Week One: Introductions and Course Overview
| 9 January | Assignment: Buy Everything's An Argument, print-off course schedule |
| 11 January | Course overview and setting up your wiki (Bring a copy of the course schedule) |
| 13 January | What is An Argument? (Due: Read Everything's an Argument (EA), pp. 3-26; post personal narrative to wiki) |
Week Two: The Gentle Art of Persuasion
| 16 January | Martin Luther King Jr. Day, no classes (Due: Read "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963) and respond on your wiki.) |
| 18 January | How do arguments persuade?: Reading and writing arguments (Due: Read EA, pp. 27-45; respond to a classmate's personal narrative by rewriting it so that it's about you!) |
| 20 January | Enthymeme (Logos) and Rhetorical Practice (Due: Read EA, pp. 100-118; post a response to #2 on p. 117) |
Week Three: The Importance of Audience
| 23 January | Arguments Based on Character (Ethos) (Due: Read EA, pp. 88-97; respond to FDR's "The Four Freedoms" (1941)) |
| 25 January | Arguments of the Heart and Shared Values (Pathos) (Due: Read EA, pp. 65-87; respond to "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" (1948)) |
| 27 January | Considering Context (Due: Read EA, pp. 51-61 and 331-346; respond to President George W. Bush's Address to Congress (2001)) |
Week Four: Defining Issues, Part 1
| 30 January | Assign Definition Paper and Discuss Research Requirement (Due: Read EA, pp. 147-173 and 424-454; respond to "Defining terrorism") |
| 1 February | Structuring Arguments (Due: Read EA, pp. 121-146; respond to an issue/topic in The New York Times or The USA Today or the State of the Union address) |
| 3 February | Arguments and Counter-Arguments and How to Use the CAT; Practice Outlining an Issue: What to include? In what order? What ties it all together? Why am I defining this issue to this audience now? What previous understanding am I trying to change for my audience? (In-Class Workshop: Reviewing the CAT) |
Week Five: Defining Issues, Part 2
| 6 February | Fallacies of Argument (Due: Read EA, pp. 384-400; post 250 word Paper Proposal for the Definition Paper to your wiki: remember the research requirement of 6 sources (not counting personal webpages or chat rooms) with MLA bibliography of works consulted. |
| 8 February | Looking at Samples of Definition Arguments (Due: Comment on a classmate's Paper Proposal (on their wiki); what might they do to make it better?) |
| 10 February | Draft Workshop and Style Workshop: MLA Citation Style and the Dangers of Plagiarism (Due: Read EA, pp. 401-411; bring 2 copies of Definition Paper) |
Week Six: Making Evaluations
| 13 February | Evaluation Argument Overview and Assign Evaluation Paper (Due: Read EA, pp. 174-204; post Definition Paper to wiki in clearly marked location by 11:59PM) |
| 15 February | Evidence (Due: Read EA, pp. 367-383; respond to "The Declaration of Independence" (1776)) |
| 17 February | Sample Evaluation Arguments (Due: Post your 250 word Paper Proposal for the Evaluation Paper to your wiki) |
Week Seven: Making Evaluations Conclusion and Introducing Causal Arguments
| 20 February | Draft Workshop and Style Workshop: Paragraphing (Due: Bring 2 copies of Evaluation Paper Draft) |
| 22 February | Logos, Ethos, Pathos Review (Due: Read "The Art of Rhetoric" and TheFiveFoldWayOfRhetoric); respond to Andrew Sullivan's "My America" EA, pp. 202-204) |
| 24 February | Causal Arguments |
Week Eight: Causal Arguments Continued
| 27 February | Assessing and Using Sources; Assign Causal Paper (Due: Read EA, pp. 412-423; respond to "Rwanda: How the genocide happened" and "Q&A: Sudan's Darfur Conflict"; Evaluation Paper due to wiki by 11:59PM) |
| 1 March | Political Leanings in Rhetoric and Assign Causal Argument. (Due: Read and respond to Political Leanings in Politics) |
| 3 March | Developing Causal Arguments(Due: EA, 211-217; post your 250 word Paper Proposal for the Causal Paper to the wiki by end of day!) |
Week Nine: Spring Break
Enjoy the rest!
Fordham University (Bronx, NY)
Week Ten: Making Proposals
| 13 March | Draft Workshop (Due: Bring 2 copies of Causal Paper Draft) |
| 15 March | Sample Causal Arguments, First Look at Final Project |
| 17 March | Proposal Arguments and Assign Proposal Paper (Due: Read EA, pp. 238-261; |
Week Eleven: Making Proposals Continued and Final Project Introduction
| 20 March | Proposal Arguments, Part two (Due: Respond to "The Communist Manifesto" (1848); Causal Paper due to wiki by 11:59PM) |
| 22 March | Sample Proposals (Due: Post 250 word proposal for Proposal Paper to your wiki) |
| 24 March | Draft Workshop (Due: Bring 2 copies of Proposal Paper Draft) |
Week Twelve: Practicing Rhetorical Analysis
| 27 March | Style Workshop: Learning by Sampling(Rewrite the following definition of stigmergy so that it makes sense to a non-specialist.) |
| 29 March | Rhetorical Analysis and Assign Final Project (Due: Read EA, pp. 285-300) |
| 31 March | Kem in Burrowes 167 to talk about final projects |
Week Thirteen: Practicing Rhetorical Analysis
| 3 April | Humor in Arguments (Due: Read EA, pp. 262-279; respond to "A Modest Proposal" (1729); Proposal Paper due to wiki by 11:59PM) |
| 5 April | Visual Arguments (Due: Read EA, pp. 301-330) |
| 7 April | Consultations with Kem; 1 page proposal (with sources) for final project due to wiki |
Week Fourteen: Student Proposals
| 10 April | Section 18, Section 24, Section 25 |
| 12 April | Section 18, Section 24, Section 25 |
| 14 April | Section 18, Section 24, Section 25 |
Week Fifteen: Working on Final Paper
| 17 April | Class cancelled |
| 19 April | |
| 21 April | Structuring your Argument (Due: Bring 2 copies of Final Project outline) |
Week Sixteen: Conclusions
| 24 April | Introduction Workshop (Due: Bring 2 copies of your Introduction Draft) |
| 26 April | Putting it all together (Due: Bring 2 copies of "complete" draft.) |
| 28 April | Conclusion Workshop (Due: Bring 2 copies of your Conclusion Draft) and Course Evaluations |
1 May: Final Project due either to the wiki or Burrowes 167 by 5PM.
Have a great summer, and good luck. TheKemBlog