Professor Ostrom Fall 2004

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

Some Basic Information:

Telephone: x3434 (my office number); x3235 (number of English-Department secretary).

The University’s Equal Opportunity Statement

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.

OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE

One of our major objectives is to develop a greater understanding of argumentation and perception.

Your college 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 of this kind. 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 studies 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 of perception 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 persons 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? To what extent are arguments based in perception (and misperception), and to what extent is perception itself a kind of argument? These are other guiding questions that will inform the course. How do we perceive elements of writing that most people view as both tedious and crucial, such as grammar and syntax?

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, related to the first, 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 offer one way in which you may become 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.”

One of our texts, Seeing & Writing 2, combines the study of writing and rhetoric with that of how we perceive images and texts. One of our other texts, Looking at Movies, introduces us to the art and appreciation of film. It will help guide our discussion of perception and rhetoric, and of how narrative films, for instance, make certain kinds of arguments.

HOW THE COURSE WORKS

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.

ASPECTS OF WRITING, SPEAKING, AND RHETORIC

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

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

REQUIRED BOOKS

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

Donald McQuade and Christine McQuade, Seeing and Writing 2. (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003). A book on writing, rhetoric, and the analysis of texts and images.

Jay Silverman, Elaine Hughes, and Diana Roberts Wienbroer, Rules of Thumb: A Guide for Writers. 5^th edition. (Boston: McGraw/Hill, 2002). It has four parts: “Correctness,” which mainly concerns conventions of spelling, putting sentences together well (syntax and grammar), and punctuating; “Putting a Paper Together”; “The Research Paper”; and “Growing as a Writer.”

Anthony Weston, A Rulebook for Arguments. 3^rd Edition. (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000). All about rhetoric and argumentation.

Richard Barsam, Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film (New York: W.W. Norton, 2004). Includes a CD of film-clips.

1. Come to class every session, and please come on time. Missing class can affect your grade severely and even result in dis-enrollment.

2. I prefer that you don't eat in class; every professor has his or her pet peeves; this happens to be mine. The occasional cup of coffee won't disturb me.

3. 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 opinions. But listen, too.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

The Writer’s Notebook

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:

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.

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.

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.

You will be required to develop and deliver 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 after college. As with the essays you write, there will be a process for developing these presentations and for understanding how they will be evaluated.

You need to have a computer that is capable of running the CD that accompanies one of our books, Looking At Movies, or you need to get access to such a computer in the library, or both.

Miscellaneous

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.

GRADING

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 presentations, quizzes on rhetoric and sentence-grammar, quizzes on reading: 25 per cent (total).

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.

Review of syllabus, my expectations, your responsibilities, your questions about the course. A brief exercise in writing and seeing. Thinking and writing about the words “rhetoric” and “argument.” Discussing perception

For today, re-read syllabus in detail. Read ACADEMIC HANDBOOK regarding plagiarism and attendance.

Seeing: Please read the introductory chapter to Seeing & Writing 2: “Writing in the Age of the Image.” Look carefully at the photographs.

Argument/Rhetoric: Please read the “Introduction” to and Chapter I of A Rulebook for Arguments (pp, xi-10). Key words: premises, conclusion, concrete, concise, and loaded language.

Seeing, Writing, and Rhetoric: In-class writing about one of the photographs: you offer a brief interpretation, in writing, with evidence and reasoning.

Writing and Rhetoric: For today, write in your notebook about how your friends and or family members “argue” in the rhetorical sense.

Seeing: Please read the essays by Kingwell, Brubach, and Perotta in Chapter Six of Seeing & Writing 2: “Reading Icons.” Be prepared to a) summarize the argument of each essay and b) identify which essay you found to be most persuasive and why. Also in that chapter, look at the photographs, drawings, and reproductions of art. Be prepared to indicate which of these images you found most compelling and/or interesting and why.

Writing: In-class writing: Defining “icon”; listing persons or places you regard to be “iconic.”

Reading Assignment/Rhetoric: In Rules of Thumb, please read Part 2, “Putting a Paper Together,” 55-87.

Writing/Preparing to Write/Seeing: In your notebook, please make two lists. In one, list public persons (living or deceased) and public places with which you are familiar and that most people consider icons. For example, you are probably familiar with Elvis Presley, and most people consider him to be an icon. You are probably also familiar with Mt. Rainier, and most people consider it to be an icon. (How different people “read” Elvis and Rainier differently is another question.) In a second one, list public persons (living) and public places with which you are familiar, which most people do not consider icons, but which you believe should be “read” (remember Chapter Six of Seeing & Writing 2) as icons.

Writing: Five pages of material for your essay due. Developmental work in class.

Writing/Rhetoric/Seeing Sentences/Grammar: In Rules of Thumb, please read, in Part One (“Correctness”), pages 25-40. Hand out clause-pattern information.

Writing: Complete rough draft of your essay due, word-processed, double-spaced.

Writing: Essay due. Bring a pencil and a dictionary to class and, as always, your writer's notebook.

Rhetoric: An introduction to some rhetorical terms, including ethos, pathos, and logos; claim; and types of argument (causation, definition, etc.)

Writing/Preparing to Read: List compelling movies and compelling scenes in movies.

Seeing/Film: In Looking at Movies, read “To Students” (xix-xx) and Chapter One, “What Is a Movie?”

Rhetoric (Definition and Examples): Be able to define “dynamization of space” and “spatialization of time.” Also, in your notebook, list two examples from your own movie-viewing for each of the major genres of film discussed on pp. 44-45. Be able to explain in some detail how these movies fit the genres.

