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English 101: Written Rhetoric

Calvin College
TR, 8:35-9:50 a.m.
CFAC 230

Professor Laura McGrath
Office: CFAC 283
Office Hours: T, 9:50-noon, and by
appointment
lbm5@calvin.edu

Welcome to English 101!

Were all bringing different expectations to this classroom: many of you are glad to be here, many of
you feel you dont need this course, and many of you are here simply to fulfill of the universitys
requirement. These are all fine feelings (except, perhaps, for denial), but we shant stop there. It is
my goal that, over the next 14 weeks, this class becomes more than credit acquisition, your
classmates become more than algorithmically assigned strangers, and the subjects at handwriting
and rhetoricbecome more than mere content. Instead, I hope that we, together, can approach
reading, writing, and talking about reading and writing, as a spiritual practice.

This goal is ambitious, and we will need to collaborate in order to succeed. You are my partner in
this good work; we are a learning community that will teach and learn with one another. Together,
we will achieve the objectives of the course. There are four:

1. Use reading and writing to think critically
2. Respond effectively to a rhetorical situation
3. Make claims and support them with reasons and evidence
4. Write ethically

This is a tall order! But I believe that this is possible in 14 weeks. Lets get started.

What You Can Expect From Me (A Manifesto)
Simply put, I will work hard for this course. I will come to class ready to listen to you. I will strive to
make discussions engaging, and encourage you to be creative. I will be available during office hours
(and by appointment) to help you through whatever struggles you may have with this class, and I
will welcome you to my office as an extension of our classroom. I will provide timely feedback on
your written work.

I believe in transparency: at any point in the semester, you can ask me why I have made the
pedagogical choices that I have made, and I will give you an honest answer. I believe that this space
is as much yours as it is mine, and I am grateful for your participation in it and commitment to it.

I value risk over perfection, and improvement over mastery. Or, as Samuel Beckett put it:
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. My goal, first and foremost, is
your learning.

What I Expect from You (A Call to Action)
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You all come to this class with a great set of skills, experiences, assumptions, opinions, and dreams. I
expect you to bring them to bear on your work here. Simply put, this course will require a lot of
work. I believe that you are made of stronger stuff, and that you are ready for this task. This course
is designed to be the core writing instruction of your time at Calvin College, and will provide you
with a solid foundation for your college career. You will read a lot, and you will write even more; the
reading and writing that you perform will challenge you, entertain you, and inform you. I expect that
you will read open-mindedly. You will be expected to take risks in sharing your writing, and remain
open to feedback. Likewise, you will be expected to respond graciously and judiciously to your
peers writing, contributing to a supportive, encouraging, and demanding learning community.

This classroom is our shared space. Together, we must strive to create a hospitable and equitable
learning environmentno oppressive culture will be tolerated here (which includes actions,
behaviors, statements, or microagressions that promote judgment based on sex, race, gender, age,
size, class, orientation, physical or mental ability). If you ever feel unwelcome here, I encourage you
to speak to me in confidence.

On to business.

Required Textbooks
There are three required textbooks for this class, along with additional readings posted on Moodle.
Please by these precise editions-- these are the editions that are available at the Calvin College
Bookstore.

Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. "They Say, I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing.
New York: Norton, 2010. Print.
Lunsford, Andrea A, Paul K. Matsuda, and Christine M. Tardy. The Everyday Writer. Fifth Edition.
Boston: Bedford, 2012. Print.
McEntyre, Marilyn Chandler. Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.
Print.

Course Requirements
You will complete five major writing assignments in this course; these assignments will comprise the
bulk of your grade. You will also complete a final exam, weekly online homework (quizzes), peer
reviews, and additional assignments throughout the semester.

Literacy Narrative
Argumentative Essay
Literature Review
Research Paper
Remix
Peer Review
Online Homework
Additional Assignments
Final Exam
5%
10%
15%
20%
10%
5% (each)
10%
5%
15%


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Calvin College requires a minimum grade of C in order to pass English 101. Students who
earn less than a C must retake English 101. You must turn in all five major assignments and
complete the final exam in order to pass this course.


