Instructor: Nancy Knowles, Loso Hall 146, 962-3795, nknowles@eou.edu
Office Hours: M 1-3, T 1-2, R 1-2, and by appointment
Course Home Page: http://www.eou.edu/~nknowles/winter2004/wr225syl04.html

Catalog Description: Continued practice in the development of a disciplined writing process, emphasizing methods of argumentation, discussion of false and valid arguments, and the use of evidence. Selected rhetorical theories from the ancient to the contemporary are examined.
Prerequisite: WR 121 or 131.

General Education Course Information:

• WR 225: Argumentation meets the mission of General Education by challenging students to become critical, creative thinkers in reading, writing, and speaking.
• WR 225: Argumentation meets the GE Communication component.
• For outcomes and assessments, see below:

• Students will produce at least 3,000 words (including drafts, in-class writing, informal papers, and polished papers); 1,000 words of this total should be in polished papers which students have revised after receiving feedback and criticism.
• Students will be introduced to the discourse forms appropriate to the discipline the course represents.
• Students will write at least one paper integrating information from at least one source, employing the appropriate documentation style for the discipline represented by the course.
• Students will draft, revise, and edit their formal written work.
• Students will seek assistance from a Writing Tutor in the Writing Lab when needed and when referred by the instructor.

• Students will understand what makes arguments effective and ethical.
• Students will analyze written arguments.
• Students will produce and revise effective, ethical, oral and written arguments for a variety of subjects, occasions, audiences, and purposes.

• Participation (10%): speaking in class, in-class writing and activities, and one teacher-student conference are required. Visiting the Writing Lab (get a blue form!) earns extra credit.
• Four 1000-word formal papers (70%): Deadlines for drafts must be met. I may require further revision beyond the final draft, and I will accept any revisions you choose to make until the last day of class. All revisions must be accompanied by the graded draft. Revision grades, if higher, will replace the initial grade, but revision does not guarantee a higher grade.
• Oral presentations (10%)
• Assessment of own writing and that of classmates (5%)
• Final examination (5%): All students must attend the final exam on the assigned date. During the exam, each student will make a presentation regarding the fourth assignment and will do some reflective writing.

• Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz Everything's an Argument (3rd. ed.)
• Available on electronic reserve at Pierce Library <http://pierce.eou.edu>: excerpt from Scholes's Protocols of Reading
• Available on line: King "Letter from Birmingham Jail" <http://almaz.com/nobel/peace/MLK-jail.html>, Swift "A Modest Proposal" <http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html>, Shulman "Love is a Fallacy" <http://users3.ev1.net/~rooftopyawp/loveisafallacy.html>, Vonnegut "Harrison Bergeron" <http://penguinppc.org/~hollis/personal/bergeron.shtml>
• Paper copies of any cited secondary material and extra copies of rough drafts

Schedule: