I’m teaching WRIT 1122, Rhetoric and Academic Writing, at the University of Denver in the winter of 2019. My students are all in their first year at DU. Here’s my basic description of the course, from my syllabus.

Overview

This course will focus on your development as an ethical nonfiction writer for serious readers in the public sphere, emphasizing rhetorical principles. You’ll learn several rhetorical concepts, and you’ll think critically about how writers use them to engage, inform. and persuade readers. You’ll practice those concepts and strategies in your own writing, and you’ll frequently have choices of topics, including for your longer projects. 

Four terms in the brief paragraph above are important to this course.  There are many types of writing, of course, but we’re focusing on nonfiction: writing based in fact or events as they happened. Regardless of too many irresponsible claims these days, there are such things as facts and truth, and they matter.  Nonfiction writing can have purposes of informing, persuading, entertaining, expressing and so on.  Nonfiction does not mean “plain” or “artless.”  The public sphereis a wide concept perhaps best understood by what it’s not: not academic writing (pieces written only for professors or academic readers), not professional/vocational writing (pieces written in workplaces, to conduct business or a profession), not personal writing (pieces that writers make for themselves or close friends).  All of those other kinds of writing are important, clearly; we’re just focusing on the public sphere.  Rhetorical conceptsare principles and strategies that people can use to engage others, often for purposes of persuasion, concepts that have been developed and refined for over two millennia.   Rhetoric often has a bad name, something similar to “opportunistic” or “exploitative” or, even, “divorced from reality.”  There can be unethical writers and speakers, unfortunately, and we’re experiencing some of them these days.  But rhetoric is actually a productive, useful art.  Hence the last important term: ethical.  Ethical writers care about truth and responsibility. They’re committed to pursuing not only what’s best for themselves but also for others. Of course, good people can disagree, but they can—and should—do so ethically. 

Four terms in the brief paragraph above are important to this course.  There are many types of writing, of course, but we’re focusing on nonfiction: writing based in fact or events as they happened. Regardless of too many irresponsible claims these days, there are such things as facts and truth, and they matter.  Nonfiction writing can have purposes of informing, persuading, entertaining, expressing and so on.  Nonfiction does not mean “plain” or “artless.”  The public sphereis a wide concept perhaps best understood by what it’s not: not academic writing (pieces written only for professors or academic readers), not professional/vocational writing (pieces written in workplaces, to conduct business or a profession), not personal writing (pieces that writers make for themselves or close friends).  All of those other kinds of writing are important, clearly; we’re just focusing on the public sphere.  Rhetorical conceptsare principles and strategies that people can use to engage others, often for purposes of persuasion, concepts that have been developed and refined for over two millennia.   Rhetoric often has a bad name, something similar to “opportunistic” or “exploitative” or, even, “divorced from reality.”  There can be unethical writers and speakers, unfortunately, and we’re experiencing some of them these days.  But rhetoric is actually a productive, useful art.  Hence the last important term: ethical.  Ethical writers care about truth and responsibility. They’re committed to pursuing not only what’s best for themselves but also for others. Of course, good people can disagree, but they can—and should—do so ethically.

Readings

Our main readings will come from current professional media, primarily including The Washington Post and The New York Times, but occasionally also from The New Yorker, Harpers, and The Atlantic. These are available free to DU students, and I’ll provide directions for accessing them. Each of the readings will require time and effort, with particular attention to matters of craft, that is the choices of idea, form, style, and voice that their authors made, as well as the effects of those choices.  Don’t just skim.  You’ll need to read each piece at least a couple of times, maybe even more, the first time for pleasure and insight, the subsequent times to understand techniques and strategies.  Read like a writer. I will also provide some readings on concepts and strategies for writing.


Writings            

Writing is a skill that continues to develop throughout life, as writers encounter new kinds of genres, purposes, and readerships that require new kinds of skills.  Of course, as you acquire more skills and experiences, you have more from which to draw in new situations.  But learning to write has some things in common with learning to play the piano. You might say you can play the piano when you’re able to get through “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” just as you might say you can write when you can write “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” or a five paragraph theme on “Someone I Admire.”  But playing a Beethoven sonata or writing a New York Timesop ed require magnitudes of ability beyond.  I assume you’re competent writers because you’re at DU and in this class.  My goal is to make you a better writer by introducing some concepts and challenges and pressing you to learn and meet them.  Everyone can get better.  Though I’ve published a lot and generally feel pretty confident, I’m still developing as a writer.

You learn to write by writing and getting feedback—through guided practice.  Ten weeks is not a long time, but we can do a lot with it.  The first several weeks of the quarter will feature a series of short writings (500-750 words or so) due most class meetings.  The last couple of weeks will entail developing at least a couple early writings into polished pieces of 1000-3000 words or so.  A final portfolio of 6000 finished words will come from your writing across the quarter.

The short writings in this class will fall into three types.  You’ll do several Exercisesdesigned to practice specific techniques and strategies.  You’ll also do several Response/Analyses, which will involve your choosing a piece of current nonfiction from one of the periodicals I’ve identified for the class, writing a brief synopsis of it, explaining your response to the piece (agreement, disagreement, connection, complication, or implication), and explaining one or more rhetorical strategies you see at play.  For each each of these out-of-class short writings, give yourself enough time to revise and polish.  While there are benefits to drafting quickly to generate ideas and explore experience, you’ll need to revise and refine, making every word count.  The third type of short writing will be in-class exercises. These will be often be generative and experimental; take them seriously, but obviously they don’t allow the kinds of revision that out-of-class pieces do.

The longer polished pieces (projects) will grow out of this earlier work.  I’ll ask you to choose two or three ideas from the first part of the class and develop each into a piece of modest length of a kind that might be submitted as an article to a periodical or website that publishes nonfiction for serious readers.  I’ve cleared out the last couple of weeks of the course for developing these projects, and I’ll offer advice, respond to drafts, and so on.  Others in the class will also share their insights.  We’ll work as a supportive group of writers.

You’ll cap the quarter by turning in a portfolioof work from the term.  That portfolio will include revised, polished versions of the long pieces, as well as some revised examples from the short writings. You’ll also write an introduction to the portfolio (about 500-750 words) , explaining what it demonstrates about your writing in relation to the course goals. 

One last thing.  While writing takes effort and can be frustrating, I absolutely believe it’s also rewarding and, dare I say it, even fun.  There’s an element of intrigue in trying to figure things out through writing—a puzzling challenge that others can help you solve.  And there’s an element of pride at seeing your ideas crafted into words.  I hope this class provides some pleasure as well as some practical knowledge.

Course Goals                            

  • Demonstrate practical knowledge of the concept “rhetorical situation,” through the abilities both to analyze and to write effectively in different kinds of situations.
  • Demonstrate proficiency with basic elements of rhetorical analysis (such as logos, ethos, and pathos) in a range of texts, and the application of that facility in their own writing.
  • Demonstrate the ability to produce writing that effectively provides evidence and reasoning for assertions, for audiences of educated readers.
  • Demonstrate the ability to incorporate and attribute or document source material in rhetorically effective ways.
  • Demonstrate the ability to use feedback to revise their own writing and the ability to provide useful feedback to others.
  • Demonstrate the ability to edit and proofread their writing.

What do these goals mean?  We’ve explained each at https://www.du.edu/writing/firstyear/writ1122.html.  That page also discusses features common to all WRIT courses at DU.