WRD 103 Fall 2010
WRD 103 Fall 2010
Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse 103 Rhetoric and Composition
I
Instructor: Beth Ann Bryant-Richards, Adjunct Instructor,
Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and
Discourse at DePaul University
Office: LC 1634 Office hours: Mon/Wed 8:00-8:25 a.m. or
3:00-3:30 p.m. or by appointment.
E-mail: ebryantr@gmail.com
Purpose of Course: The purpose of WRD103 is to get you
ready to write well in college. No
doubt, as successful high school students, you developed
your writing skills sufficiently to
succeed in high school. The college environment will expect
much more from you in a rhetorical
sense, and this course is designed to give you the skills
you’ll need to write successfully in
college. We will discuss thesis, audience, purpose, voice,
reader, and rhetoric. We will focus on
writing as readers and reading as writers. Our class will
be based on reading, writing, thinking
about, and responding to texts from multiple genres.
The nature of the class inherently affects the learning
environment. This class is what students
make of it. I expect you to come to class prepared, for
your sake and for the sake of your
classmates. I also expect you to respect yourselves and
one another. At the same time, I want you
to speak freely. The preparation for class is part of
that respect. We all have something to teach,
just as we all have something to learn. Our class will
be a place of learning, growth, respect,
rigor, and intellectual stimulation.
Course Goals:
• Students will gain experience reading and writing in
multiple genres.
• Students will develop a stance appropriate to the rhetorical
circumstances, the ability to
marshal sufficient, plausible support for their assertions
and should become familiar with
a variety of structures for presenting such evidence,
including but not limited to narration,
exemplification, definition, classification, comparison,
analogy, and cause and effect that
depend upon the rhetorical situation.
• Students will develop the ability to shape the language
of written discourse to their
audiences and purposes, fostering clarity and emphasis
by providing explicit and
appropriate cues to the main purpose and the subsections
of their texts.
• Students will develop the ability to read and evaluate
the writing of others and to identify the
rhetorical strategies at work in written texts.
Learning Outcomes/First Year Writing
Approved by the Liberal Studies Council—June 2008
Taken together, the courses in the First-Year Writing
Program at DePaul University seek to
develop student competencies in five general categories:
rhetorical knowledge; critical thinking,
reading and writing; writing processes; and knowledge
of conventions. Individual faculty will
naturally incorporate these competencies into their courses
in different ways, but all faculty in
the program should be prepared to demonstrate that their
courses include attention to these
matters.
Rhetorical Knowledge
By the end of FYW, students should be able to demonstrate
that they can:
• Define and focus on a purpose or purposes
• Interpret and respond to different audiences
WRD 103 Fall 2010
• Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical
situations
• Apply conventions of format and structure appropriate
to the rhetorical situation
• Apply appropriate tone, diction, and level of formality
• Demonstrate how genres shape reading and writing
• Write in several genres
Critical Thinking, Reading and Writing
By the end of FYW, students should be able to demonstrate
that they can:
•Employ writing and reading for inquiry, thinking, and
communicating
•Respond and evaluate texts in multiple genres and media
•Demonstrate that a writing assignment is a series of
tasks that includes finding,
analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary
sources
•Integrate their own ideas with those of others
•Interpret and explain the relationships among language,
knowledge, and power
Processes
By the end of FYW, students should to demonstrate that
they can:
•Recognize and articulate the value of using multiple
drafts to create and complete a
successful text
•Exhibit flexible strategies for generating, revising,
editing, and proof-reading
•Demonstrate understanding that writing is an open process
that permits writers to use
later invention and re-thinking to revise their work
•Explain the collaborative and social aspects of writing
processes
•Critique their own and others’ works
•Apply a variety of technologies to address a range of
audiences
Knowledge of Conventions
By the end of FYW, students should be able to demonstrate
that they can:
• Demonstrate competency in using common formats for different
kinds of texts
• Apply a variety of genre conventions ranging from structure
and paragraphing to tone
and mechanics
• Correctly document their work
• Correctly apply in their writing such surface features
as syntax, grammar, punctuation,
and spelling
Books/Course Materials:
We will use the electronic version of the St. Martin’s
Handbook, available for purchase in the
DePaul bookstore.
