Advanced Argumentation

Dr. Darin Payne
darinp@hawaii.edu
Kuy 513, ph. #956-3050
Office hours:  T/Th 10:30-11:30, and by appt.  

Argumentation—the art of convincing others to believe and to act on that belief—occurs across a wide range of sites: at work, at church, in the home, at school, in mass media, and in social organizations agitating for change. Within and across these sites, the possible forms of argumentation also cut a wide swath, from the verbal to the visual, from print-based flyers to database-driven websites. Despite such ranges, however, there are identifiable genres of argumentative writing, some of which fit well with particular sites of argumentation and some of which do not. (When was the last time you saw a bumper sticker suggesting a dress code? Or a letter-to-the-editor encouraging you to drink a particular brand of soda?)

In this course, we will explore primary strategies of persuasion and styles of writing as they are related to specific sites of argumentation. We will do this by reading and talking about genres of persuasion, and we will put such learning into practice by writing for particular, identifiable sites in which argumentation comes into play; preferably students will produce written arguments for real-world sites that they are interested in—such as social organizations or workplace settings. Because such arguments and sites cannot be predetermined, we will negotiate, as a class, the specific writing requirements for the course; they will, nonetheless, meet the minimum requirements for Writing Intensive courses.

Required Texts:

• We will collaboratively compile a collection of readings for this course; some will be brought in by the instructor, and students will be reponsible for bringing some in.

• An Email account that you can easily access from both school and home. (You will need to check Email at least every other day.)
• Loose-leaf paper for in-class writing.

Short Papers  (30/100) Approximately once per week, and mostly during the first two thirds of the course, you will be required to write a short, semi-formal "paper." You will write no more than 10 of these during the semester. The SP's will be about 500 words each, and they will be written in response to a question about a reading or discussion. For more details, see SP Guidelines.   

Mini Rhetorical Analysis (20/100) Your first formal assignment in the course will be a small traditional "academic essay," in which you rhetorically analyze a particular community's discursive practices, looking specifically at key appeals from classical rhetoric.

Real-World Persuasive Document (35/100) Individually, or with a partner (collaboration is optional), you will produce a document that responds to a need for rhetorically situated persuasion. This means that you will identify a persuasive aim, and you will develop a written document that attempts to persuade a specific, definable group of people utilizing audience-appropriate and site-specific discourse.

Facilitating a Class Discussion  (15/100) You will prepare for and lead a class discussion on either (a) a reading that is pertinent to the class, (b) a text that you are analyzing rhetorically for the mini-analysis assignment, or (c) a text that is representative of the discourse you need to adopt for your final project. You will need to assign the text as homework the week before, so please plan ahead.

Peer Responses: (not graded) As part of the collaborative goals for the course, you will be asked to write reviews of your peers' work. These will be forms of feedback used to improve/revise projects, and they will be done in two ways: with the class as a whole in UH's locally developed collaborative software program, ReMark, and with small groups face-to-face.  

Course Policies:

Grading: To complete this course successfully, you must attend class, complete all major assignments on time, prepare for class, and participate in class activities and discussions. You cannot receive a passing grade unless you have submitted all major assignments. To receive full credit, all assignments must be submitted on time, in the proper format, and with the required supporting materials. (I may ask, for example, for rough drafts, peer responses, a cover memo, and/or similar documents.) If you submit a final draft of a major assignment without the supporting materials requested, you will lose points on that assignment. Late projects will also receive a grade reduction of 10% per class day that they are late. Any late projects must be handed directly to me in class or sent to me as an email attachment.  Finally, you must keep copies of all your projects. If you do not keep a copy and your project gets lost or misplaced (It's never happened to me yet, but it could happen.), you will have to rewrite it. An additional "finally": grades of "incomplete" are becoming very difficult to have approved by the office of Student Affairs. Simply "needing more time" is no longer sufficient: if you request an Incomplete in this course, you will need to have completed the majority of the work and be missing a small but important assignment, and your inability to finish within the semester will need to be the result of an official, documented reason, such as illness or family emergency, etc.

Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism. Hiring ghost writers, submitting papers written by others, and using textual materials as if they were yours are all contrary to University regulations as published in the 2004-2005 UHM catalog (p. 574-575). Copies of a departmental statement on plagiarism and documentation of sources are available in Kuykendall 402. Additionally, all UH students are responsible for upholding the codes of academic integrity available through the Office of the Dean of Students. If you engage in academic dishonesty or plagiarism, the consequences can be severe: depending on the nature of the offense(s), the results can range anwhere from receiving a grade of zero on an assignment to failing the class to being expelled from the university.

Provisions for Disabilities. If you feel you need reasonable accomodations because of the impact of a disability, please 1) contact the KOKUA Program (V/T) at 956-7511 or 956-7612 in room 013 of the QLCSS; 2) speak with me privately to discuss your specific needs. I will be happy to work with you and the KOKUA Program to meet your access needs related to your documented disability.
 

Breakdown of Grades:

The following are course-total grade point conversions:  

• A+ 97-100
• A    93-96.
• A-   90-92
• B+   87-89
• B     83-86
• B-    80-82
• C+   77-79
• C     73-76
• C-    70-72
• D+   67-69
• D     60-66
• E     0-59

   ** Please do not operate on the belief that completing an assignment "without errors" will get you an A. Simply put: writing is subjective.  That does not mean, however, that you will be at the mercy of your professors' idiosyncratic tastes; for each assignment, we will discuss as a group (and come to agreement on) the assignment's criteria.  While each project will vary in its rhetorical demands and thus its grading criteria, assessment will usually include such broad evaluation categories as Rhetorical Focus, Development, Organization, Style, and Mechanics.  To understand how those categories can be subjectively assessed, consider your work as if you were writing for a magazine or newspaper: 

An A text is exceptional. This is the kind of document that a magazine editor might give cover-story billing. It is professional and reflects the writer's careful consideration of audience, purpose, and craft. It is developed, is constructed in an appropriate and engaging style, is arranged effectively, and may be visually appealing. It is free of errors, and it makes the reviewer/grader/reader think, "Wow!"

A B text is strong. This document would be considered good, solid work for a magazine. It too is professional and reflects consideration of the rhetorical situation. It is generally above average in terms of the criteria mentioned above, but falls short of excellent in one or more category. It is generally free of mechanical errors.

A C text is competent. This is a document that "gets the job done," but may concern an editor because of the writer's marginal awareness of the document's rhetorical context. It would probably be returned for revision. It may have a few minor mechanical errors, but not many.

Low C or D work is weak. This document would get tossed back by an editor. It might meet all basic requirements, but it will do so poorly, with mistakes. It might be very ineffective rhetorically, perhaps even negatively effective. It falls below average in one or more criteria.

E work fails. One or more of the criteria is simply not met at all. It would probably get the writer severely reprimanded or fired.

Please know that I grade initially according to the letter categories above; I then translate your letter grade into a corresponding number.  The numbering is simply so that you (and I) can add up, at any time, exactly where you stand in the course (as opposed to trying to figure out, say, what an A-, a B+, and a C means to your final grade).  For example, if your work on a 25-point assignment is evaluated as a B+, you may receive a 22 (the B range for such an assignment is 20-22.5).  I say all this so that you understand that I do not have some quantification-driven rubric in which I take off single points for particular errors or some other such scheme.  If at any time you have a question about why you received the grade you did, please come see me.   

Schedule: