COM 303-01 Theory and Literature of Rhetoric
(Soon to be "Rhetorical Perspectives")
Fall 2009
9-10:15 TT GCC 202
Ed Lamoureux, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Interactive Program
and Department of Communication
GCC 315
ell@bradley.edu
309-672-5878
Office: Tues: 10:30-12; Thurs: 1:30-2:30 and by

Return to Rhetorical Resources Main Page

Objectives

Text

Lecture Notes

Grades

Reading summaries

Case study applications

Extra Credit

Term Paper

Special Procedures

Schedule

Supplementary Readings

Objectives
As a result of the course, students should (1) gain an appreciation for the rhetorical perspective (2) become familiar with major historical rhetorical personages, rhetorical epochs and their forces, texts (3) be able to compare and contrast rhetorical theories (4) use rhetorical theory to engage issues around influential speaking and writing (5) apply rhetorical ideas to situational challenges in organizational settings and (6) use rhetorical means to engage ethical dilemmas in organizational settings.

Texts

James A. Herrick. The History and Theory of Rhetoric: An Introduction (4th ed.). Pearson Education, 2009. (paperback)

Steve May (ed.). Case Studies in Organizational Communication: Ethical Perspectives and Practices. Sage, 2006.

Additional readings:

E. Johanna Hartelius and Larry D. Browning (2008)
The Application of Rhetorical Theory in Managerial Research: A published Literature Review. Management Communication Quarterly.
http://mcq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/22/1/13

Lecture Notes

Various Lecture notes are available, on- line. You should study them, thoroughly, before coming to class whenever the topics line up. These will be further discussed in class. Not every topic is covered online and not every set of notes is discussed in class.

Grades

Reading Summaries: 200
2 case study response papers, rough drafts (75X2) 150
2 case study response papers, final papers (75X2) 150
2 case study presentations, rough drafts (75X2) 150
2 case study presentations, oral presentation (75X2) 150
1 Midterm exam (text readings and lecture) 100
1 Final exam (text readings and lecture) 100
Total points 1000 points (the total number of points may vary)
Final Grade Scale
<88.5: A 88.4-78.5: B 78.4-68.5: C 68.4-58.5: D > 58.5: F

Reading summaries

20% of your course grade is based on written summaries of the assigned readings. Complete the summaries prior to class on the day due; they are due at or before the start of each class. Late summaries will not be accepted. Post summaries to the appropriate Sakai forum. Each summary should list the material covered by title and page numbers. Each summary should indicate the thesis of the reading and details about major points covered therein. Outlines are NOT acceptable. You may miss up to 3 of these per term without penalty (do them all, it's like extra credit for 3 of them).

Case study applications (papers and oral presentations)

60% of your course grade is based on writing and speaking assignments that analyze and interpret organizational communication case studies from a rhetorical perspective. Templates will be given out for each assignment (as well as the specific reading assignments/topics). 1/2 the grade will be earned from drafts; the other 1/2 from the completed papers and oral presentations. No late materials will be accepted. Microsoft Word files via email for the response papers; web pages, PowerPoint, Flash or Prezi files for presentations (materials AND the presentation will be graded).

Extra Credit

You may earn up to 50 points (5 @ 10 points each) extra credit by completing reading summaries of chapters (each) three through eight from George A. Kennedy, Comparative Rhetoric: An Historical and Cross-Cultural Introduction. Oxford UP, 1999.

Special Procedures

• Office Hours: Tues: 10:30-12; Thurs: 1:30-2:30, and by appointment.

• You will sign in each class day. Failure to sign the roll sheet results in "missing" the day. Missing the day results in no scoring of the daily contribution.

• The final exam is Thursday Dec. 10, 2:30-4:30. No early or make-up exams will be arranged for any of the 5 exams. Students with emergencies must contact Dr. Lamoureux (in person or by phone) before the end of the test period; accommodations will be made for (only) dire emergencies.

• COM 303 has a Sakai site to which I will post grades, announcements, and the forum topics for summaries.

• We have a class e-mail alias
  <com30301-fa@bumail.bradley.edu>. Please check it daily (if you forward your mail out of it, be sure to empty the BU box regularly). I deduct 25 points (I'll notify you) from your score total each time--after the first (I'll warn you of this one)-- that I get bounced mail because your box is full or otherwise not functional.

• I will answer questions, live or via phone or email about course content ANYTIME between the hours of 8am-9pm [CT] though our dinner time is usually between 5-7, during which I would prefer to be left alone. I will not answer questions about course mechanics (“what’s due in class in the morning?”) on, or the night before, due dates.

• Electronic devices may not be used in class (except for workshop and presentation days, if needed). This includes laptop computers. If you wish to take notes, you'll need paper and writing instrument. Use of electronics will meet with suggestion that you leave.
  
  I do not use text messaging, so one student each day will be identified as the "designated emergency text message monitor" and will be asked to leave their cell phone on for this purpose. You must be registered with BU to serve. Please help me identify this person in a timely fashion each day.

• Please do not use tobacco products in class. I am distracted by their use and will insist that you leave if you persist.
  

• Our textbooks provide extensive bibliographic resources. Use them.
  
  
• Familiarize yourself with the Index to Journals in Comunication Studies Through 1995, edited by Ronald J. Matlon and Sylvia P. Ortiz. It is available in the reference section of the library and is a standard bibliographic source for research in communication studies through 1995. Familiarize yourself with using Communications & Mass Media Complete. That service provides bibliographic sources for materials since 1990 and for journals not indexed in Matlon & Ortiz.
  
  
• Always locate and study printed/published scholarly sources prior to supplementary web-based material—although the web links I provide on Rhetorical Resources feature lots of great stuff. You may well locate online versions of printed/published material. Again, source credibility is crucial.
  
  
• Students with certified learning disabilities: Make arrangements with me, immediately.
  

• All students are responsible to the same syllabus schedule, regardless of outside or BU-sponsored activities. I only accept materials early by agreement before the due date. Those with documented university-sponsored activities or illness MAY NOT reserve their three "misses" using those excuses. Absences in addition to the 3 must be thoroughly documented and arrangements made BEFORE THE CLASS IN QUESTION in order to qualify for exception. I expect ALL students to be able to function within the 3 "free" absences.

• Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Do not borrow from, or share materials with, others. Do your own work. Cite sources fully and accurately. Otherwise, failure and referral to university authorities loom.
  
  
• Study the readings for understanding so that you can discuss them in detail. Otherwise, class will be boring hard and you won't be able to keep up.
  
  
• Edit and re-write your summaries, papers, presentations before turning them in whenever possible. Avoid turning in early drafts. Your work should be the result of extensive writing, re-writing, checking, and re-checking. I grade for content and style. This is a class in rhetoric.
  
  
• Copy and back-up your computer work every 10 minutes or so. Do NOT depend on one storage location/modality. "My computer ate it" will NOT suffice for excuse.
  
  
• Policy regarding e-mail communication about grades:
  As a matter of the Communication Department policy to protect student privacy and in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, questions and concerns regarding grades must be presented in person or in a written letter. Instructors will not respond to questions and concerns communicated through e-mail or telephone calls regarding grades.
  
  
• Policy regarding student absence due to an illness:
  When missing classes and related assignments due to an illness, it is the student's responsibility to provide a document issued by a medical authority to verify the student's absence due to illness, unless the Office of the Associate Provost for Student Affairs informs an instructor of the basis for the student's absence. Instructors will not call the Health Center or any other source to verify the student's reason for absence.

  Schedule

  In-Class Schedule[with reading assignment]

  [I reserve the right to make modifications, with notice, throughout the term]

  August
  
  27
  class 1: Welcome, orientation, Barry Schwartz on practical wisdom
  for class 2: Hartelius and Browning
  
  September
  
  9/1
  class 2
  due before 8am: Reading summary, Hartelius and Browning
  in class: Hartelius and Browning; rhetoric in organizational communication.
  for class 3: Herrick, Chapter 1
  
  9/3
  class 3
  due before 8am: Reading summary, Herrick, Chapter 1
  in class: An overview of rhetoric: points of comparison/contrast Hartelius and Browning & Herrick
  for class 4: Herrick, Chapter 2; review online notes: Intro to sophists; Sophists and Rhetoric; Isocrates 1 and Isocrates 2
  
  9/8
  class 4
  due before 8am: Reading summary, Herrick, Chapter 2
  in class: Rhetoric and the Sophistic tradition: Truth v. Probability; Pull 1-13 orders for papers.
  for class 5: Herrick, Chapter 3; Weaver, Lecture Notes
  
  9/10
  class 5
  due before 8am: Reading summary, Herrick, Chapter 3
  in class: Plato and Weaver: Rhetoric and Morality
  for class 6: May, Chapters 1 & 2
  
  9/15
  class 6
  due before 8am: Reading summaries (2), May, Chapters 1 & 2
  In class: Ethics and rhetoric in organizational communication
  for class 7: Rough drafts, case study response paper 1; 6 on study 13; 7 on study 18. Must use materials from Truth v. Probability and/or Rhetoric and Morality (sophists, Plato, Weaver).
  
  9/17
  class 7
  due before 8am: Rough drafts due, case study response paper 1
  in class: paper review and workshop
  due by 5pm 9/18: case study response paper 1
  for class 8: Herrick, Chapter 4.
  