I also require you to print out and bring to class our
readings, which will be available from D2L
or e-Reserves from the DePaul library.
Grading:
Class prep and attendance expected
Reading Responses 10%
Quizzes (pop or online) 10%
Reading Annotations 5%
Genre Paper #1 5%
Genre Paper #2 10%
WRD 103 Fall 2010
Genre Paper #3 10%
Final Portfolio w/ Reflective Essay 50%
90-100 A 69-60 D
89-80 B 59-0 F
79-70 C
Reading responses are due at the beginning of class. Pop
quizzes will be given at the beginning
of class, with no make-ups.
Important Course Information:
The Writing Center
Consider visiting the Writing Center to discuss your assignments
for this course or any others.
You may schedule appointments (30 or 50 minutes) on an
as-needed or weekly basis, scheduling
up to 3 hours worth of appointments per week. Online services
include Feedback-by-Email and
IM conferencing (with or without a webcam). All writing
center services are free.
Writing Center tutors are specially selected and trained
graduate and undergraduate students who
can help you at almost any stage of your writing. They
will not do your work for you, but they
can help you focus and develop your ideas, review your
drafts, and polish your writing. They can
answer questions about grammar, mechanics, different kinds
of writing styles, and
documentation formats. They also can answer questions
and provide feedback online, through
IM/webcam chats and email. Obviously, the tutors will
not necessarily be familiar with every
class or subject, but they are able to provide valuable
help from the perspective of an interested
and careful reader as well as a serious and experienced
student-writer.
Schedule your appointments with enough time to think about
and use the feedback you’ll
receive. Bring your assignment handout and other relevant
materials to your appointments.
Quick Links & Locations:
• To schedule an appointment at the Center’s LPC and Loop
locations: http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/sched/WCOnline.html
• To schedule Real-time conversations with IM and/or webcam:
http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/sched/im.htm
• To request Feedback by Email: http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/sched/email.html
• Loop Campus Office: 1620 Lewis Center, 312.362.6726
•Lincoln Park Office: 250 McGaw, 773.325.4272
•For more information, visit: http://www.depaul.edu./writing/
Exceptional Students
Students who feel they may need an accommodation based
on the impact
of a disability should contact me privately to discuss
their specific needs. All discussions will
remain confidential. To ensure that you receive the most
appropriate reasonable accommodation
based on your needs, contact me as early as possible in
the quarter (preferably within the first
week of class), and make sure that you have contacted:
* The PLuS Program (for LD, AD/HD) at 773-325-1677, Student
Center #370, and/or
* The Office for Students with Disabilities (for all other
disabilities) at 773-325-1677, Student
Center #370
WRD 103 Fall 2010
Attendance and Tardiness
Attendance is crucial to your success in this class, and
in your life. If you are absent more than
three times, you run the risk of failing this class. Coming
to class late twice equals an absence. I
take attendance and I keep track of latecomers. Students
who have not attended class by the first
regular class meeting after the last day to add will not
be admitted to this class.
Academic Integrity
Please review the university guidelines on student integrity
found in the Student Handbook. If
you plagiarize anything for this class, you will automatically
fail. I will
also be forced to sanction you formally through the University
Academic Integrity office, which
keeps a record of all such violations.
Other Issues of Note
1. Only one person at a time should be speaking during
class. If we are having a class
discussion, participants should expect others to listen
with respect. During the infrequent
lectures, I will be passing on vital information for your
success in the class. I do not tolerate
students who carry on separate conversations or whisper.
Students who engage in such activity
will leave the class and their next graded assignment
reduced by one letter grade.
2. Turn off and put away your cell phones, pagers, and
other electronic devices before class
begins. You must keep your electronic devices in your
bag at all times. Students who display or
use such devices in class will have their next graded
assignment reduced by one letter grade and
they will leave the class.
3. Please use the time between classes to use the facilities
and get a drink from the water
fountain. You may bring snacks and drinks to class. Students
who enter and exit class during
class time are disruptive—especially in small classrooms—and
I do not tolerate such disruptions
well. Students who engage in such activity will have their
next graded assignment reduced by
one letter grade.
Course Schedule
Wed
Sept 8
Introduction/Syllabus
Desire 2 Learn Use/Digication and e-Portfolios
Informal in-class writing
Personal Introductions
Mon
Sept 13
vExercise Central Diagnostic A due by 1pm
The Rhetorical Triangle
Logos, Pathos, Ethos
Reading Response Assignment Information
Reading/Discuss Reading Annotation Assignment
Wed
Sept 15
vReading: After Amnesia by Oates (D2L)
vReading Annotation Due
Conventions of Discourse
In-class Reading (article provided in class)
Mon
Sept 20
vReading Response Due for After Amnesia
Discuss Genre #1 Paper
vExercise Central Twenty Most Common Errors due by 1pm
Wed
Sept 22
vReading: Torch Song by Bowden (D2L)
vReading Response Due for Torch Song
Mon
Sept 27
vReading: Teaching the N-Word by Bernard (D2L)
vReading Response Due for Teaching the N-Word
vExercise Central Drafting a working thesis due by 1pm
Wed
Sept 29
vPeer Review of Genre Paper #1
Bring 3 printed copies of your rough draft of Paper #1
and 3 copies of the
Peer Review Form (D2L) to class on this day. Failure to
bring your
copies of your rough draft or the peer review form to
class will result
in a lowering of the final paper grade by 20 points.
Mon
Oct 4
vGenre Paper #1 Final Draft due.
vExercise Central Supporting thesis statements due by
midnight.
Wed
Oct 6
vReading: Does Your Language Shape… by Deutscher (D2L)
vReading Response Due
Discuss Genre Paper #2 Assignment
vExercise Central 742 Improving unity, support, and coherence
due by
midnight.
Mon
Oct 11
vDigication sign-in and Reading Annotation upload due
by 1pm
vExercise Central 344 Arguable Statements due by midnight.
In-class Reading and Discussion: Current Editorials
Wed
Oct 13
vPeer Review of Genre Paper #2
Bring 3 printed copies of your rough draft of Genre Paper
#2 and 2 copies
of the Peer Review Form (D2L) to class on this day. Failure
to bring your
copies of your rough draft or the peer review form to
class will result
in a lowering of the final paper grade by 20 points.
Mon
Oct 18
vFinal Draft of Genre Paper #2 due.
vExercise Central 705 Using correct verb form and tense
due by midnight.
Wed
Oct 20
vExercise Central 119 Concrete and specific detail due
by 1pm
Discuss Genre Paper #3.
Mon
Oct 25
vReadings: Analysis Pieces by Lane, Ebert, and Menand
vExercise Central 120 Figures of Speech and 82 Sentence
Fragments due
by 1pm
Wed
Oct 27
vPeer Review of Genre Paper #3
Bring 3 printed copies of your rough draft of Paper #3
and 2 copies of the
Peer Review Form (D2L) to class on this day. Failure to
bring your
copies of your rough draft or the peer review form to
class will result
in a lowering of the final paper grade by 20 points.
Mon
Nov 1
vFinal Draft of Genre Paper #3
vExercise Central 92 Misplaced and dangling modifiers
and 374
Conciseness due by midnight
Discuss Reflective Essay and Final Portfolio.
Wed
Nov 3
vExercise Central 591 Using commas correctly and 327 Using
capitalization correctly due by 1pm
Bring all of the writing you have done in WRD 103 to class
on this day.
Small Group Activity.
Mon
Nov 8
vPeer Review of Reflective Essay and Final Portfolio.
Bring 3 printed copies of your rough draft of your Reflective
Essay and 2
copies of the Peer Review Form (D2L) to class on this
day. Failure to
bring your copies of your rough draft or the peer review
form to class
will result in a lowering of the final portfolio grade
by 20 points.
Wed
Nov 10
Last day of class. You may turn in your final portfolio
on Digication on
this day, but you have until our scheduled final exam
time to turn in your
final portfolio through Digication. We will meet in the
computer classroom
and work on e-Portfolios together.
Mon
Nov 22
Final Portfolio due no later than 2:00 p.m.