Grading Scale
Letter Grade Percentage
A+ 97-100
A 93-96.9
A- 90-92.9
B+ 87-89.9
B 83-86.9
B- 80-82.9
C+ 77-79.9
C 73-76.9
C- 70-72.9
D+ 67-69.9
D 63-66.9
D- 60-62.9
F Below 60

Course Policies
Our class designed these policies collaboratively on Tuesday, September 2. These policies reflect the
majority of the classs opinion about these matters, and are subject to change as the semester
progresses, based on their feasibility. If, at any time, these policies prove to be a hindrance more
than a help, I reserve the right to stage a policy intervention in order to get back on course.

Attendance Policy
We acknowledge that there are natural consequences to missing class, and as such, there will be no
grade reduction for missing class. As college students, we are able to make our own decisions,
responsibly, about our attendance in class, with full awareness of the benefits of class attendance and
the drawbacks of regular absences. We also acknowledge that this classroom community is
important, and requires participation and engagement from all members in order function well.
Therefore, we expect regular class attendance of one another, while also allowing a measure of grace
for extenuating circumstances. Open communication is the key to this policys success.

Participation Policy
Like our attendance policy, we recognize that it is our responsibility to communicate and participate
in class, and that there are consequences to our learning should we choose to do otherwise; we are
willing to take that one. People participate in different ways, and we want to value active listening
as much as speaking. We commit to coming to class ready to participatein our various waysand
are willing to be challenged if necessary. If our participation flags, we will revisit this policy and
consider other alternatives for incentivizing participation.

Technology Policy
Laptops are welcome in our class for note-taking, but cell phones are prohibited. We recognize that
laptop use can be distracting for other class members, and commit to keeping others learning in
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mind when making choices about how to use our technology; this requires us to hold one another
accountable if a classmates technology use is becoming a distraction. We also commit to respect one
anothers privacy.

Late Work
Extensions are (most always) freely given in this class, provided they are accompanied by an honest,
and potentially challenging, conversation. Any late work will need to be emailed, rather than
submitted on Moodle. If late work becomes a consistent problem, this policy (including potential
grade reductions) will be reconsidered on an individual basis.

Resources
Course Librarian
Sarah Kolk is our course librarian. She will be leading a few of our class discussions on
research and introduce us to the Hekman Librarys resources throughout the semester.
Please feel free to utilize Sarahs expertise by visiting her during her office hours. She is
happy to help you develop your research skills and work on specific assignments. If Sarah
isnt available, stop by the librarys Research Assistance Desk (2
nd
floor) which is staffed by a
research librarian 9:00am-10:00pm

Sarahs Contact Information:
Office: HL302 (3
rd
floor of the library)
Email: smk23@calvin.edu
Phone: 526-6014

The Rhetoric Center
The Rhetoric Center is Calvins peer tutoring network, designed to give students the
opportunity to organize and edit their work. Please note that the Rhetoric Center
Consultants are not a proof-reading service. Call 526-7088 for an appointment; located on
the first floor of Hekman Library


Student Academic Services
Students with documented disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations. If you
have a disability, please contact a disability coordinator in the Office of Student Academic
Services (446 Heimenga Hall) to arrange your accommodations. Please talk with me in the
first two weeks of class so we can implement your accommodations promptly.

SAS is also available to help you if you are sick, dealing with a crisis or emergency,
depressed, or mentally unstable in any way (so is I Residence Hall Director). SAS can help
you make arrangements with your professors to manage your work. You can reach them at
526-6113 or acadservices@calvin.edu.

Academic Integrity
One of the most important principles in higher education is academic integrity. Quite simply, if you
use someone elses words, ideas, text, images, music, etc., you must cite your source. When in
doubt, cite.

Purdues Online Writing Lab defines plagiarism as buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper
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(including, of course, copying an entire paper or article from the Web); hiring someone to write
your paper for you; and copying large sections of text from a source without quotation marks or
proper citation. In addition, gray areas such as using the words of a source too closely when
paraphrasing (where quotation marks should have been used) or building on someones ideas
without citing their spoken or written work also constitute plagiarism. I take this very seriously, and
chances are good that I will catch you if you attempt to plagiarize some or all of your papers.

Therefore,
Students should properly cite in MLA format unless otherwise specified.
Students who knowingly allow any or all of their papers to be copied are complicit in
plagiarism.
Students should avail themselves to appropriate resources for citation and academic integrity
information, such as Knight Cite and the appendix of Everyday Writer.




