ENG 3010: Anthologics (Winter 2011)

The term "anthology" derives from the Greek word anthologia which means to gather or collect flowers. The term has been extended to describe literary or artistic collections, so we now think of an anthology as a collection of works (poems, stories, artwork, songs) brought together into one place.

This course will further extend this term by developing a practice that we'll call anthologics - a method of bringing together a conversation of various texts, arguments, and voices and then entering into that conversation. The conversations we will be constructing and entering will involve the city of Detroit. The city is often used as a case study for discussions of a shifting economy, as a paradigmatic case of a contemporary urban infrastructures, and as a locus of musical and cultural influence. Students will spend the semester collaboratively researching and compiling anthologies about Detroit. They will choose the texts that will make up their anthology, write a book proposal for a publisher, and write a preface for their text. This anthology will be a way of presenting readers with a "conversation" about Detroit. The main goal of the anthologic method is to understand that writers are always entering ongoing conversations and that such conversations involve writers from different backgrounds, disciplines, and cultures. The course will pay particularly close attention to how scholars in different disciplines across the university (in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences) argue differently and present different kinds of evidence. In addition to editing an anthology, students will also apply the anthologic method to video footage by creating a video mashup. The video mashup will explore the collisions and overlaps amongst various pieces of video footage.

Assignments in this course will all build toward students' final anthology project. Students will complete short writing assignments that summarize and analyze texts and longer writing assignments that will propose their anthology to a publisher and provide an introduction for their edited collection. Since we are designing a book, we will also discuss design issues. To this end, we'll ask questions such as: What will the anthology look like? How will it be organized? Who is the audience? What publisher might be interested in distributing such an anthology?

[Image Credit: Hawaii Flower Bouquet by R.J. Malfalfa]

Syllabus

ENG 3010: Anthologics

Professor: Jim Brown
Class Meeting Place: 116 Main
Class Time: T/Th 1:25-2:50
Office: 5057 Woodward Avenue, 10-410.2
Office Hours: T/Th 3pm-5pm (or by appointment)
Email: jimbrown [at] wayne [dot] edu
Website: http://courses.jamesjbrownjr.net/3010_winter2011

Required Text:
Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, Crowley and Hawhee

Prerequisite for ENG 3010
To enroll in ENG 3010, students must have completed their WSU Basic Composition (BC) requirement (ENG 1020 or equiv.) with a grade of C or better.

General Education IC Requirement and Prerequisite for WI
With a grade of C or better, ENG 3010 fulfills the General Education IC (Intermediate Composition) graduation requirement. Successful completion of an IC course with a grade of C or better is a prerequisite to enrolling in courses that fulfill the General Education WI graduation requirement (Writing Intensive Course in the Major).

Course Goals
In this course, you will learn to:

Identify and Evaluate Arguments
We will learn to identify and evaluate the structure of arguments from a variety of disciplinary and (inter)disciplinary perspectives, including authors’ claims, evidence, appeals, organization, style, and effect. As you read arguments and create your own, you should be considering how an argument is put together.

Analyze the rhetorical situation
We will analyze the rhetorical situation for writing in various disciplines. We will account for audience, purpose, disciplinary context, and medium. As we read scholars in various fields, it will be your task to study and understand how scholars in different fields work within differing rhetorical situations.

Conduct research
You will conduct research using various resources in our academic library and on the Web. You will evaluate and cite existing research.

Develop a writing process
We will learn to develop a flexible writing process that includes generating ideas, writing, revising, providing/responding to feedback in multiple drafts, and editing texts for correct grammar, mechanics, and style. Each writer's process is different, and you'll be developing your own process and reflecting on that process.

Work with various technologies
You will learn to make productive use of a varied set of technologies for research and writing. We'll use various technologies in this class with the goal of helping you make use of these technologies in other classes and in various writing situations. You are not expected to become an expert in these technologies, but you are expected to take the time to learn how they work.

Course Work
The main project for this course will be to compile an anthology. Most of our assignments will build toward this final project. Coursework will include:

Reading Quizzes
Class discussion
Four Summary-Analysis papers (500 words)
Anthology Preface (2000-2500 words, 2 submissions)
Video Mashup

All assignments will be submitted via Dropbox. There will be a detailed assignment sheet for each assignment for this class. This sheet will provide you with essential information about the assignment. It will provide due dates, specifics of the assignment, and my commenting criteria. Please read these sheets carefully and refer to them as you complete each assignment.

Learning Record Online
Grades in this class will be determined by the Learning Record Online (LRO). The LRO will require you to observe your own learning and construct an argument for your grade based on evidence that you accumulate throughout the semester. You will record weekly observations and you will synthesize your work into an argument for your grade. You will construct this argument twice - once at the midterm and once at the end of the course. We will be discussing the LRO at length during the first week of class. See below for more details.

Attendance
The English Department requires every student to attend at least one of the first two class sessions in order to maintain his or her place in the class. If you do not attend either of these sessions, you may be asked to drop the class. If this happens, you will be responsible for dropping the class.

Success in this class will require regular attendance. I will take attendance at each class meeting, and your Learning Record will include a discussion of attendance. You are required to attend class daily, arrive on time, do assigned reading and writing, and participate in all in-class work. Please save absences for when you are sick or have a personal emergency. If you find that an unavoidable problem prevents you from attending class or from arriving on time, please discuss the problem with me.

Lateness
If you are more than 5 minutes late for class, you will be considered absent. If there is something keeping you from getting to class on time (i.e., you have a long trek across campus right before our class), please let me know during the first week of class.

Computers and Cell Phones
Please feel free to use your computer during class, provided that your use of it is related to what we are working on in class. Please silence and put away cell phones during class.

Grades
Grades in this course will be determined by use of the Learning Record, a system which requires students to compile a portfolio of work at the midterm and at the end of the semester. These portfolios present a selection of your work, both formal and informal, plus ongoing observations about your learning, plus an analysis of your work in terms of the five dimensions of learning and the goals for this course. You will evaluate your work in terms of the grade criteria posted on the LRO site, and you will provide a grade estimate at the midterm and final.

The dimensions of learning have been developed by teachers and researchers, and they represent what learners experience in any learning situation:

1) Confidence and independence
2) Knowledge and understanding
3) Skills and strategies
4) Use of prior and emerging experience
5) Reflectiveness

In addition to analyzing your work in terms of these dimensions of learning, your argument will also consider the specific goals for this course. These goals are called Course Strands (these are also listed above in the "Course Goals" section):

(1) Identify and evaluate arguments
(2) Analyze rhetorical situations
(3) Conduct research using various resources in an academic library and on the Web.
(4) Develop a flexible writing process
(5) Make productive use of a varied set of technologies for research and writing

The LRO website provides detailed descriptions of the Course Strands and the Dimensions of Learning.

Your work in class (and in other classes during this semester) along with the observations you record throughout the semester will help you build an argument in terms of the dimensions of learning and the course strands. We will discuss the LRO in detail at the beginning of the semester, and we will have various conversations about compiling the LRO as the semester progresses.

Late Assignments
Due dates for assignments are posted on the course schedule. While I will not be grading your assignments, I will be providing comments and feedback. I will not provide feedback on late assignments. Also, late assignments will be factored into your argument in the LR (see the grade criteria for more details).

Intellectual Property
Much of what we'll be working on this semester involves the appropriation of existing texts. This is no different than any other type of writing - all writing involves appropriation. The key will be to make new meaning with the texts that you appropriate. Copying and pasting existing texts without attribution does not make new meaning. Some of your work will make use of different materials (text, video, audio, image), and you will have to be mindful of intellectual property issues as you create texts for this class. If you have questions about Wayne State's Academic Integrity policy, please see the Dean of Students website.

Technology Policy
We will use technology frequently in this class. Although I am assuming that you have some basic knowledge of computers, such as how to use a keyboard and mouse, and how to use the Web and check e-mail, most things will be explained in class. If you don’t understand what we are doing, please ask for help. If you are familiar with the technology we are using please lend a helping hand to your classmates.

Course Website and Email
You should check your email daily. Class announcements and assignments may be distributed through email. The course website will also have important information about assignments and policies. Pay close attention to the course calendar as we move through the semester. I reserve the right to move things around if necessary.

Emails to me must come from your Wayne State email address. They must include a title explaining the email, a salutation (for example, "Dear Jim"), a clear explanation of what the email is about, and a signature.

