterson was writing "to"? As you read, to what degree did you feel yourself to be a part of his primary audience?

Friday, September 20. Due today: one paragraph about a specific place within a hometown, home city, or home suburb. More practice in oral presentation: reading the paragraph out loud and revising it afterwards—"written into oral into written."

Monday, September 23. What you, what we all, need to know about sentence structure, punctuation, and usage: an overview. Please bring The Writer’s Brief Handbook and the clause-pattern photocopy to class. Also, in Seeing & Writing, read pages 109-135. Essay assigned, discussed, begun—the general topic being "what a certain place represents."

Wednesday, September 25. List of so-called "classic" films distributed. By mid-October you need to view, on your own, Citizen Kane and Do The Right Thing. Much material on your essay due today.

Friday, September 27. For today, read chapters One and Two of Film Art (3-64) and be ready for a little quiz.

Monday, September 30. Rough draft of essay due.

Wednesday, October 2. Essay due. Bring a pencil. Oral vs. written rhetoric: a discussion.

Friday, October 4. In Film Art, read pages 65-87. Bring in a list of your favorite films. Discussing draft of oral presentation.

Monday, October 7. "Speech" essay assigned and discussed. Review criteria for oral presentations. Sign up for presentations. Review criteria for discussion-leading.

Wednesday, October 9. Oral presentations.

Friday, October 11. Oral presentations.

Monday, October 14. Conferences.

Wednesday, October 16. Conferences.

Friday, October 18. Draft of "speech" essay due.

Wednesday, October 23. Speech essay due. Discussion leaders for Friday assigned.

Friday, October 25. Read Film Art, 89-168. Discussion leaders for Monday assigned.

Monday, October 28. Read Film Art 169-209. Discussion leaders for Wednesday assigned.

Wednesday, October 30. Read Film Art, 270-350, and 360-368. Discussion leaders for Friday assigned.

Friday, November 1. Read Film Art, 383-399. Discussion leaders for Monday assigned.

Monday, November 4. Read Film Art, 441-471. Research discussion.

Wednesday, November 6. For today, in your notebook, write about a film you have seen that makes a compelling argument implicitly, explicitly, or both. Oral presentation and essay assigned ("classic" film).

Friday, November 8. By today, decide from which film you want to select a scene for your final oral presentation. Sign up for oral presentation.. Criteria discussed.

Monday, November 12. Oral presentations (4).

Wednesday, November 14 Oral presentations (4).

Friday, November 16. Oral presentations (4).

Monday, November 19. Oral presentations (if necessary). Material on classic-film essay due.

Wednesday, November 21. Draft of essay due.

Friday, November 23. Assignment for last essay given, discussed.

Monday, November 26. For today, read Chapter Seven (398-446) of Seeing & Writing. Defining "iconic," "indexical," and "symbolic" meaning.

Wednesday, November 28. Essay due.

Monday, December 2. Bring in a list of cultural icons about which you might possibly write. Quiz on rhetorical terms.

Wednesday, December 4. Bring in a focused topic and tentative argument for your essay.

Friday, December 6. Working on drafts. Notebooks due.

Monday, December 9. Working on drafts.

Wednesday, December 11. Essay due.