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rhetoric. n. 1. The study of the elements, as structure or style, used in writing and speaking. 2. The art of effective expression and the persuasive use of language.
—American Heritage Dictionary
The primary purpose of the Writing and Rhetoric Program is to offer rigorous courses at all levels that integrate the study of writing and the study of rhetoric. The courses support students who enter the Colleges knowing that they need and want to strengthen their ability to express themselves effectively in written discourse. They help students meet the challenges of the community curriculum, which puts effective written discourse at its center. Writing is both a way to learn course content and a result of learning: the mark of a liberally educated person.
Writing courses are divided into three categories:
Writing across the curriculum is also a central component of program offerings through the Writing Colleagues Program, which prepares student mentors to help with the teaching of writing and reading through the program's work in first-year seminars and bidisciplinary courses and through the program's support of faculty members' use of writing in their courses.
Finally, for students interested in a concentrated study of writing and rhetoric, the program offers a disciplinary major. The major requires students to complete foundational courses in grammar and style, discourse analysis and introductory rhetoric. In addition, students take elective courses to build on and further challenge the work of the foundational courses, a set of courses geared to post-graduate writing, and a capstone seminar.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR
disciplinary 12 courses
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINOR
disciplinary, 7 courses
Two foundational courses (WRRH 201 and WRRH 312), one Professional Writing course, electives, and one capstone seminar (WRRH 420).
COURSE DESCRIPTION
100 Writer’s Seminar This course is for students who wish to improve their ability to express their own ideas, positions, and interpretations. It emphasizes developing the writer's "voice" because much of what one is asked to write in college requires the writer to express his or her own ideas in a convincing, credible manner. The course considers what it means to be a writer—what habits of mind and work lead to an effective essay—and stresses focus, cohesion, and organization. Course times and themes vary with instructor. (Repeatable) (Offered each semester)
200 Writer’s Seminar II This intermediate writing course offers students the chance to develop writing and research skills through reading and writing processes introduced in WRRH 100, with an emphasis on increased responsibility for engaging in critical analysis and argument and for developing research projects. Students become more familiar with academic standards and conventions, particularly with the ever-widening variety of research tools available to them. Invention strategies, multiple drafts and revision, peer responses, and editing are stressed. Texts are variable depending on faculty preference. (Fall and Spring, offered annually)
201 Grammar and Style Understanding grammar is important for writers because grammatical choices affect style; stylistic choices have grammatical implications. Yet grammar is often given last place in writing classes or made a mere matter of mechanics—correcting a comma splice, changing a relative pronoun. This course is designed for all writers and would be writers who want to understand the rhetorical power of grammar. It is designed for anyone who wants to understand what stylistic choices writers have available. It is not, therefore, a course in grammar or a course in style, but a course on the relationship between them. Students improve their grammar through working on style; they improve their style by working on grammar, sentence diagramming, weekly grammatical excursions, required weekly quizzes, and a final project. (Forbes, offered fall alternate years)
202 Going Places: Travel Writing "Journeys," writes Susan Orlean, "are the essential text of the human experience." That experience is at the heart of this course. As Orlean says, though, a journey need not be to an exotic place, though she has been to many such places. But a piece about a journey—a piece of travel writing—can come from somewhere just around the corner, down the street, up a flight of stairs, any "there-and-back-again" that you might take. The only requirement is that the writer—the traveler first, then the writer—pay attention. Students read exemplary travel writers, write their own travel pieces, keep a reading journal and observation notes to prepare for their formal essays. A field trip and a fee are required. (Forbes, offered spring alternate years)
205 Rhetorical Bytes: Digital Rhetorics & Writing with New Technology Digital Rhetorics addresses the rhetorical aspects of a variety of new media forms, from Facebook, to mp3 players, to wikis, to online videos. While instructions on how to use digital technologies are important aspects of some classes, we focus on the kinds of arguments made on and by these technologies. We study the impact of different interfaces on writing and persuasion, and create compositions using a variety of media. Students have the opportunity to develop skills in analyzing new technology, composing in a variety of media, understanding writing about digital technologies, and considering the broader cultural impact of digital rhetorics. Along with writing skills, students work on design strategies, visual compositions, and audio compositions for a variety of audiences. Students analyze and write for both expert and non expert audiences. Average writing requirement: 4-6 pages per week, plus design and other visual composition work. (Newcomb, offered every other year)
206 Immigrant Experiences: Voices and Discourses This intermediate writing course studies immigrant experiences in their local, national, and global contexts with a particular focus on discourses surrounding immigrant lives. The course examines the historical, political and linguistic aspects of immigration, such as ethnicity, culture, and cross-cultural divides. Students will complete rhetorical and linguistic analyses of immigration policies, immigrant discourses, and produce their own writing.
