COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will begin by examining the ancient history of rhetoric before turning to its more recent history and its probable future. The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with a broad overview of rhetorical studies. In particular, we will read texts that appear at crucial moments in the rhetorical tradition: the pre-modern, including the question of what is rhetoric, the historical roots of rhetoric, the significance and purpose of rhetorical theory and the relation between rhetoric and philosophy; the moderns, including the relation between enlightenment and modernity; the postmodern, including the question of what is postmodernity, sexual difference and postmodernism, and questions of effectivity and performativity.

GOAL:
So that you will have a basic understanding of the rhetorical tradition and an understanding in depth of contemporary trends, this course will engage you in the reading and discussion of the works of major rhetorical theorists both ancient and modern.

REQUIRED TEXTS:
Course Reader available from uniPrint
James Herrick, History and Theory of Rhetoric

There are also several required readings that can be accessed through my webpage. In addition, that page includes a number of additional resources that will assist you in developing a thorough understanding of the materials for the course.

ASSIGNMENTS:
All assignments must be completed in order for a student to pass the course with a C grade or higher. It is expected that all participants will have read carefully all the essays assigned for each meeting.

Overview:
Each student will be required to:

Specifics:
Reading Abstracts and Participation:
For each of the readings, students will produce an abstract. These will be word processed, double-spaced in no more than 1-2 pp and will contain the following information:

Students will bring their abstracts to each class session and these will form the basis for classroom discussion. Students are expected to come prepared every day to participate and to advance the conversation about these readings. Abstracts will be collected and reviewed at the end of the 5^th, 10^th, and 15^th week.

Paper:
A carefully crafted critical or theoretical essay that focuses on/is grounded in a rhetorical artifact, event, or text(s) of your choice or a theoretical question. The paper will be completed in three stages.

1. No later than the beginning of the third week, each participant will turn in a brief (3-4 double-spaced, typed pages) description of a rhetorical artifact, event, or text (or intimately related set of texts) or theoretical question(s) that she or he will work with this semester. After describing the text(s), identify and discuss briefly your central critical or theoretical questions as you approach the text(s) as a rhetorical-critical theorist. Also, if applicable, attach a previous effort.
   
2. No later than Thursday of the 10^th week of the class, each student will turn in in class (or e-mail with Word or Word Perfect attachment —- I do not accept e-mails with pasted in documents) a description (3-4 pp. double-spaced, typed) of the theoretical material that the writer aims to make use of in examining her/his artifact or question.
   
3. The final essay of 7-10 pages will be due in my office on final exam day. Writers should follow the scholarly and writing conventions outlined in the current MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (you may negotiate the use of an alternative style manual if you are not an English major).

Late Work
Generally speaking, I expect all work to be turned in on time except in the most extreme circumstances. Neither late reading abstracts or late participation in the webboard discussions will be accepted.

Attendance is a requirement and any absences over 4 will result in a lowered grade for the course. Students are encouraged to speak with me at any time about their projects and their standing in the course, but at any rate, each student must visit me in my office at least once during the semester to discuss her/his project.

Classroom Protocol: We will spend much of our class time in discussions. A portion of some classes may also include lecture. Regardless of the class format, you are expected to be prepared, to listen, to contribute, and to participate in an appropriate fashion. Among other things, this means no off-task use of computers, palm pilots, cell phones, pages, and the like. In addition, turn off all cell phones and set beepers to vibrate. Unless you are part of an emergency on-call organization--Fire Department, Police Department, EMT, etc.), you should not and will not receive calls during class.