Seeing Sentences: Review clause-pattern handout, kinds of clauses, kinds of sentences, clauses and commas, clauses and semicolons. Bring the clause-pattern handout and Rules of Thumb to class, please.

Seeing/Film: In Looking at Movies, read Chapter Two, “Form and Narrative.” Get familiar with the terms: story vs. plot, order, hubs & satellites, duration, suspense, frequency, setting, and point of view. On the CD, look at the clips from Stagecoach, The Gold Rush, and Run, Lola Run.

Writing/Discussion: Go back to your list of movies (according to genre) from Friday and apply the form-and-narrative terminology to the movies.

Rhetoric: Kinds of Argument—in A Rulebook for Arguments, read Chapters II, III, IV, and V (which discuss arguments by example, analogy, authority, and causes), pp. 10-39.

Quiz: On clause-patterns, use of commas in sentences, and use of semicolons in sentences.

Rhetoric: In A Rulebook for Arguments, read Chapters VI (“Deductive Arguments”) and X (“Fallacies”).

Oral Rhetoric: Discussing differences between essays and oral presentations.

Oral Presentation Assigned: Why movie X is a successful example of movie-genre Y.

Writing/Correctness: In Rules of Thumb, read pages 2-23 in Part 1. Mark the words among “confusing words” that have been confusing to you.

Oral Rhetoric: Draft of oral presentation due: Three pages, double-spaced is the maximum. Two pages, double-spaced, is the minimum. 12-point font, Times New Roman. We will practice and revise the presentations. Sign up for presentations.

Seeing/Film: In Looking at Movies, please read Chapter 3, “Mise-en-Scène and Design.”

4 oral presentations. Essay due. Looking ahead to the quiz on October 15.

Writing/Rhetoric: Bring the three opinion-pieces from newspapers. In your notebook, list the kinds of arguments you find in these opinion pieces. By “kinds of argument,” I mean the ones discussed in A Rulebook for Arguments. Also list any fallacies that you find. Then write a brief paragraph about which argument of the three is most persuasive to you and why. (Is it because the argument is logical? Well constructed? Attentive to its audience? Or is it because you happen to agree with the argument anyway? Both? Neither?) Do all of this analysis, listing, and writing before class, of course.

No class-meeting. Fall break day. Look ahead to October 27, when you will need to have read two chapters from Looking at Film.

Reading Assignment: In Chapter 7 of Seeing & Writing “(Challenging Images), please read the essays by Sontag, Hornby, and Bordo. Take notes and brings questions and topics you would like to discuss; link these questions and topics to specific pages and passages. Also, pay close attention to what kinds of arguments these essayists make (analogy, causation, authority, etc.). And finally, examine the photographs and other images in the chapter.

Reading Assignment: In Chapter 7 of Seeing & Writing, read the essays by Mieszkowski, Marling, and Jones. Also, pick one photograph or other image from the chapter that you think is especially worth discussing, and think about how the class might begin to discuss it. What important issues does the image raise, in your opinion?

Essay assigned and discussed: Analyzing, summarizing, and critiquing an essay. How to uses quotations and paraphrasing as evidence. How to organize a critique of a piece of writing.

Rhetoric and Analysis: For today, choose the essay from Chapter 7 of Seeing & Writing that you want to write about, carefully re-read it, and take notes about the points it makes, the arguments it advances, the evidence and reasoning it uses, and its strengths and weaknesses.

Seeing Film: For today, in Looking at Movies, read Chapters 4 (“Cinematography”) and 6 (“Editing”). There is a good chance I will quiz you on terms from these chapters.

Seeing and Hearing Film/The Illusion of “Characters” in Film: For today, read Chapters 5 (“Acting”) and 7 (“Sound”) of Looking at Movies.

Writing: In your notebook, write a paragraph about a film-character you would argue is extremely compelling. For example, a friend of mine regards Luke in Cool Hand Luke to be a compelling character, as co-created by the screenwriter, the actor Paul Newman, the director, the other actors, and so on.

Oral Rhetoric: Oral presentation assigned. Presenting an analysis of one aspect of one scene from a narrative film, “Indie” or Hollywood, R or PG-13 rated.

Seeing Film/Applying Film-Study/ Assessing the Argument of a Film: Viewing and discussing a part of Citizen Kane.

For today, decide on a) which film you want to base your presentation on, and b) which scene and aspect of film you want to discuss.

For today, in Rules of Thumb, read Part 3 (“The Research Paper”). Pay special attention to pages 87-103. I might even quiz you.

Be working on your oral presentation—analyzing the scene, organizing your presentation.

In Rules of Thumb, read pages 153-164, which concern recognizing clichés, eliminating offensive language, trimming wordiness, using strong verbs, and “varying your sentences,” which relates to how and why you might revise the sentences that took shape in a rough draft.

Bring in a list of 5 clichés you often hear or read. Be sure to go the extra mile on this one.

A rough draft of your oral presentation is due. As before, two pages minimum, three pages maximum. (See assignment for Monday, September 27.)

Essay assigned, discussed. Somewhat briefly put, you will choose a relatively recent film you have seen; do research to find at least three written, published reviews of the film (not a broadcast review, not an online review); and write an essay in which you summarize, analyze, and the critique the reviews of the film (the critique may include an analysis of the arguments), and in which you conclude by advancing your own argument about the film’s quality. Obviously, this assignment brings together many things we’ve studied this term.

Conferences-in-the-classroom: group one. All about your drafts. Note: Even when it is not your day for a conference on your draft, you may email me questions about your essay, you may visit the Writing Center, and you may, of course, visit my office during office-hours. The main thing is to make good progress on your draft this week—before, during, and after your conference.