220 Breadwinners and Losers: The Rhetoric of Work How do we talk about work in our society? How do we decide what work to do? How does work affect identity and what life means? Is work valuable in and of itself, or is work only a means to an end? What are the rhetorical requirements of various workplaces? What issues of gender, class, and equity are raised by workplace rhetoric? This course seeks to address these and other questions about a fundamental aspect of every person's life. It explores the issue of work in school and after school through readings and discussions. Topics vary. (Repeatable) (Staff, offered alternate years)
221 He Says, She Says: Language and Gender Relations Awareness of gender difference often constitutes a significant barrier both to effective self expression and interpersonal communication, becoming for both men and women a source of either self censorship or an (often unconscious) silencing of others. Is there a value to having a sense of otherness based upon one's gender roles? Are there ways to bridge the gender gap in order to communicate effectively and without diminishing one's sense of self? If one takes the problem as an opportunity for serious study, one is confronted with fundamental questions about how language links individual identity with socially defined gender roles. Students encounter the potential for discovering new opportunities for personal expression and communication with others. (Bhasin, offered alternate years)
224 Writing and the Culture of Reading Academic, intellectual culture is a culture of the word, of reading and writing, of print. This course explores the dynamics of this culture through a close interrogation of the writing and reading practices of intellectuals, ourselves included. Through the course of the semester students keep a reading journal, write several critical essays, and complete a final project. (Forbes, offered alternate years)
250 Talk and Text: An Introduction to Discourse Analysis This course investigates one of the fundamental theoretical ways language is studied today. Students study the theories of discourse analysis and practice those theories by analyzing spoken and written texts. Analysis of the various kinds of texts in our culture—from billboards to novels, from political speeches and academic lectures to radio and TV talk shows—leads into discussions of conversational style, gender, linguistic stereotypes, and problems in intracultural communication. (Bhasin, offered fall alternate years)
251 Black Talk, White Talk What is BEV or Ebonics? Is it a language or a dialect? This course studies Black English Vernacular, also called Ebonics or Black street speech or Black talk (depending on the linguist): its sounds, structure, semantics, and history. It investigates the differences between black and white spoken discourse styles, which lead to tension and misunderstanding. It looks at written texts for the ways in which they reveal particular styles of spoken discourse. And it investigates the educational public policy issues surrounding Black English Vernacular. (Forbes, Bhasin, offered alternate years)
252 An Anatomy of American Class: Realities, Myths, Rhetorics Visit any American high school and find most students dressed in trendy sneakers and jeans, a good representation of the hidden discourse of class since these same students originate from different social and economic backgrounds. This course interrogates American class—how is it defined? Who gets to define it? How is it represented in written and spoken discourse? What are its costs and hidden injuries? How does class shape and predict? What is the connection between race, ethnicity, and class? What is the language of class? Students think, read, and write analytically about their own experiences as well as develop critical interpretations about the cultural discourse of class. (Staff, offered alternate years)
300 Writers World of Discourse: Issues and Practice of American Journalism This course introduces print journalism. It focuses on the basics of reporting and feature writing (business, sports, local government, and the law). Participants should expect to produce several pages of accurate, detailed, and well-written copy a week and be prepared for extensive and numerous revisions. Students also work on typography and layout. As the major project for the semester, students in teams write, edit, design, and typeset a newspaper. There is a fee for this course. (Repeatable) (Forbes, offered alternate years)
301 Writers World of Discourse: The Discourses of Rape in Contemporary Culture An examination of the many ways our culture talks about rape, from political rape to date rape; the changing definitions of rape; rape as metaphor; and the social, political, and ethical implications of such discourses. How does the news media cover rape? How does the entertainment industry portray rape? Issues of power and powerlessness, victims and victimization, and privacy and the public good emerge. (Forbes, offered alternate years)
303 The Art and the Business of Ideas: Introduction to Publishing This course focuses on the principles and practices of magazine and book publishing. It explores the way rhetoric functions in publishing and how "gatekeeping" functions in this industry of ideas and cultural influence: who decides what and who gets heard. The issues of gender, race, and class are central. Students study general interest and special interest magazine publishing; general trade book, academic or special interest book publishing; and the history of American publishing from the colonial era. Participants keep a reading journal; write several critical essays about the major issues in magazine and book publishing today; and complete a major semester-long project, individually or in teams (for instance, editing a book-length manuscript or producing a magazine). Two fieldtrips are planned: a local trip to visit a printer; a trip to New York City to visit a book and a magazine publisher. There is a fee for this course. (Forbes, offered alternate years)
