English 425, Advanced Writing

Persuasive Writing

Fall 2007


Professor Alisse Portnoy

alisse@umich.edu

3236 Angell Hall
Department of English Language and Literature
University of Michigan
763-4279


Course Information
Syllabus
Contact Information

Course Description

The signers of the United States Constitution declared our freedom of expression the most important right of United States citizens. Susan B. Anthony and dozens of other women used the only power they had, the power of language, to ensure women their right to vote in the United States. And the persuasive eloquence of Martin Luther King, Jr., changed this nation's consciousness. These were ordinary people doing extraordinary things with language.

What about you? Do you aspire to extraordinary things, or do you simply hope to land a great job or appeal a parking ticket? Either way, you'll need to use persuasive writing. This semester, we will increase our awareness of, respect for, and facility with persuasive writing. But our enthusiasm for and understanding of argumentative writing can grow only if we care about what we're doing (and even have some fun), so usually you will choose your own topics as we play with, analyze, and practice argumentative writing. To guide us in these challenging but rewarding enterprises, we'll use a textbook, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, and a writer's handbook. We'll write almost daily, in the form of short exercises (hard copy and online), rhetorical analyses, and longer essays; plan on lots of informal writing and three formal essays of 4-8 pages each. This course satifies the Upper Level Writing Requirement for LS&A students.


Texts for the Course

There is one required textbook for this course: the most recent -- 3rd -- edition of Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee's Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. An order for Ancient Rhetorics has been placed at Shaman Drum Bookshop (734-662-7407, <www.shamandrum.com>).


MRU: 2 September 2007