William T. FitzGerald                                Fall 2006
English 393- Argument and Advocacy

Class: Armitage 212, MWF 11:15 - 12:10        Office: Armitage 420
Hours: M  1 - 2; W 12:30-1:30 and by appointment    Telephone: 856- 225 -2925 (H); 610-642-3823

Email: wfitz@camden.rutgers.edu/wtfitzg@ix.netcom.com
Class Website: http://crab.rutgers.edu/~wfitz/english393.html
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Overview

     In this course we will investigate principles and practices of persuasive communication, particularly through the central concept of argument. Drawing upon both classical and modern approaches to the study of rhetoric, we will learn how to analyze and construct arguments of various kinds, especially those that occur in contexts of advocacy. We will further explore the character and consequences of specific forms of advocacy based rhetoric. Applying what we learn to 'real life' situations, you will have the opportunity to research in depth some aspect or instance of advocacy based rhetoric to develop into a substantive analytical essay and/or an occasion for advocacy of your own


Texts

Required (available at the Rutgers bookstore and through Amazon.com):

    The Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle , trans. Rhys Roberts   
          (available in hypertext at  http://www.public.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/index.html)
    The Uses of Argument, 2e (Cambridge UP), Stephen Toulmin
    The New Rhetoric, (NotreDame UP), Chaim Perelman and Lucille Olbrechts-Tyteca

Recommended (available through Amazon.com)

    Toward a Civil Discourse: Rhetoric and Fundamentalisms (Pittsburgh UP), Sharon Crowley
    On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse, Aristotle (trans. George Kennedy)

In addition to these book-length texts for purchase, you will be asked to read a wide range of scholarly and popular articles and other shorter pieces which will be available either online or on e-reserve at Robeson Library.


Evaluation

Your course grade will be determined as follows:

    Class participation (including attendance ):    10%
    Formal Papers:                  60%
    Short exercises:                 15%
    Quizzes:                              5%
    Commonplace Book:                                     10%
                                                                         100%

Quizzes: frequent; some announced, others unannounced, 5-10 minutes in length; primarily focused on readings assigned for that day.

Papers: three major papers; (1) a 4 to 5 page analysis of a classic or contemporary verbal argument (15%); (2) a researched analysis (8 to 10 pages) over multiple drafting stages of a contemporary act of rhetorical advocacy (30%); (3) an argument (3 to 5 pages) of your own contributing to some site of rhetorical advocacy (15%).  

Commonplace Book: In addition to assigned readings, you will develop and maintain a collection of samples (with commentary) of interesting or (in)effective arguments in a range of media and gathered from various places. You will be expected to add at least 24 entries into the commonplace book in the first 12 weeks of the semester. In week six I will collect it, review it, and offer a comment or two on the character of your efforts thus far. At the end of week 12, I will collect it and assign a grade.

Short exercises: expect frequent homework exercises in the form of short analyses of sample arguments and explications of material from our primary texts. In some cases, these exercises will involve individual presentations of material and require you to lead discussion for 5 to 10 minutes. Not all exercises will be collected, but many will.
    
Participation

Attendance: As this class is primarily discussion based, not lecture based, your regular attendance is vital, both for your personal success and for the success of the class as a whole. Consequently, excessive absence will weigh heavily upon the class participation component of the course grade, even up to losing the full 10% for particularly frequent absences or late arrivals.

As befits a course in the study of argument, English 393 is structured to integrate writing with reading. You will be participating in draft workshops at various times, and your attendance in these activities is crucial. Missing these sessions will almost certainly result in lost points toward your paper grade.

    n. b. : For every absence,excused or unexcused,legitimate or otherwise, I request a typed business letter accounting for the date(s) and circumstances of the absence, delivered in person to me prior to the absence (when foreknown) or immediately upon returning to class. This written record of your lapse in attendance should be placed into a business envelope with my name and your name clearly handwritten or typed.

Late Papers: Papers and paper drafts are due in class and at the start of class on their due dates. Late papers will lose a half letter grade for every class date they are late. Papers turned in late will not be eligible for revision

Communication: You will be expected to maintain and access an email account in the event that we need to reach one another outside of class. Thus, any email address you give me should be one you check with some regularity. There is a course listserve I will use to send occasional messages (including details of daily assignments) to you.  We also have a course website that will be updated frequently throughout the semester.

