Course Calendar

• Key rhetorical contexts: purpose, audience, and occasion; reader-based writing that accomplishes something
• Key terms: rhetoric, ideology, analysis, assumption, assertion, claim, argument, context, critical thinking
• New York Times [+subscription info]
• St. Martin’s Handbook: 
  • 1d Becoming an engaged reader and active listener
  • 7a Reading print and digital texts
  • 8b Thinking critically about argument
• Digication and my example

In class: NYT, continued

Due: #1: post your revised initial, first summary in précis form, and keep both versions; we want to be able to see your original summary and the revised version, in précis form. Here’s one possible organizing principle for that.

Due #2: Rhetorical précis — your choice

St. Martin’s Handbook:

• 8e Identifying elements of an argument
• 8f Identifying fallacies
• 13b ”Working with quotations”; note how some of the signal verbs are rhetorically active verbs (“claims”) and some are not (“says”). Can you tell the difference? Samples.

For class discussion, we’ll focus on p. A1 and the Sunday Review section — come prepared to discuss.

Due: Rhetorical précis:

9:40 section: Douthat, Evangelicals and the Carson Illusion

1:00 section: Sunstein, Making Government Logical

Reading: NYT, as assigned Sunday via email:
Everyone should read the front section and the Sunday Review section; you should also be seeking out sections that tend to interest you more than others — Sports, Business, Arts, Style & Fashion — try to note stories, trends, and writers that interest you.

In class: We will begin class by going around the room and hearing an informal 60-90 second overview of an interesting article that you read in the Sunday NYT — any section, any topic — why it was important and relevant to you, and why it should be important and relevant to us. It’s a great way to get a tour of the Sunday paper, and to find out what people are interested in.

Page One: Inside the New York Times — no longer on Netflix, but is available via Hulu and Amazon Prime — free trials are available for both.

In class: NYT as assigned; Brooks: The American Idea and Today’s G.O.P., which we’ll use as a test case: if we were going to write a rhetorical analysis of this essay, how would you do that?

Due: Annotated copy of a NYT article for your Rhetorical Analysis

St. Martins Handbook PART TWO—Critical Thinking and Argument

7. Reading Critically
8. Analyzing Arguments

Reading: NYT, as assigned:
Due: Rhetorical Analysis draft #1

In class: Writing Center Presentation; moving from summary to rhetorical analysis

St. Martins Handbook PART TWO—Critical Thinking and Argument

7. Reading Critically
8. Analyzing Arguments

In class: NYT, continued; peer reviews
St. Martin’s Handbook: 4b Reviewing peer writers’ work

Due: Rhetorical Analysis draft #2

Reading: NYT, as assigned TBA
Due: Rhetorical Analysis, Final Draft; by Friday at 5:00 p.m., add your project reflection to the bottom of your final draft, like this. 

Previewing the Op-Ed essay project

In class: NYT, continued

Preview Letters to the Editor:

• Procedure: How to
• Background: Tips for getting your letter published
• Successful examples from DePaul students

Last names A-L: submit by Thursday, 10/29, and BCC me
Last names M-Z: submit by Tuesday 11/17 and BCC me

No class meeting
Reading: NYT, as assigned

Due: Op-Ed inquiry question & your 500-word exploratory essay; yellow-highlight your best, or most interesting, or most compelling, or most intense sentence. 

NYT, as assigned
In class: Persuasive Writing Workshop

Due: Op-Ed project 2nd draft

Due: Op-Ed project 2nd draft
Draft #2 or #3 made available to Peer Reviewer

Due Sunday 10/25: Phenomenological-reading peer reviews, via SoundCloud

What we’re looking for is your experience reading the essay — how it made you feel, not making corrections. So we’d expect to hear you saying things like,

• “This made me feel …”
• “I felt swept right up in the rhythm of that paragraph …”
• “I’m confused here. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to get from this”
• “That made me laugh”
• “This made me a little sad”
• “This reminds me of …”
• “My essay is on a similar topic, and this made me think about …”

Post your SoundCloud link to Digication.

In class: Revising & editing workshop
St. Martin’s Handbook:

• 4h: Revising titles, introductions, and conclusions (SMH)
• 4i: Editing paragraphs and paragraph transitions

Reading: NYT, as assigned
In class: Proofreading workshop

St. Martin’s Handbook:

• 4l: Proofreading the final draft
• CMOS: Proofreading
• SMH Top 20
• Why It’s So Hard to Catch Your Own Typos

Due: Op-Ed, final draft with project reflection, and one before-and-after PIE paragraph

Preview: Remix the New York Times

Reading: NYT, as assigned 

In class: Remixing the New York Times workshop
Due: Remix worksheet

Reading: NYT, as assigned
In class: Portfolio preview
Due: Remix final with user’s manual; Remix Statement of Goals and Choices (SoGC)

Portfolio workshop and editorial feedback  You can work on your portfolios during this time; we will problem-solve any technical or organizational issues; and we will discuss editing and visual, logistical coherence.

• Section 116: Thursday, 11/19, 8:45 AM-11:00 AM
• Section 133: Thursday, 11/19, 11:30-1:45 P.M.