Writing Center
The Writing Center (2nd floor, UGL) provides individual tutoring consultations free of charge for students at Wayne State University. Undergraduate students in General Education courses, including composition courses, receive priority for tutoring appointments. The Writing Center serves as a resource for writers, providing tutoring sessions on the range of activities in the writing process – considering the audience, analyzing the assignment or genre, brainstorming, researching, writing drafts, revising, editing, and preparing documentation. The Writing Center is not an editing or proofreading service; rather, students are guided as they engage collaboratively in the process of academic writing, from developing an idea to editing for grammar and mechanics. To make an appointment, consult the Writing Center website: http://www.clas.wayne.edu/writing/

To submit material for online tutoring, consult the Writing Center HOOT website (Hypertext One-on-One Tutoring): http://www.clas.wayne.edu/unit-inner.asp?WebPageID=1330

Student Disabilities Services
If you feel that you may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability, please feel free to contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Additionally, the Student Disabilities Services Office coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. The Office is located in 1600 David Adamany Undergraduate Library, phone: 313-577-1851/577-3365 (TTY). http://studentdisability.wayne.edu

WSU Resources for Students

Adamany Undergraduate Library http://www.lib.wayne.edu/info/maps/ugl.php
Academic Success Center http://www.success.wayne.edu/
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) http://www.caps.wayne.edu

Schedule

This schedule is subject to change
[Updated: March 20, 2011]

1/11
Syllabus, Introductions

1/13
Reading: LRO Website, Crowley and Hawhee (xi-xvii; 1-15)
Writing: Reading notes
In class: LRO, quiz, Discuss Ancient Rhetorics

1/18
Reading: Ancient Rhetorics/Kairos (16-53)
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss LRO, quiz, Discuss Ancient Rhetorics/Kairos

1/20
Reading: Kairos (53-63)
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss Kairos, quiz

1/25
Reading: Herron
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss Herron

1/27
No class

1/28
LRO Part A Due (noon)

2/1
Writing: SA 1 (Herron)
In class: SA 1 (Herron) Due, Discuss Stasis

2/3
Reading: Topics and Commonplaces (117-128)
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss Topics and Commonplaces, quiz

2/8
Reading: Topics and Commonplaces (128-152); Sugrue
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss Topics and Commonplaces, quiz

2/10
Writing: SA 2 (Sugrue)
In class: SA 2 (Sugrue) Due, Discuss Pathos

2/15
Reading: Extrinsic proofs (267-282)
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss Extrinsic proofs, quiz

2/17
Reading: Style (327-364); Zenk
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss Style, quiz

2/22 ***[Class Meets in SEL 156]***
Writing: SA 3 (Zenk)
In class: SA 3 (Zenk) Due, research workshop in computer lab (SEL 156)

2/24
Reading: All of your work to this point in the semester
Writing: Draft Midterm LRO
In class: Discuss LRO, Discuss Logos

2/27
Midterm LRO Due (by 10pm)

3/1
Reading: Memory (374-388)
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Memory, Research for SA 4, quiz

3/3 ***[Class Meets in SEL 156]***
Reading: Research for SA 4
In class: Research for SA 4

3/8
Writing: SA 4
In class: SA 4 Due, Editors meeting

3/10
In class: Editors Meeting, continued

3/15-3/17 Spring Break

3/22
Reading: Arrangement (292-306)
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss arrangement, discuss final paper, quiz

3/24
Reading: Arrangement (306-318)
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss arrangement, quiz

3/29
Writing: Draft of Preface (bring to class)
In class: Writing Workshop

3/31
Writing: Preface-First Submission
In class: Preface-First Submission Due

4/5
Reading: Delivery (405-416)
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss Delivery, quiz

4/7
Reading: Delivery (416-426)
Writing: Reading notes
In class: Discuss Delivery, quiz

4/12
Writing: Revise Preface (bring revision to class)
In class: Writing Workshop

4/14 ***[Class Meets in SEL 156]***
In class: Preface - Second Submission Due, Mashup Workshop

4/19 ***[Class Meets in SEL 156]***
In class: Mashup Workshop

4/21
In class: Mashup Presentations

4/25 Final LRO Due by 5:00pm

Assignments

All assignments for this course build toward the final paper in which students compose a preface to their own anthology.

Reading Notes

We will have quizzes throughout the semester. These quizzes will be timed, and they will be based on the reading assignments. You will be allowed to use reading notes for those quizzes, and these notes can come in any form you'd like.

Reading notes can also be used as work samples for the Learning Record, as long as you provide me with copies and/or electronic versions.

Summary-Analysis Papers

Due Dates

2/1, 2/10, 2/17, 3/8: S-A papers due prior to the beginning of class, submitted to your Dropbox folders.

