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 introduced many people to the United States 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.

Finally, there is an optional book for the course, Sharon Crowley and Deborah Hawhee's Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. I usually use this book as a textbook in my upper-level writing course, but it has great information about much of the rhetorical theory we'll talk about in class. It will be a useful supplement to the material I present in class. It is available at Shaman Drum and on reserve at the undergraduate library University Reserves,

All of the books for this course are available at Shaman Drum Bookshop (313 South State Street, 662-7407, http://www.shamandrum.com), and they are on reserve at University Reserves, http://www.lib.umich.edu/reserves/index.html. 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.

--Crowley, Sharon and Deborah Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Classical Students. Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 0-205-26903-6.
--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.

Primary Course Activities and Requirements
The schedule of assignments includes readings and exams. 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 themes 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. Quizzes will be graded on a ten-point scale. Because quizzes are time-sensitive, they may not be made up. A missed quiz will result in a grade of zero for that quiz. You may replace your lowest quiz grade (including zero) with your grade on an optional critical essay due at the start of class on April 14. We will talk more about this optional assignment in class.

Exams
There will be two exams during the semester. These exams probably 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.

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 and exams 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.

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 Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities explains that the University of Michigan "is dedicated to supporting and maintaining its scholarly community. As its central purpose, this community promotes intellectual inquiry through vigorous discourse. Values which undergird this purpose include civility, dignity, diversity, education, equality, freedom, honesty, and safety." If you have any questions, please talk with me, review this code at http://www.umich.edu/~oscr/20010701SRR.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 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.

Adapting the Course Procedures and 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 (making the request does not guarantee an affirmative response). 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.

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

Quizzes																																																		25%
First Exam																																																		25%
Second Exam																																																		35%
Participation																																																		15%

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. Why not stop by?

Communication Outside of Office Hours
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. I have an answering machine on my office phone, but I check that only on days when our class meets. Outside of office hours, 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.

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.

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-219 Angell, 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. Carefully review the English Department's policy on plagiarism. If you have any questions about "what counts," see me.

Some Final Notes
Commercial Notetaking
The collection, recounting, promulgation, or selling of materials based on this course, including its website, lectures, exercises, assignments, handouts, or other activities and materials is prohibited.

Changes in the Policies and Schedule of Assignments
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.03