Professor: Alisse Theodore
Email Address: alisse@umich.edu
Office: 4174 Angell Hall, 764-6370
Office Hours: Wednesdays 11 - 12 and Mondays and Wednesdays by appointment

Welcome
Welcome to English 484. This course has as its focus a phenomenon very basic and yet incredibly complex: the use of language to change the world in which we live. A more than two-thousand-year-old tradition which concerns itself with the use of language to persuade is rhetoric. In this class, we'll use rhetorical theory as a way to critically examine persuasive appeals.

The nineteenth-century American woman's rights movement is an ideal case study for such an examination. Most nineteenth-century American women had little or no access to political leaders, nor to higher education or the wages they earned, nor were they allowed to sign contracts or own property in the United States. But despite these rigid constraints and tremendous opposition, over a span of eight decades American women generated massive social and political changes. How? By using the only tool available to them: language. This semester, we'll consider a question central to rhetorical criticism: how do people use language to define, reform, and even revolutionize politics and society?

This class focuses on rhetorical theory and criticism, rather than the history of the rhetorical tradition or the production of rhetorical texts. Rhetorical theory has been divided into five "canons": invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Our primary interests this semester will be invention, arrangement, and style, and we will complicate these canons by studying them in the three dimensions basic to rhetorical theory: text, audience, and rhetor. As rhetorical critics, we will apply rhetorical theory to specific texts, and we will develop an understanding of and a facility with rhetorical issues such as functions of rhetoric, the rhetorical situation, methods of appeal, exigence, objects of agreement, concepts of audience, patterns of arrangement, figures of speech and other elements of style.

As we apply rhetorical theory--in other words, when we act as rhetorical critics--we'll concern ourselves with the analysis, comparison, and evaluation of texts. These activities parallel higher-order thinking skills (rather than basic skills such as recall), so many people see rhetorical theory and criticism as a way to facilitate, enhance, or even produce critical thinking. Therefore, another objective of this class is that you will learn, practice, and strengthen critical thinking skills central to your life within and beyond the classroom.

What will we learn about the woman's rights movement when we use rhetorical theory to critically examine women's persuasive appeals? You will learn about the history and ideology of one of the longest and most important civil rights movements in the short history of the United States. You will assess the ways logical, ethical, and pathetic appeals of this social movement changed over time. You will identify the rhetorical challenges women faced and the strategies women adopted to meet such constraints in their fight for civil rights. By extrapolating from this case study, I predict that your appreciation for the power of language will increase, and that you will begin to see rhetoric and as an indispensable component of civic life. You may even leave this class asking yourself, "How can I use language to change the world?".

Texts
Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, a well-known and well-respected rhetorical scholar, introduced many people to the American woman's rights movement by making significant texts available for study in a collection called Man Cannot Speak For Her: Key Texts of the Early Feminists. Since Campbell published this collection, other texts have been "recovered" for study--but this collection remains the fundamental starting place for movement scholars. Since you will be a movement scholar this semester, it's a good place for us to start, too.

Campbell, a professor at the University of Minnesota, includes black and white women in her collection. However, since Man Cannot Speak For Her was published, some scholars have worked diligently to recover more texts produced by African Americans. One scholar and professor at the University of Maryland, Shirley Logan, published some of these texts in a critical anthology, With Pen and Voice: A Critical Anthology of Nineteenth-Century African-American Women. We'll use this collection, too, and we'll talk about the rhetorical implications of a separate anthology for what some scholars call "marginalized voices." Both of these anthologies will also prompt us to ask some important questions related to textual criticism: Whose editing counts, especially in recovery work? What is an "authoritative" text?

We'll also read a popular and inspiring history of the movement, Eleanor Flexner and Ellen Fitzpatrick's Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States. Flexner completed the first edition in 1959. Because the book remains one of the best historical introductions to the movement, it has been reprinted several times. The most recent edition includes new material contributed by Ellen Fitzpatrick, hence their collaborative authorship.

The books required for this course are available at Shaman Drum Bookshop (313 South State Street, 662-7407, http://www.shamandrum.com). Since I ask people to refer directly to the texts during discussion, please bring the assigned readings to class so that you can easily and quickly point your classmates to the passage(s) under consideration.

Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs, ed. Man Cannot Speak For Her. Volume II. Praeger. ISBN 0-275-93267-2.

Flexner, Eleanor and Ellen Fitzpatrick. Century of Struggle. Belknap Press. ISBN 0-674-10653-9.
Logan, Shirley Wilson, ed. With Pen and Voice. Southern Illinois UP. ISBN 0-8093-1875-X.

Requirements
The schedule of assignments includes readings, exams, and a paper. In addition, there will be occasional quizzes during the semester. Participation is an important component of your performance in this class and attendance is required.

Readings
This course is based on discussion, not lectures, so I expect you to read all of the texts on the syllabus carefully and come to class ready to talk about your reactions to them. I recommend that you read with a pen in your hand, so you can jot notes or ideas in the margins of your book. I use a color such as blue or red to contrast with the black ink publishers use--that way, I can find my notes easily by paging through the text. Stay away from highlighters: they encourage passive reading, particularly since they cause you simply to mark a passage without writing a note or a thought. I also outline speeches on a separate sheet of paper, especially listing passages which deal with key themese of the movement or that seem to have particular significance in the speech itself. Imagine how that kind of active reading will help you when you want to make a point in class, on your exams, or in your final paper. What other kinds of "active reading" strategies work for you?

Quizzes
There will be several quizzes, usually unannounced, during the semester. These quizzes will help you focus your reading, practice rhetorical analysis, and synthesize and integrate the issues important to the early woman's rights movement. They will also help you prepare for exams and think about your final paper for the class. Quizzes will be graded on a ten-point scale, and you may drop your lowest grade.

Paper
The paper is an opportunity for you to develop a thoughtful piece of rhetorical criticism. This paper will focus on at least three of the semester's speeches, and it should go beyond analysis to comparison and evaluation as it demonstrates your proficiency as a rhetorical critic. We will talk in greater detail about this paper in class, and I will distribute and we will discuss an assignment sheet and grading criteria well before the paper is due.

Your 8-10 page paper must be typed, double-spaced, left-justified, and printed in a standard font of 10- or 12-point, with one or one and one-quarter inch margins. The paper must be submitted at the beginning of class on the day it is due. If your paper is submitted to me after the start of class on the day it is due but before 4:30 p.m. on the following day, it will drop one letter grade. I will not accept a paper after that time; if you do not submit a paper by 4:30 p.m. the day after it is due, you will fail this class regardless of your grade in the course to that point. If you would like your graded paper returned, submit with your paper a large manila envelope self-addressed and pre-stamped with the correct postage.

Exams
There will be two exams during the semester. These exams will include sections in which you will be asked to define rhetorical terms, identify and briefly comment on the significance of passages from speeches we've read, and write longer responses to questions asking you to synthesize material from the course. We will talk more about these exams in class. Bring bluebooks to class for these exams.

Participation
In other classes, have you found that your participation increases the learning you achieve? Research on teaching and learning demonstrates that--regardless of your learning style--activities such as discussions and ungraded, short writing exercises significantly increase learning. Thus, class participation will be informally but clearly reflected in your quizzes, exams, and paper, since these writings will benefit from the clarity of thought and expression and the exchange of ideas which class discussions provoke. In addition, class participation is formally accounted for in your grade for this class. Class participation includes (but is not limited to) involvement in large and small group discussions, in-class writings, and an occasional short homework assignment designed to guide you in your reading (for example, "identify five figures of speech used in Stanton's speech").

Some active participation is taken as a given. Intelligent, frequent participation which forwards class discussion or consideration of relevant issues will raise your grade (questions you ask, by the way, may be as interesting as the answers we come up with). Failure to participate at a basic level, including by virtue of excessive absences, will reduce your grade, as will negative or inappropriate participation.