  9/22
  class 8
  due before 8am: Reading summary, Herrick, Chapter 4
  in class: Aristotle and reasoning and rhetoric
  for class 9:Herrick, Chapter 9
  
  9/24
  class 9
  due before 8am: Reading summary, Herrick, Chapter 9
  in class: contemporary rhetoric in argumentation I
  for class 10: Toulmin (model & online notes)
  
  9/29
  class 10
  in class: contemporary rhetoric in argumentation II
  for class 11:Herrick, Chapter 5; online notes, Isocrates, Rhetoric in Rome, Cicero, Quintilian,
  
  10/1
  class 11
  due before 8am: reading summary, Herrick, Chapter 5
  in class: Orality, literacy, community and education--Rhetoric and Rome
  for class 12: Herrick, Chapter 10, online notes, Burke 1, Burke 2, Bitzer 1, Bitzer 2, Habermas
  
  October
  
  10/6
  class 12
  due before 8am: reading summary, Herrick Chapter 10
  in class: Dramatism and the situation
  for class 13: Rough drafts, case study oral presentation 1; 1-6 on study 2; 7-12 on study 16. Must use materials from Reasoning, argumentation, or dramatism/situation (Artistotle, Perelman, Toulmin, rhetoric of science/inquiry, Burke, Bitzer, Habermas)
  
  10/8
  class 13
  due before 8am:Rough drafts (written materials and oral speech) due, case study oral presentation, 1
  in class: oral presentation review and workshop: Introduction and first main point
  
  Fall break Oct. 10-13
  
  10/15
  class 14
  in class: case study oral presentation, 1
  
  10/20
  class 15
  Midterm Examination
  for class 16: Herrick Chapter 6, online notes Christianization and Augustine, Rhetoric in the middle Ages, the Classical conception of rhetoric
  
  midterm grades due from instructors Oct 21

  10/22
  class 16
  due before 8am: reading summary, Herrick, Chapter 6
  in class: Christianization, Augustine, and the status of the word
  for class 17: Herrick, Chapter 7 and online notes Renaissance

  10/27
  class 17
  due before 8am: reading summary, Herrick, Chapter 7
  in class: Renaissance then decline (Ramus): the organizing power of rhetoric
  for class 18: Rough drafts, case study response paper 2; 6 on study 11; 7 on study 21. Must use materials from the status of the word, rhetorical categorization (Augustine, Humanism, Ramus).
  
  10/29
  class 18
  Rough drafts due, case study response paper 2
  in class: paper review and workshop
  due by 5pm 11/1: case study response paper 2
  for class 19: Herrick, 181-186; online notes, Epistemologists & New Science
  
  November
  
  11/3
  class 19
  due before 8am: reading summary, Herrick 181-186.
  in class: New Science
  for class 20: Herrick, 247-255 (Foucault), online notes, Foucault
  
  11/5
  class 20
  due before 8am: reading summary, Herrick, 247-255
  in class: Foucault
  for class 21: Herrick, 259-266 (Feminism), online notes, Women in Rhetoric
  
  11/10
  class 21
  due before 8am: reading summary, Herrick, 259-266
  in class:Women in Rhetorical Theory
  for class 22: Herrick, 266-270 (non-Western Rhetorics), online notes African, African American and Asian Rhetoric
  
  11/12
  class 22
  due before 8am: reading summary, Herrick, 266-270
  in class: African, African American, and Asian Rhetoric
  for class 23: Online notes, Jim Andrews on McLuhan and Regent University on McLuhan and I.A. Richards
  
  11/17
  class 23
  in class: McLuhan and Richards
  for class 24: Rough drafts, case study oral presentation 2; 7 on study 8; 6 on study 9. Must use materials from Rhetoric and science, Feminist rhetoric or African, African American, Asian Rhetoric, McLuhan and Richards.
  
  Last day to drop a class with W, Nov. 18
  
  11/19
  class 24
  due before 8am: Rough drafts due, case study oral presentation, 2
  in class: oral presentation review and workshop
  
  11/24
  class 25: case study oral presentation, 2
  for class 26: May, case studies 4 and 11
  
  Thanksgiving break 11/25-29
  
  December
  
  12/1
  class 26
  Due before 8 am: Reading summaries (2) May, case studies 4 and 7
  Digital Rhetoric
  for class 27: May, case studies 3 and 13
  
  12/3
  class 27
  Due before 8 am: Reading summaries (2) May, case studies 3 and 13
  in class:Post-modernism, rhetoric, and central questions for rhetoric in contemporary organizations.
  
  12/8
  class 28: Exam review
  
  Thursday Dec. 10, 2:30-4:30: final exam