304 Hidden Writing: Journals, Diaries, and Notebooks as Creative Discourse Creative ideas for writers often begin with jottings that remain out of sight when final artistic creations are unveiled. Journals, diaries, and notebooks are usually private but normally pivotal to the creative process. This course explores the connection between private and public texts and the value of private writing as a creative activity. How does the language of privacy prefigure or help shape public creations? Can private writing be considered an art form? Students investigate such questions while examining private writings of published authors. They also engage in their own hidden writing, making connections between their experiences, authors studied, and the discourse of hidden writing. (Staff, offered alternate years)
305 Writing Colleagues Seminar: The Teaching of Writing and Reading This intensive course is designed for students who would like to work in the Writing Colleagues program, or study the current theories of the teaching of writing and reading at the college level. Students investigate the theories of writing as a process and the ways that reading is a critical and interdependent part of that process; engage in frequent critical reading, writing, and discussion; and, under the supervision of the instructor, work with at least one student during a five-week practicum to help her or him improve critical reading and writing abilities. In addition, students solidify and hone their grammatical skills. Prerequisites: Must be completing sophomore year although exceptional first-years are accepted; submission of portfolio; interview; and faculty recommendation. (Forbes, Staff, offered each semester)
308 Reporting Online This course is designed as a stand-alone or a follow-up to WRRH 300, the introduction to print journalism. Students read two online newspapers daily, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, write and rewrite at least one story a week, learn the principles of writing for an internet audience, and design and publish their own blogs and online newspapers. There is a fee for this course. (Forbes, offered alternate years)
309 Talk and Text II: Language in Action This course seeks to develop an understanding of what language can do socially and communicatively, and how writing helps us make such negotiations as performing actions, asserting, persuading, telling stories, expressing individual identities and social affiliations by choosing among various ways of talking. This course engages students with the multiple concepts of linguistic practice, to explore the connections between human language and human life through readings, lectures, films, and discussions.
312 Power and Persuasion: Readings in Rhetoric, Ancient to Modern In this course, students read and respond to texts of rhetorical theory, practice the art of detailed rhetorical analysis, and apply rhetorical theory to their own persuasive texts. They also focus on political rhetoric as exemplified in representative great 20th-century speeches. Students study and give traditional kinds of speeches, including deliberative, judicial, and ceremonial. (Forbes, Staff, offered alternate years)
322 Adolescent Literature This course, run as a workshop and compliment to EDUC 320 Children's Literature, considers contemporary works that represent the main forms of literature for early and late adolescence: science fiction, fantasy, realistic and "problems" novels, and historical novels. Students write young adult fiction, as well as read and discuss young adult novels—their rhetoric, style, and issues. Participants form reading partnerships with local middle and high school students to discuss the books they are reading and the stories they are writing. There is a lab with this course. (Forbes, Staff, offered alternate years)
351 The Science Beat This course is designed for students interested in writing about science, in science journalism, or in strengthening their research and writing skills. Students produce weekly articles, read and discuss articles by major science writers, and read and discuss each other's articles in a workshop. (Forbes, offered alternate years)
352 Writing in the Professional Workplace Preparing students for the principles and practices of professional writing in nonacademic settings is the focus of this course. It explores the way rhetoric functions in professional cultures and, more broadly, within a high-tech "information society." Issues of gender relations and multiculturalism in the workplace are also addressed. Students investigate, read, and write about professional writing, as well as practice its numerous forms, including (but not limited to) job application materials, letters and memos, reports and proposals, oral presentations, and electronic communications. (Staff, offered alternate years)
360 Writing Colleagues Field Placement
420 The Writer’s Guild The goal of the course is to write a collection of essays. This capstone workshop for Writing and Rhetoric majors or serious writers meets once a week in extended session during which students read and critique each other's work. Students should be prepared to write an essay a week, with extensive revisions, read professional examples on the theme for the semester, which varies from year to year, submit an essay for publication, and give a public reading as the final examination. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor based on a writing sample. (Repeatable) (Forbes, Staff, offered alternate years)
450 Independent Study
495 Honors
