Course Calendar

• Key rhetorical contexts: purpose, audience, and occasion; reader-based writing that accomplishes something
• Key terms: rhetoric, ideology, analysis, claim, argument, context, critical thinking
• New York Times [+subscription info]
• St. Martin’s Handbook: 1c, 1d, 1e
• Reading
• Digication and my example

In class: NYT as assigned
Due: article summary: “Millennial Searchers,” posted to your Digication workspace

In class: NYT as assigned — I’ll email instructions on Sunday

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:

* Kristof, “In This Rape Case, the Victim Was 4” — Sunday Review, p1.
* Friedman, “If I Had a Hammer.” SR, 11.

St. Martin’s 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.

In class: NYT as assigned 
Due: Rhetorical précis — your choice:

* Douthat, “The War on Women”
* Konnikova, “Goodnight. Sleep Clean”

Due: Rhetorical précis on an article of your choice

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.

In class: NYT as assigned

View Page One: Inside the New York Times

Due: Rhetorical précis — your choice — any argument from the Op-Ed page from any daily edition this week.
Due: Journal Reflection on Page One 

For your Page One reflection:

– What did you learn about the NYT from watching this film?
– What was the most interesting part for you?
– What role do women play in the film?
– What questions, concerns, or ideas does the film raise for you?

As with all good writing, the more specific you can be, the better.

Reading: NYT, as assigned 

Due: annotated copy of your rhetorical-analysis essay choice — post image to your Digication

In class: Moving from summary to rhetorical analysis

• St. Martin’s chapter 8 on reading & analyzing arguments, especially 8g: A student’s rhetorical analysis of an argument
• Chapter 8d: ethos, pathos, logos
• Chapter 9a: arguing for a purpose

Reading: NYT, as assigned
Previewing the argument & advocacy Op-Ed assignment

From your St. Martin’s Guide:  

• 9a: Arguing for a purpose
• 9b: Determining whether a statement can be argued
• 9i: Organizing an argument
• 9k: A student’s argument essay

Due: Textual Analysis, Final Draft

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, 2/20 and BCC me
Last names M-Z: submit by Tuesday 3/4 and BCC me

9a: Arguing for a purpose
9b: Determining whether a statement can be argued
9k: A student’s argument essay
Review: Stasis

Due: Op-Ed Statement of Purpose [postponed for now]

Due: Op-Ed Draft

The first sentence of your first paragraph will begin, “I have come to believe that _______________________ …”

The first sentence of the next three paragraphs will begin with some variation on,

• “I wonder sometimes, however …”
• “And sometimes I wonder …”
• “But sometimes I wonder …”

This process helps you — or forces you — to explore doubts about your issue, engages you in some necessary perplexity, and may even result in some truth-seeking behavior 

Reading:  Three by Brooks:

• “The Practical University” (April 2013) 
• “The Empirical Kids” (March 2013)
• “Started at the Bottom” (May 2013)

For each one, be prepared to discuss: what is his argument, exactly, and how does he make it?

Fourth, optional Brooks:

In Class: Op-Ed project, continued

Due: Op-Ed project 2nd draft 

Draft #2 made available to Peer Reviewer so that she or he has time to write a rhetorical précis by Monday 2/25

Reading: NYT, as assigned
In class: Proofreading workshop
St. Martin’s: The Top 20

Due: Op-Ed, final draft

Reading: NYT, as assigned
In class: Rhetorical Analysis

Bring your printed, annotated copy of Brooks’s “Engaged or Detached”?

Reading: NYT, as assigned
In class: Rhetorical Analysis, continued

In class: Digital Portfolio Workshop

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  

Our scheduled exam time, when we will meet for the final, official delivery of your WRD103 Portfolio: 

Section #129: Tuesday, March 18th, 8:45-11:00 a.m.
Section #130: Tuesday, March 18th, 11:45-2:00 p.m.