Course Projects & Grading
Dialectic-reading journal: 25%
This is a reading- and discussion-intensive course; you will keep a reading journal and provide regular reading notes that serve as the basis for our discussions and reflections. Your dialectic-reading journal is meant to encourage you to actively engage in a meaningful conversation with the reading individually and comparatively. As you make journal notes, you should regularly re-read your previous pages of notes and comments, noting any new connections. Writing is a way to produce or possess new knowledge as you attempt to do interpretative phrasing.
I read, but do not judge or evaluate the notes, tone, questions, or reflections during the course. Your dialectic-reading journal grade is based on your willingness to document your reading notes as we proceed resulting in a record of your intellectual engagement.
Class participation: 25%
Brief presentations: 25%
You’ll be asked on two occasions to provide examples of rhetorical artifacts that illuminate the material we’re covering that day—a newspaper editorial or cartoon, music lyrics, an engineering memo, a flyer, an article, a poem, etc. Your responsibility will be [1] to provide copies for classmates and for me, and [2] to put the examples in context for our discussions.
Formal presentations: 25%
We will discuss one-on-one an appropriate formal presentation with which to conclude the course. Presentations will be based on a topic that interests you, informed and supported by the work we’ve done in the course.