I expect you to come to each session prepared, with reading and writing assignments completed. I also expect you to be attentive and responsive to other members of this class--your colleagues. This classroom must be one of mutual respect and open exchange. The University's Code of Student Conduct names as the University's "central purpose . . . maintaining a scholarly community [which] . . . promotes scholarly inquiry through vigorous discourse. Essential values which undergird this purpose include civility, dignity, education, equality, freedom, honesty, and safety. . . As members of the University community, students are expected to uphold its values by maintaining a high standard of conduct." If you have any questions, please review this Code at http://www.umich.edu/~oscr/Newcode.html or call the Office of Student Conflict Resolution at 936-6308.

Attendance
Attendance is a prerequisite for class participation (discussions, in-class writings, quizzes, etc.). Clearly, your presence will have a direct and important effect on your participation in this course. If you are absent, seek out a classmate for an explanation of what was covered that day, and then see me during office hours.

You may have two absences without penalty. If you are absent on the day the paper is due, the assignment still must be submitted by the start of class on the due date to avoid late penalties. If you miss a quiz, you will receive a zero instead of a grade. Do not miss an exam. For each absence after the first two, your final grade will be lowered by one-third of a grade (for example, a "B" becomes a "B-"). Two late arrivals or early departures (of less than fifteen minutes) convert to one absence. If you miss more than fifteen minutes of a class, you will be considered absent.

Bypassing the Requirements
If you have questions about course procedures or if you want to bypass a course requirement or a deadline, write me a memo or send me an email in advance. Make clear for what you are asking and tell me whatever I need to know to make a decision, which I will convey to you in writing or via email. I can't usually give you full attention in the moments after class. I will make better decisions if I am given good information and time to consider a question or problem.

Office Hours
I will hold office hours throughout the semester. Office hours are an extension of the classroom. You are welcome to come by with questions, comments, and concerns. If you are enjoying a reading and would like to discuss it further, if you are having a problem with something in the course, if you don't understand something, come and see me. I also am happy to work with you on your paper during office hours, whether it is to work with you at the brainstorming stage or to give you some feedback on a draft. Why not stop by?

Communication
With Me
The most efficient way to get in touch with me outside of class time and office hours is email. During the semester, I check my email every weekday--more frequently than I check my campus mailbox for notes. The English Department does not provide faculty with voice mail, so I have an answering machine on my office phone, but I check that only on days when our class meets. Email is by far the best option.

I will use email to contact class members in case class is canceled because of snow or some other emergency, or if I want to pass on useful information about the class. Although I will not hold you responsible for information distributed by email, it may be to your advantage to give me your email address so that you will receive such updates. I will also post this sort of information on the website for the course, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~alisse/ENGL484f00/index.html.

With Your Classmates
Your classmates are an integral part of your English 484 experience. I recommend that you introduce yourself to people in this class (you will have opportunities to do so early in the semester), and that you exchange email addresses with several classmates so that you can form study groups, find out what you missed in case of an absence, etc. This email exchange is voluntary, so if someone declines to give you his or her email address, please respect that choice.

Grading
Your final grade in this course is determined as follows:

Quizzes																																																		10%
First Exam																																																		20%
Second Exam																																																		25%
Paper																																																		30%
Participation																																																		15%

The Gayle Morris Sweetland Writing Center
You may find the Sweetland Writing Center to be a valuable resource when you write papers for this and other University of Michigan classes. If you are interested in finding out more about their services, including the On-Line Writing Lab, Writing Workshops, and Peer Tutoring, visit the Sweetland at 1139 Angell Hall, call 764-0429, or check out their website at http://www.lsa.umich.edu/swc.

Services for Students with Disabilities
If you think you may need an accommodation for any sort of disability, please contact Services for Students with Disabilities (G-625 Haven Hall, 763-3000, http://www.umich.edu/~sswd/ssd) and make an appointment to see me during my office hours within the first two weeks of the semester.

Academic Integrity
Academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, cheating, double submission of papers, aiding and abetting dishonesty, and fabrication, will not be tolerated. Please read carefully the memo on plagiarism distributed in class, which is also posted at http://www.lsa.umich.edu/english/undergraduate/plag.htm. If you have any questions about "what counts," see me.

A Final Note
These course policies and the schedule of assignments are subject to change. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out about such changes.

A.T.00