As we collect possible texts for our anthology throughout the semester, you will be composing 1-page summary-analysis (S-A) papers. These papers will be extremely useful when you write the preface to the book. In fact, some of the work you do in these papers might be copy-pasted directly into your preface (though, your preface will certainly have to be much more than a copy/paste job).Your papers will be no more than one page, single-spaced and will have one-inch margins. Please include your name in the upper left-hand corner. One page gives you about 500 words to both summarize and analyze a text (this is not a lot of words). About 300-350 of those words will summarize your chosen text and about 150-200 of those words will be a rhetorical analysis of the text. Keep the following things in mind as you write your s-a papers:

Summary
Summarizing a text is not as easy as it sounds, especially when space is limited. The summary section of S-A papers should very concisely and carefully provide a summary of the argument. Please note that you are summarizing the argument and not every bit of information in the article. You should be looking for the main idea that guides the author's argument in the article/chapter. This will require you to set aside your own thoughts and opinions about the piece while you provide a summary of what the author is saying. Because you are limited to 300-350 words, you won't be able to mention every single point the author makes. Your job is to decide what's important and to provide a reader with a clear, readable, fair summary of the text. You won't have much space for quotations, so focus on summarizing the author's argument in your own words.

Analysis
If the summary section focuses on "what" is said in your chosen text, the analysis section focuses on "how" things are said. This is not a section in which you give your opinion about the content of the text you've chosen. Instead, your job is to analyze how the argument of the text works. In class, we have discussed how the tools of rhetoric help you make sense of an argument. In this section, you should use these tools to dissect and analyze the argument.

Grade Criteria
While I will not be grading your papers, I will be providing feedback. Here is what I will be looking for:

* Is your paper formatted correctly (one page, single-spaced, 500 words max, name in upper-left-hand corner)?

* Does your summary fairly represent the argument made by the author?

* Have you used your own words to summarize the argument?

* Have you devoted the appropriate amount of space to the two sections of the paper? Remember that the word counts I provide are just guides (not strict word limits), but also remember that both summary and analysis have to be adequately addressed in the paper.

* Does your analysis apply the tools and concepts we've talked about in class?

* Is your paper written effectively and coherently with very few grammatical errors?

* Was the paper turned in on time? (Reminder: I do not accept late work.)

For SA paper #4, you will be conducting your own research. For this paper, I will be asking:

* Have you chosen an appropriate text? Could this text be re-printed as part of an anthology? Is it long enough to be a book chapter? Does it belong in the book that we are designing?

Anthology Preface

Due Dates

3/29: Draft due (for peer review workshop)
3/31: First Submission due
4/12: Draft due (for peer review workshop)
4/14: Second Submission due(including cover letter explaining revisions)

Throughout the semester we have been researching a how scholars in various disciplines discuss Detroit, examining works that might serve as chapters in our anthology, and considering the purpose and audience of our anthology. Now is your chance to pull it all together by composing the preface to our book. Your preface should be 2000-2500 words long. The preface will serve to introduce readers to the text, map out the various arguments your text includes, explain how these arguments clash or overlap, and explain the purpose of the book.

In addition to submitting the preface, you will create a table of contents for the book. [see attached template below]

Your second submission will include a cover letter. The letter will explain how you've incorporated the feedback provided by your peers and by me. [see attached template below]

As you write the preface, think about the issues we have considered all semester long. NOTE: This is not a checklist. You do NOT have to address every one of these questions in your preface. This is a list of questions that you should use during your process of invention:

* Who is the audience for our anthology? Is it geared toward a particular discipline, or is it an interdisciplinary project? Why?

* What is the purpose of the book? This is where you might include some personal experiences. What is your own connection to this topic? What do you hope others gain from reading our anthology?

* How would you justify the inclusion of the contributions to our book? We could have chosen any number of scholarly articles or book chapters, but we chose these. Why? Defend our choices, and be specific.

* Who are the authors and what qualifies them to speak on this issue? This DOES NOT mean telling us about the scholarly degrees each of your contributors has. Since this is a scholarly anthology, most of your contributors will have PhD's. Instead, you should be much more specific. What qualifies this scholar to speak to this particular topic? What makes them an expert on it? You could mention their previous publications or any other information that explains why this author is qualified to speak on this topic.

* What are the various overlaps and collisions that happen between the texts we have brought together in this anthology? We have learned many ways to analyze arguments, and your task is to make sense of the pieces you've chosen by using the tools of rhetorical analysis. In addition to this analysis, you'll need to synthesize these arguments.

* Have you explained the patterns or gaps in the debate you're discussing? Have you looked for arguments or ideas that can be grouped together? Have you identified arguments or ideas that have been overlooked by those taking part in the conversation you've constructed?