Course Schedule
September 2 (T) First Day of Class
Building our Syllabus Collaboratively

September 4 (R) Discussion: Rhetorical Situations
Reading Due: CFW, 1-21
TSIS, 141-144
Nancy Sommers and Laura Saltz, The Novice as Expert:
Writing the Freshman Year [Moodle]

September 9 (T) Discussion: Literacy
Reading Due: Deborah Brandt, Sponsors of Literacy [Moodle]
CFW, 22-40

September 11 (R) Discussion: Conventions in Academic Writing
Reading Due: Greene, Argument as Conversation [Moodle]
TSIS, 1-16
EW, 151-172

Literacy Narrative Due by midnight on Saturday, September 13

September 16 (T) Discussion: Listening to the Conversation
Reading Due: TSIS, 19-52
My Selfie, Myself [Moodle]

September 18 (R) Discussion: Adding Your Voice to the Conversation
Reading Due: TSIS, 55-101
Hashtag Activism, And Its Limits [Moodle]

September 23 (T) Discussion: Metacommentary; Visual Arguments
Reading Due: TSIS, 105-120, 129-138
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David Foster Wallace, This is Water [Moodle]



September 25 (R) Discussion: Invention (1)
Reading Due: Fulkerson, Making the Research Paper Worth Your Time
[Moodle]
Nancy Sommers, I Stand Here Writing [Moodle]

Argumentative Essay Due by midnight on Saturday, September 27

September 30 (T) Discussion: Research 101
NOTE: Meet on the 5
th
Floor of Hekman Library
Reading Due: Anne Lamott, Shitty First Drafts [Moodle]
Paul Prior, Tracing Process: How Texts Come Into Being
[Moodle]
Bring your selected research topic!

October 2 (R) Discussion: Invention (2): Writing research questions
Reading Due: None

October 7 (T) Discussion: Paragraphing/Cohesion
Reading Due: None

October 9 (R) Discussion: Outlining and Organizational Strategies
Reading Due: Penrose and Geisler, Reading and Writing Without
Authority. [Moodle]

October 14 (T) Discussion: Rhetorical Ethics and Rhetorical Abuses
Reading Due: CFW, 41-64
Hidden in Plain Sight [Moodle]

October 16 (R) Discussion: Reading Critically (1)
Reading Due: TSIS, 145-155
Peter Straub, RespondingReally Respondingto Other
Students Writing [Moodle]

First draft of Literature Review posted to Moodle by midnight on Friday,
October 17

Peer Review due by midnight on Monday, October 20

October 21 (T) Discussion: Evaluating Sources. NOTE: Meet in Hekman Library, Room
117
Literature Review Workshop Day
Reading Due: Donald M. Murray, The Makers Eye: Revising Your Own
Manuscripts [Moodle]

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October 23 (R) Discussion: Literature Review Troubleshooting; Topic TBA
Reading Due: None

Literature Review Due by midnight on Saturday, October 25

October 28 (T) No Class TodayAcademic Advising

October 30 (R) Discussion: Making a Research-Based Argument
Reading Due: Kantz, Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively.
[Moodle]

November 4 (T) Discussion: Thesis Statement Speed Dating
Reading Due: None

November 6 (R) No Class TodayI suggest that you take this time to work on your
Research Paper Draft

November 11 (T) Discussion: Reading Critically (2)
Reading Due: CFW, 65-86

November 13 (R) Discussion: Voice and Diction
Reading Due: CFW, 127-143
Short Stories [Moodle]

First draft of Research Paper posted to Moodle by midnight on Friday,
November 14

Peer Review due by midnight on Monday, November 17

November 18 (T) Discussion: Research Paper Troubleshooting; Topic TBA
Reading Due: None
Research Paper Workshop Day

November 20 (R) Discussion: Remix and Digital Writing
Reading Due: Dennis Baron, From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of
Literacy Technologies [Moodle]
CFW, 188-209

Research Paper Due by midnight on Saturday, November 22

November 25 (T) Discussion: Genres, Modes of Discourse
Reading Due: CFW, 144-169

November 27 (R) Happy Thanksgiving!

December 2 (T) Discussion: Semesters Summation; Intellectual Property
Reading Due: James E. Porter, Intertextuality and the Discourse
Community [Moodle]
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Brian Martin, Plagiarism: A Misplaced Emphasis [Moodle]



December 4 (R) Last day of class!
Discussion: Language and Spiritual Formation
Reading Due: CFW, 210-234

Remix Due by midnight on Friday, December 5

December 10 (W) Final Exam, CFAC 230, 6:30 PM