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English 323: Writing in the Rhetorical Tradition (3.0 credit hours)

Spring 2013 - Section 001

Instructor: Lauren Clark (leclark2@ncsu.edu)

Course: MWF 10:15AM - 11:05AM. Tompkins G117.

Office: Ricks Hall Addition. (Between Tompkins and the DH Hill library.) No office

number; just cubicles in the building.

Course Description

English 323 is a writing course based on the study of rhetoric. Readings will include

topics such as the principles of invention, arrangement, and style; analysis of written

texts; writing of persuasive texts for a variety of audiences and purposes.

The class will also be heavily centered on discussion and group work as well. You will

often be asked to collaborate on in-class assignments and share your finished work withthe whole class. We will also have time for workshopping and peer reviewing for the

mid-term and final projects.

Required Texts

CrowIey, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee.Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students.

5th Ed.

Lanham, Richard.Analyzing Prose. 2nd Ed.

Course Assignments

Booklet of Rhetorical Exercises and Commonplaces (40%)

You will develop a booklet of rhetorical exercises and commonplaces that will be due at

the end of the semester. The booklet is both a personal reference text and a record of

weekly exercises in rhetorical styles and appeals related to the readings. You should

contribute to it semi-weekly, but I encourage you to keep it near you at all times, so you

can add new ideas, quotes, and forms of appeal whenever the occasion arises.

The booklet can be developed in any medium you wish. You may use a hardbound

journal or sketch book, which you can find at a bookstore or art supply store. You coulduse a Microsoft Word document or loose-leaf paper. By the end of the semester, your

book will be full of commonplaces that you've written down or glued to a page,

explorations or specifics audiences and ethoi,and original writing representative of the

many styles and forms of appeal about which you'll be learning over the course of the

semester.

mailto:leclark2@ncsu.edumailto:leclark2@ncsu.edumailto:leclark2@ncsu.edu

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You can also start a blog via Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr, or another site that will

represent the same kinds of contributions that you'd add to a sketchbook. You can

embed video, audio, and links into your online booklet; you can use keywords to keep

track of your entries, and you can set your privacy settings as you wish (although I may

occasionally ask you to share a post with the class).

Finally, you will be evaluated for your hard work to expand your booklet using the ideas

we explore in class throughout the semester. As long as you show that you spent time

2+ times a week adding to your booklet, you will earn a high grade.

Mid-Term Project (20%)

Your first project will be 5-6 pages in length (double-spaced). You will also include a 2-

page preface that describes the rhetorical strategies that you enact in the project,

including a detailed analysis of the audience(s) to whom you were writing, and an

assessment of your successes or failures in the projects. This assignment will focus onimitation and style.

Final Project (30%)

Your final project will be 8-10 pages in length (double-spaced). You will also include a

2-3 page preface that describes the rhetorical strategies that you enact in the project,

just as you did for the mid-term. The terms for this project are more open and will ask

you to make an argument based on the rhetorical strategies and commonplaces we've

discussed over the course of the semester.

In-Class Participation and Collaboration (10%)

I expect that you will come to class on time, have completed the readings and any

assignments due, and will participate in small-group and in-class discussion.

Please inform me of any known absences ahead of time. If you are absent more than 6

classes, your final grade will be lowered by 20%. Subsequent absences will lower the

grade another 20%, until resulting in a failing grade due to excessive absences.

Grading Scale

A+ 100-97 A 96-93 A- 92-90B+ 89-87 B 86-83 B- 82-80

C+ 79-77 C 76-73 C- 72-70

D+ 69-67 D 66-63 D- 62-60

F 59 and below

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Midterm Assignment Sheet

English 323 | Spring 2013 | Lauren Clark

Purpose:Every writer is influenced by other authors; perhaps youre a fan of

Hemingways paratactic structure or Jamess small-scale periodic style. For your

midterm, you will practice imitating very closely the style of an author (Wolfe)

while making the content your own. This assignment will provide significant

practice with one of the most common ancient practices of rhetoric: imitation.

This project will help you get into another authors skin, and learn new muscle

memory regarding the construction of prose.

Mission:For your project, you will work with Tom Wolfes essay The Saturday

Route,found in LanhamsAnalyzing Prose. You will follow the structure as closely

as possible, while incorporating your own storyline. You will follow the tone of the

piece, Wolfes ethos (what do you think of him as an author? How does hepresent himself?), and his rhetorical choices.

Context:Crowley and Hawhee write that proper procedure for [ancient]

imitation involved copying the model, studying it carefully, and imitating its

structures (p. 365). You will want to stay as true to Wolfes grammatical structure

as possible. However, you also want to copy his rhetorical style: when do you see

anaphora? Isocolon? Polysyndeton? Being able to recognize the figures and

tropes in Wolfes piece will allow you to recognize the complexities of his

structure in a very nuanced, informed way. Your imitation of his structure in your

own project will be that much more sophisticated.

Resources:

Use Crowley and Hawhees break down of imitation work that appears at

the end of chapter 10 inAncient Rhetorics.

Use Lanhams analysis of The Saturday RouteinAnalyzing Prose, pages

137151.

Use examples on Moodle. They will help you start out, and help you to see

how, when imitation is done well, you wont not be able to hear Wolfes

structure coming across.

Requirements:

Your paper will be 5-6 double-spaced pages (at least 1,500 words). You

will not be able to imitate all of Wolfes essay, so when you get at least 5

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full pages, you can stop anytime thereafter. (Finish the last paragraph that

you are

imitating, though.)

You analysis will be 2-3 double-spaced pages (600 to 900 words). In the

analysis, you will tell me about your process, how you came to choose

your pairs (parallel to the New York/Georgia and art/religion dichotomies),

how you made sure to follow Wolfes style, and any problems or issues you

had with the project.

Your analysis is what will largely determine your grade on the midterm. If

you write a lovely essay, but your analysis doesnt tell me much about

your processes of changing content, working with the style, or what you

struggled with, then your grade will be lower. If you write a pretty good

essay and a fantastically clear, telling, comprehensible analysis, youll

receive a high grade.

Feel free to add bits of information, figures, or tropes to the structure. Try

not to take away or replace anything in the structure. Do whatever youwant with the content.

I suggest numbering your paragraphs as Lanham has done so you can

easily reference Wolfe's essay against your imitation.

Due date:

Friday, March 1stby 11:55 pm (end of the day). You will turn in your

paper and your analysis via Moodle. If Moodle goes down, email me the

document(s).

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Final Project Assignment Sheet

English 323 | Spring 2013 | Lauren Clark

Purpose:This project is meant to serve as the culmination of everything you have

learned in 323. You will truly be writing in the rhetorical tradition.

Mission:Your goal for the final project is to write a rhetorical argument that is

based in the strategies we have learned over the course of the semester. You

may write about anything you wish; you can argue that the Occupy movement

is politically sound, or you can argue that you make the best chocolate cake in

the world. No matter what your topic, you must feel very passionate about it;

you do have to sustain the argument over at least 8 pages.

Of the five rhetorical canons (invention, arrangement, style, memory, delivery)

you are explicitly using the first three. (Refresh your memory on the definitions:

http://rhetoric.byu.edu/canons/Canons.htm)

Invention: Find the available means by which to present your argument.

What kind of inventional strategies do you need to implement? (chapter

4.) How will you incorporate logos, ethos, and pathos? How will you

compose those proofs? (chapters 5-7.)

Arrangement: In what order will you present your proofs or arguments? Do

you need an introduction or an insinuation? What should you focus on in

your peroration or conclusion? (chapter 9 andAnalyzing Prose.)

Style: How will you support your argument, and your proofs, using tropes or

figurative language? Will you rely mostly on periodic style or running style?

Noun style or verb style? Parataxis or hypotaxis? (chapter 10 and

Analyzing Prose chapters 1-3.)

Context:This project is meant to get you to truly write in the rhetorical tradition.

You will thus construct a piece of written prose that is meant to persuade your

audience. Recall that Aristotle defined rhetoric as the art of persuasion. All of

the strategies we have discussed over the semester are means by which arhetor can persuade his or her audience. This project is your final accumulation

of all we have discussed over the past 12 weeks. You have consistently

completed rhetorical activities, progymnasmata, and analysis of

commonplaces during the semester. This project is now your opportunity to take

what you believe are the most persuasive means, the most compelling

http://rhetoric.byu.edu/canons/Canons.htmhttp://rhetoric.byu.edu/canons/Canons.htmhttp://rhetoric.byu.edu/canons/Canons.htmhttp://rhetoric.byu.edu/canons/Canons.htm

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rhetorical figures, and use them to make your very own rhetorical argument.

Resources:

Use Crowley and HawheesAncient Rhetorics

Use LanhamsAnalyzing Prose

Use your class notes

Requirements:

8-10 pages, or around 2,200-3,000 words in length. (may go over. Don't

write more than 12 pages.)

3-4 page analysis (may go over. Don't write more than 5 pages.)

Use analysis to call my attention to the rhetorical strategies, schemes and

tropes, flowers (figures of language and thought) and any other elements

in your argument.

If you use outside sources, cite them using MLA formatting. Include aWorks Cited page.

Due Date: Thurs May 9th by 11:55 pm. You will turn in your paper and your

analysis via Moodle. If Moodle goes down, email me the document(s). You may

also turn in your final earlier than May 9th as well!