Aristotle defines rhetoric as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. This course will teach you to identify the rhetorical strategies available in select discursive genres. In this course, you will utilize analytic and inductive reasoning, engage university resources, document evidence to support your reasoning, and hone your research methods.
We will begin the class with by exploring a popular novel, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake to explore the effectiveness of pathos, enargeia, and conjecture in shaping contemporary civic discourse. During this time, we will also master the foundations of composing academic prose and citing sources.
You may be wondering what the role of writing is in the post-college career. In the second section of the class, we will explore the role of writing in major professions, in the process learning research methods and interview strategies. Furthermore, we will explore the ethical necessities in conducting research. The second module will focus on contemporary civic concerns as a nexus for evaluating sources.
A large part of this class will encourage you to actively participate in a research community. As such, as the class progresses, your research questions and your research interests will take part in shaping the class. The third module will be organized around independent research projects to demonstrate the skills learned in the first two modules.
The majority of the grade for this class will be based three major writing assignments. These will consist of: an essay on contemporary civic concerns, an essay based on data you will conduct through personal interviews, and a final research paper on a topic you will develop with the class. Through these three assignments, you will complete the hallmarks of the written communication foundation. You will become familiar with composition methods, strategies for finding academic sources, and with the resources of the UH Manoa Library.
Required Texts
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.
Additional readings accessed online; some available from a course reader (TBA).