Rhetoric 105

RHETORIC 105, section F10

Instructor: Daniel Vukovich

M/W/F: 1-2, in 168 Everitt

Office: 100 English Bldg. (inside the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory)

Hours: M, F: 4-5,  and by appointment

Phone: 333-2581, email: @uiuc.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION:              

This course shall provide you with instruction, guidance, and especially practice in the academic or scholarly ways of reading and writing.  Over the course of the term we will thus need to establish just what academic reading and writing is --  what it looks like (how it differs from journalism, or high school English, for example), what its assumptions are, how it argues or works, and how it is written. You will be asked to read --  and re-read --  a series of assigned texts and to write -- and re-write --  in response to what you have read. You will be reading extended selections from some of the Great Books of world history; but I have chosen them precisely because they present the serious reader with ideas and rhetoric worth wrestling with, re-reading, and writing about.  The tone, rhetoric and style of each selection varies, but they are all difficult (and we will try to discuss what makes a text “difficult” or not) and all challenge you to think.

In your own essays, you will be asked to both summarize their work --  their ideas and rhetoric -- and then to generate and develop your own responses to them.  We will thus have to discuss what one’s “own responses” can be, how one can respond to, discuss, criticize, explain, imitate,  revise, illustrate, elaborate, apply, or amplify the ideas and words of another writer.

By the end of the term, you should have developed a better sense of just what academic ways of reading and writing are, and you should be better able to practice them.  More specifically, you should become more aware of yourself as a writer, and more aware of what you have previously read, written and thought.  You will also become more aware of your relationship (as a writer) to other words and texts.  Or more generally, you will see that all writing can best be seen as a dialogue with other writers and readers, and as a response to specific tasks, challenges, and contexts.  My goal as a teacher is to make these encounters between you and these texts and writers interesting and productive ones.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Jacobus, Lee.  A.  A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers  5TH Edition. 

Hacker, Diana.  A Writer’s Reference.  4TH Edition

A College-level (unabridged)  Dictionary (I have not ordered these, as there are several available at I.U.B. and elsewhere.)

A sturdy folder with pockets, for collecting and turning-in drafts and assignments.

Reserve Room Readings at Undergrad Library --  titles and dates t.b.a. 

ASSIGNMENTS:

4 “final” essays, including 4 complete rough drafts.  You must turn in all drafts and notes when you turn in the final essay for evaluation.  Together, these essays will compose 65% of your final grade. 

Homework/Other Assignments: You will be asked to complete several (7-8) written responses to the course readings, and to your own and others’ drafts.  Some will be done in class, most outside.  These must be completed on time. The homeworks will together constitute 25% of your final grade.

PARTICIPATION and ATTENDANCE:

Participation will count 10% towards your final grade.  Around mid-term, I will let you know what your participation grade looks like so far. 

I believe you can learn something in college classes, and I expect you to attend all of ours.  The discussions, close-readings, and draft-workshops we do in class cannot be made up, and --  as former students tell me --  these activities are the only way they come to produce quality writing and earn good grades on their papers.  You will be allowed to miss five (5)  classes; after that,  and on your 6th absence, your final grade will be docked by 2/3 of a letter (for example, from a B to a C+),  as it will be again for every additional missed class.  Moreover, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed in class—new assignments, changed dates, etc.  You will NOT be allowed to “make up” missed assignments,  just as it is of course impossible to make up missed discussions. If you need an extension on a paper, you must see me in a class in advance and arrange a new due date.    

If your work seems thoughtless or quickly done, I will notice.  I have taught writing and have assigned and evaluated essays for several years, and I can tell when writers are really trying, and when they are fooling around.  I will tell you if I think you are fooling around.

I will often reproduce your papers (with names removed) and use them for class discussion.  If you would prefer to not have your paper reproduced anonymously, you should seek another section of this course.

Reading/Work SCHEDULE:

Week I:           Jan. 17, 19:  Introductions.  Friday: Read the “Introduction” and also pp 12-14 (Intro to text section on Government) by Jacobus (the World text)

Week II           Jan 22 thru Jan 26:      GOVERNMENT     

                        Read Machiavelli, pp33-48.  Homework 1 due Wednesday,   Read Lao-Tzu (pp17-30) for Friday.

Week III         Jan. 29–Feb 2nd:  More on Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli but also read Rousseau (51-73) for Wednesday and Friday.  Essay 1 assigned on Friday. 

Week IV         Feb 5–Feb 9th:    Re-readings of our three texts, and Draft Workshops in-class.    Essay 1 due Friday (at beginning of class).

Week V           Feb12–Feb 16th:          JUSTICE          

                        Read Thoreau (pp123-151).  Homework 2 assigned on Wed.    For Friday,  start King (151-173).

Week VI         Feb 19th – Feb 23rd :       For Monday, finish King and read De Beauvoir, (pp173-193) Homework 2 Due Friday 

Week VII        Feb 26th – March 2nd:   Re-readings and Draft/assignment  workshops  Essay 2 Due Friday

Week VIII      March 5th –9th :            WEALTH     

                        For Monday and Wed, read Marx (pp.209-37).  For Friday, read Galbraith (237-251).  Homework 3 assigned Fri.

Week IX         March 12th – March 16th :    SPRING BREAK

Week X           March 19th – March 23rd :  For Monday and Wed, read Reich (pp 251-267).  Friday, homework 3 due.  Essay 3 assigned Friday.

Week XI         March 26th – March 30th :      Re-readings and draft workshops,  Essay 3 Due Friday

Week XII        April 2nd – April 6th :      MIND         

                        For Monday, read Maimonides (pp 289-307).  Start Freud (pp 307-321) for Friday.  Homework 4 assigned Friday. 

Week XIII      April 9th – April 13th :     For Monday, finish Freud, and begin Horney (pp 337-353).  Finish Horney by Friday.    Homework 4 due Friday.    Essay 4 assigned. 

Week XIV      April 16th– April 20th :      Re-readings and Draft workshops.   Essay 4 due Friday

Week XV–XVI    (April 23rd – May 2nd )  RE-WRITING WORKSHOPS

**The last two weeks of class will be given over to revisions of your previous drafts.  I will ask you to re-write two of your previous essays (your choice of which ones).  We will work on these in class, so you must bring your drafts and your texts to class.

Wednesday, May 2nd: Last Day, CEQ’s in class.   Final Paper #4 due in class.