Class Discussion and DraftWorkshops: Engaging conversation is critical to the success of the course. You are thus encouraged to contribute to class discussion through thoughtful comments and active listening as much as possible, including in small group discussions. Of course, the ability to participate in class discussion is dependent upon having read the assigned texts. Equally crucial to our work together are writing workshops in which we will read through drafts of papers. You are expected to come to writing workshops with the

Quizzes:  Expect occasional short quizzes, some announced, others not, primarily on readings assigned for that day and critical terms recently discussed or assigned or discussed
    

Academic Integrity

I place a high value on professional ethics and expect students to conduct themselves with integrity in their classroom performance and in their research and writing. Suspicion of cheating, plagiarism, the false representation of the work of others as one's own, and helping others to commit these acts will result in a formal procedure of accusation which, should that accusation be substantiated,  will result in a failure of the course and the possibility of additional sanctions. You are thus encouraged to clarify any misunderstandings you may have about responsible methods of research and proper documentation.


Accommodation

If you have a documented disability that requires accommodation, please speak with me as soon as possible so that together we can make appropriate arrangements.



Schedule of Classes

This  brief schedule will be updated to reflect announced changes;  for detailed syllabus  consult
crab.rutgers.edu/~wfitz/english393.html


Week One (September 4 - 8 )

9/6 -- Course Introductions and Overview
9/8 -- Introduction to Argument

UNIT ONE: ARISTOTLE'S ON RHETORIC

Week Two (September 11 - 15)
    9/11: Rhetoric, Book I, Chapter 1
    9/13: Rhetoric, Book I, Chapters 2 - 9
    9/15: Rhetoric, Book I, Chapters 10-14

Week Three (September 18-22)
    9/18: Rhetoric, Book II, Chapters 1 - 11
    9/20: Rhetoric, Book II, Chapters 12 - 19
    9/22: Rhetoric, Book II, Chapters  20 - 26

Week Four (September 25 - 29)
    9/25: Rhetoric, Book III, Chapters 1 - 3; Quiz on lines of argument
    9/27: Rhetoric, Book III, Chapters 4 - 12; Exercise on Political Websites
    9/29: Rhetoric, Book III, Chapters 13 - 19; Quiz on Book III; Paper 1 assigned

UNIT TWO: TOULMIN'S THE USES OF ARGUMENT

Week Five (October 2 - 6)
    10/2: The Uses of Argument (Toulmin), Chapter 1, pp. 11 - 40
    10/4: Uses, Ch. 2, pp.41 - 66, 82-86; "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau
    10/6: Uses, Ch. 3, pp. 87 - 109; Toulmin exercise assigned; Pollitt, "Brooklyn Prof in
             Godless Shocker"; Invention notes dueQuiz #1 on Toulmin

Week Six (October 9 - 13)
    10/9: Uses, Ch.3, pp. 110 - 134; Toulmin exercise due
    10/11: In-class draft workshop; Work-in-progress essay due
    10/13: Uses, Ch. 5; pp. 195 - 206, 221 - 232; Quiz #2 on Toulmin


UNIT THREE: PERELMAN and OLBRECHTS-TYTECA'S THE NEW RHETORIC

Week Seven (October 16 - 20)
    10/16: The New Rhetoric, Intro., 1 - 10; Part I, 11 - 23; Paper 1 due; Begin Major  Project
    10/18: TNR, Part I, 23 - 47; Stasis Theory (handout)
    10/20: TNR, Part I, 47 - 62; Part II,  65 - 74; Quiz #1 on TNR

Week Eight (October 23 - 27)
    10/25: TNR, Part II, 75 - 99; Stasis exercise due
    10/27: TNR, Part II, 99 - 110,  115 - 123; 126 - 129; Project proposal due
    10/27: TNR. Part II, 142 - 183

Week Nine (October 30 - November 3)
    10/30: TNR, Part III, 187 - 220
    11/1: TNR, Part III, 221 - 260
    11/3: TNR, Part III, 261 - 305

Week Ten (November 6 - 10)
    11/6: TNR, Part III, 305 - 349
    11/8: TNR, PartIII, 350 - 381
    11/10: TNR, Part III, 381 - 410
    
Week Eleven (November 13 - 17)
    11/13: TNR, Part III, 411- 450
    11/15: TNR, Part III, 451 - 479
    11/17: TNR, Part III, 479 - 508

Week Twelve (November 20 - 24)
    The New Rhetoric, Part III: 2. Arguments based on structure of reality, 60-69
    11/24: THANKSGIVING BREAK

Week Thirteen (November 27 - December 1)
    The New Rhetoric, Part III: 2. Arguments based on Structure of Reality, 70-77
                     Part III: 3. The Relationships establishing reality

Week Fourteen (December 4 - 8)
    The New Rhetoric, Parts IV and V

Week Fifteen (December 11 - 15)
    12/11: In-class draft workshops; Work-in-progress essay due
    12/13: Last day of class; CONFERENCES (Armitage 420)
    12/15: CONFERENCES (Armitage 420)

Week Sixteen (December 18 - 22)
    12/18: CONFERENCES (Armitage 420)
    12/20: Final projects due