Course Objectives:
In this course, you will continue to view writing as a process and to write for a specific audience and purpose. You will enhance your critical thinking, reading, and writing skills, and you will develop your research skills. Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to identify types of persuasive appeal, summarize and evaluate analyses and arguments, write both analytical and argumentative essays, and incorporate researched material into a formal paper.

Procedures and Structure:
In addition to your own original writing, you will be asked to read and write about a variety of texts by published writers. We will closely analyze the rhetorical elements of these texts and respond to their use of logos, ethos, and pathos. You will also be asked to engage in group activities, such as responding to and editing one another’s writing in peer workshops, and to participate in active dialogs in class. Thus, for this class to be effective, you must be prepared to share—that is, read and discuss aloud—your writing with the class on a regular basis.

All essays are expected to be typed or word-processed and double spaced with one inch margins on all sides and are to include the following information in the upper left corner: your name, the date, the course and section number, the draft version (1st, 2nd, etc.). I expect that you will have a clean printed copy for the writing workshops and for final submission. Prepare your work in advance and always have a backup disk.

Special Topic Courses:

African-American Literature

American Popular Culture