* How is the book organized? Why? Each chapter of your book will consist of an author's work (and nothing else), but you can group these chapters into sections. This will help your reader make sense of the various arguments you've compiled in your anthology. You will be creating a table of contents, and that TOC should make it clear how you've organized the text (the order of the chapters, whether it is broken up into sections, etc.)

* What other books are similar to our anthology? How is our anthology different? Remember that your book is part of an ongoing conversation. You should discuss other texts that cover similar ground, and you should consider how your book is similar to or different from these texts.

Grading Criteria
When providing feedback, I will be looking for the following:

* Have you made use of the terms and concepts from our textbook in order to write your prefece?
* Have you appealed to the audience of your text?
* Have you explained the purpose of the text?
* Have you explained how the arguments in our book clash and/or overlap?
* Is your preface written effectively and coherently with very few grammatical errors?
* Have you included a properly formatted table of contents
* Was the paper turned in on time? (Reminder: I do not accept late work.)

For the second submission:
* Does your second submission demonstrate significant revision? (Significant revision means that the paper looks different and has been reworked. This is much more than fixing sentence structure and grammar. It involves rethinking the arguments and content of the paper).
* Have you included a cover letter explaining how this submission represents a significant revision?
* Have you incorporated feedback from peer review and from my comments on the first submission?

Attachment	Size
Table of Contents Template.doc	21.5 KB
Cover Letter Template.doc	21.5 KB

Mashup Anthologics

Due Dates
4/21: Presentations

Description
Most of our work this semester has focused on how scholars discuss Detroit. Together, we studied a variety scholarly works, and our anthology is an attempt to make sense of that research. This project will take a slightly different approach by examining the public conversation about Detroit. For this assignment, our research space will be YouTube. Thousands of videos on YouTube address the topic of "Detroit." Further, comments posted to videos and "video responses" are evidence that people are not only making visual arguments (with videos) but are also discussing the content of those videos. In many ways, YouTube is a database reflecting the public conversations about millions of topics, and it will be our task to make sense of the YouTube conversation about Detroit.

In this final project, you will create a video mashup. Much like your anthology preface makes an argument about the state of a scholarly debate amongst scholars, your mashup will piece together YouTube clips in an attempt to make an argument about how YouTube videos discuss, critique, or examine Detroit.

As you conduct research for the mashup, you should consider the following:

Who posted your videos?
You will have to do your best to figure out who posted the video. This does not mean tracking down the name of the person who posted it. Instead, it means figuring out if that user has posted other videos and drawing conclusions from these findings. By researching a user's contributions to YouTube, you can get a sense for their motives and you can evaluate their ethos.

What is the context of each clip?
Some videos on YouTube are from news reports, TV shows, or movies. This changes the context of the clip, and it changes who the "author" is. So, your main task is to provide some context for who the "author" of this clip is. Was this footage shot by news cameras, or is it amateur footage? When was the footage shot, and when was it posted (this two dates can be very different)? Was it posted in response to another clip? Are there similar clips that this clip is in conversation with? Are there comments posted? Do these comments reflect the "conversation" surrounding this clip? What kinds of debates have arisen around this video? Is the clip in a category? Has it been tagged? (Note: Categories are groupings created by YouTube to sort videos. Tags are descriptive words determined by users.) How might this category/tag affect the context of the clip?

Who is the audience?
Can you you gauge who the video was intended for? How does it attempt to persuade that audience? What strategies are used to reach that audience? Does it succeed or fail?

Rhetorical analysis
What strategies are used in the clip? These could be visual strategies (camera angles, closeups), audio strategies (music, sound), or verbal strategies (arguments made by people in the video). Just as you've analyzed arguments from journals, you'll be analyzing the arguments made on YouTube. Revisit the tools we've learned in Having Your Say as you analyze these clips.

Your mashup can be no longer than two minutes.

Goals of the Assignment

While I will not be grading your mashup, I will be providing feedback. That feedback will be focused on whether or not you've addressed the following goals:

1) Your mashup should be transformative. It should find a way to make the source materials new and to make us think about it in a different way.

2) Your mashup should show evidence that you've researched the source clips and that you understand their context. The best video mashups incorporate footage for a reason; they do not just combine footage at random. Your mashup should show us that you understand the rhetorical purpose of the clips you've chosen.

3) Your work should make its case without the use of voice-over and without relying on text. Your mashup should make use of sound and image to show us connections amongst the various clips that you've found during your research.