Economist
Deirdre McCloskey defines rhetoric as “paying attention to one’s audience.”
This broad definition of rhetoric is useful for alerting us to the diverse ways
that rhetoric is present and employed in the world. It is intrinsic to
communication and fundamental to our participation in communities.
This course is
designed to help students develop the skills to write persuasive compositions
for a variety of contexts, both inside and outside the university. The course
will cover reading selections and concepts spanning from classical Greece to
the contemporary era, which we will apply to issues related to the communities
relevant to our lives today.
This course is
Writing Intensive, which means you should expect to compose over 20 pages of
writing throughout the semester. Assignments will include a variety of papers
that respond to readings, a major research paper that explores the rhetorical
framing of an issue to be chosen later, student presentations, short papers,
and quizzes. Class participation will also play a major role in your grade.
You will be
required to purchase a course packet from the campus copy center, and there
will be additional reading material made available from Laulima.