In this course we will examine theoretical and practical aspects of argumentation. Our emphasis will be on understanding the varied threads that have come together in the past 25 years to form somewhat of a recognizable field: Logic, Rhetoric, Dialectic. Since this course is being offered within a Technical Communication and Rhetoric program, we will focus the bulk of our attention to the rhetorical aspects of this field. In addition, we will examine the role of argumentation theory in our technological world. In broad terms, our reading and writing about argumentation theory will focus on the following four questions:
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to do the following:
In order to evaluate how well you've learned these things, you'll receive feedback and grades on your work, you'll be expected to contribute to class discussion, you'll receive critical feedback from the class and from the professor on your oral presentations, and your final exam will receive feedback and a grade.
Bizell, Patricia, and Bruce Hertzberg. The Rhetorical Tradition : Readings from Classical Times to the Present, 2nd ed. St. Martin’s, 2001.
van Eemeren, Frans H., Rob Grootendorst, and Tjark Kruiger. Fundamentals of Argumentation Theory : A Handbook of Historical Backgrounds and Contemporary Development. Erlbaum, 1996.
Articles taken from Argumentation and Advocacy, College Composition and Communication, and other relevant journals.
Although I will explain backgrounds for the readings and certain concepts and ideas, your participation is going to be more important to this class -- we will be collecting, modeling, and dissecting arguments. We will argue in class and we will listen to other people's arguments. MOO meetings will be a time for sharing this field data, covering main points of our readings, formulating research questions, and building ties from argumentation studies to rhetoric studies via our own experiences and the readings from the Rhetorical Tradition. I will expect you to ask questions, connect ideas from various readings, and connect ideas from the readings to arguments as you see them practiced around you. In addition, I will ask each of you to be responsible for leading one class discussion this semester. Class participation and the reading responses are worth 25% of your grade. All asynchronous class discussions will take place in Web Board (http://wb.engl.ttu.edu/~5368), where I have established several conferences in order to break up the work into smaller chunks.
Office hours are times for you to get individual help. You do not need an appointment to see me during my scheduled hours. If your classes conflict with my hours, please make an appointment for another time. You are also welcome to ask questions about assignments through email. I will hold virtual office hours in our MOO and/or Yahoo Messenger, which is what I prefer to use for peer-to-peer chat. My Yahoo username is Joyce_Locke.
| A |
superior. The paper meets or exceeds all the objectives of the assignment. The content is mature, thorough, and well-suited for the audience; the style is clear, accurate, and forceful; the information is well-organized and formatted so that it is accessible and attractive; the mechanics and grammar are correct. The paper has publication potential. |
| B | competent. The paper meets the objectives of the assignment, but it needs improvement in style, or it contains easily correctable errors in grammar, format, or content, or its content is superficial. |
| C | unsatisfactory for graduate courses. The paper needs significant improvement in concept, details, development, organization, grammar, or format. It may be formally correct but superficial in content, or it may not meet the terms of the assignment. |
You can figure an A as 95, A- as 90, B+ as 88 etc.
You must turn in all assigned work to pass the course. If you do not turn in an assignment, you will fail the course (because you did not complete the assignment), even though your average may be passing. You must turn in papers when they are due. If you have unusual circumstances that will cause you to be late with your work, please talk with me and we will work out a schedule that will not penalize you. If you do not make arrangements for late work, these papers will be penalized a full letter grade for each week that they are late. (A paper due Tuesday graded as a B but turned in the next week will be recorded as a C.) I have assembled a separate web page with this semester's assignments.
Since this is a workshop course, your attendance is expected. If you have a good reason for missing class (I get to determine what a good reason is), we need to make arrangements ahead of time. For a graduate course, "attendance" means a lot more than showing up to class. It means bringing homework and examples when they're due. It means participating in workgroup activities, electronic and physical. It also means coming to class having read the materials and being ready to be called upon to lead discussion on the topic of the day. Since this is a distance class, your attendance and participation will be judged on their textual input to the class.
Since this is an online class, all of your participation will be textual. Participation will not be graded, but the instructor and your classmates expect a high level of participation from you. The following types of activities will be expected of you in this regard.
The majority of it will be in the form of reading responses, which help you prepare for class discussions and understand the theoretical and practical implications of our readings. These responses may involve focusing on the current readings or on something your classmates have written (I expect the majority of your entries to be responses to the reading, however). In either case, your goal is to understand and explain to yourself the ideas that the author presents and to connect these ideas to other readings in the course. In your responses avoid simply summarizing what the author argues. Rather, based on the other course readings and our discussions, write a response that outlines what you agree and disagree with and why. These responses should be critical in that they evaluate and contextualize rather than summarize. The week's responses are due electronically by Saturday evening, which leaves time for you to peruse your classmates' posts. These responses should cover the readings scheduled to be discussed. I will provide you with a prompt in Web Board (or perhaps a fellow student -- see next section); please respond to this prompt when you post your response. Late responses will not be accepted. Responses should be at least 250 words in length.
Part of asynchronous discussion involves "seeding" the topics, encouraging useful debate, and prodding participants into a place of understanding. The second component of your class participation will involve taking an article, generating the seeds of discussion, posting the starting points, moderating the WebBoard posts, summarizing various positions -- all as a way of teaching the class the key points about your article (or chapter, perhaps). If you need to spill the debate over into the MOO, then you may have half a class period.
The third component of class participation involves discussion in our MOO. You are expected to bring to the class discussion an understanding of the readings, a clear sense of what classmates have written about the topic, and a value to your presence such that the class would be diminished if you were not present.
Any student who because of a disability may require special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make necessary accommodations. Students should present appropriate verification from AccessTECH in the Student Counseling Center. No requirement exists that accommodations be made prior to the completion of this approved university process.
This course (and, indeed, all the graduate courses in the technical communication program) assumes and expects complete honesty and the highest standard of integrity. Any attempt to present as your own any work not honestly performed will be regarded by the faculty and administration as a most serious offense.