Advanced Composition
page index:
Advanced
Composition: Rhetorical Patterns
Writing
212-AR (MWF 2:15-3:05 p.m. in AB 327)
Houghton
College
Spring
2003
And
whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord
Jesus… Col. 3:17a (NIV)
BASIC
INFORMATION:
Instructor: Dr. Laurie A. Dashnau
Office: Academic Building 100-B (x5140)
Office Hours: M,W, F 10:00-10:45 a.m.
and 3:15-4:00 p.m., T 9:00-10:45 a.m.
and by appointment
Campus Phone: x5140 (off campus: 585-567-9514)
Home Phone: 567-8995
REQUIRED TEXTS:
DiYanni,
Robert, ed. One Hundred Great
Essays. New York: Penguin/Longman,
2002.
Ellsworth,
Blanche. English Simplified.
9th ed. Reading, MA: Longman, 2001.
Jacobus,
Lee A. Substance, Style, and
Strategy. New York: Oxford UP,
1998.
Trimmer,
Joseph F. A Guide to MLA
Documentation. 5th
ed. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1999.
OPTIONAL
TEXT:
Wienbroer,
Diana Roberts. Rules of Thumb
for Online Research. New York:
McGraw,
OBJECTIVES:
1.
Students will understand writing as a means of thinking as well as a tool
for discovery.
2.
Student writers will know and practice what is commonly known as
"good writing" in regards to language, thought, organization, and
style.
3.
Student writers will know and practice the "process" of
writing, discovering and developing their own practices along the way.
4.
Student writers will write three specific kinds of semi-formal and four
kinds of formal essays, employing specific rhetorical patterns, using library
research effectively, and following Modern Language Association (MLA) format and
documentation guidelines.
5.
Students who do not yet have Research (R) credit will be expected to
complete the "Introduction to Library Research" classes conducted by
the college's professional librarians during the first five weeks of classes.
REQUIREMENTS:
1.
Three semi-formal, shorter (500-750 words) writing assignments involving
a reflective narrative or descriptive profile (0.1; draft due Monday, January
20; revision due Wednesday, January 22), an analogy (0.2; draft due Wednesday,
January 29; revision due Friday, January 31), and a working definition of good
writing via examples (0.3; during our “exam period” Monday, May 5, 1:30-3:30
p.m.).
2.
Four longer, major papers (1250+ words, typed, double-spaced, in MLA format):
definition (1.0; draft due Monday, February 17; revision due Friday, February
21), cause and/or
effect (2.0; draft due Friday, March 14; revision due Wednesday, March 19),
interview/biography (3.0; draft due Wednesday, April 2; revision due Monday,
April 7), and argument (4.0; draft due Friday, April 25; revision due Wednesday,
April 30).
a. Research will be at the core of these papers.
Five sources are the minimum number to be used in each of these major
assignments.
b. MLA guidelines (including proper identification in
the heading and author’s last name and page numbers in the upper right-hand
corners) are to be followed at all times.
c. Complete first drafts (including all in-text
documentation and a tentative Works Cited page, with the failure for the
omission or incompleteness of either being a half-letter grade each off of the
paper’s final grade) and polished revisions of these papers are required.
d. Papers are due at the beginning of class on the
date due.
e. Revisions of the mini-essays are optional (see #1 above).
Meanwhile, one of the formal, longer essays must be revised for a new
grade (see #3 under REVISION POLICIES).
f. One paper must be discussed, in person (not via
the drop-off service), with a student tutor in the Writing Lab (Academic
Building 100-A). This requirement
counts 2% of the semester total.
With
the exception of one "grace period" by which a student may turn in a
revision up to one class period late, with no penalty incurred, late papers will
be penalized one grade level (e.g., A to A-) for each calendar day late.
No
paper may be handed in more than a week late, nor can such paper be revised for
a better grade.
In
order for a student to pass the course, the two initial mini-essays and the four
formal, longer essays must each receive a grade of C or higher. Any essays that
do not receive this satisfactory grade must be revised until they do.
3.
Energetic, thoughtful class participation and promptly completed assignments.
4.
Conferences. Each student will meet
with the instructor for a fifteen-minute conference during the first three weeks
of classes and a twenty-five minute conference one time when drafting or
revising a formal, longer essay. As
explained above, at least one additional meeting must be arranged with a student
tutor in the Writing Lab.
GRADING:
1.
Except for serious extenuating circumstances, students are expected to attend
all scheduled classes and conferences.
2.
Mini-essays will be graded on a 33-point scale; together, the three semi-formal,
mini-essays will equal one major essay.
3.
Each of the four major essays will be graded on a 100-point scale.
4.
Grades will be lowered for late drafts or revisions. See REQUIREMENTS, #2, and GRADING, #6.
5.
Rather than assign a D or an F to a given paper, I will ask a student to
conference with me. He or she then
will revise it before it is assigned a letter grade.
6.
Under ordinary circumstances, missing a reader response log group session will
result in a full letter grade being forfeited.
Bypassing any other stage (e.g., not doing a warm-up writing exercise)
will result in a half a grade letter being forfeited.
7.
Mini-essays will be graded holistically. The
formal, longer essays will be graded according to criteria distributed and
reviewed as each of the essays is embarked upon.
8.
Students who must miss a class are responsible for getting the assignment from a
classmate.
9.
Academic honesty is a prerequisite. Plagiarism,
in addition to being a severe breach of one's integrity, may result in failure
on a paper, failure in a course, and even dismissal from the college.
Always cite your sources completely, and always ask when questions or
concerns arise regarding the use of others' ideas and/or information.
10.
In sum, three
semi-formal, mini-essays: 33 points each x 3 + 1 automatic bonus point= 100
points (14.29%)
Writing
Lab conference with peer tutor=16 points (2.29%)
A
percentage will be calculated out of these 700 points and translated into a
letter grade according to the Houghton College scale. See page 30 of this year’s college catalog for more
details.
REVISION
POLICIES:
Both
the first two shorter and the four formal, longer essays may/must be revised
provided that
1.
earlier drafts and revisions of the papers are resubmitted along with the
revision;
2.
the revision is turned in on top, and clearly
identified as such in its heading,
3.
the final revision of an essay is turned in according to the dates specified:
Friday, February 28 for the initial two mini-essays; Friday, April 11 for the
first two formal, longer essays; and 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 7 for the third
and/or fourth formal, longer essay(s).
With
the (optional) revision of mini-essays, new grades will completely replace old
grades.
One
formal, longer essay must be revised, with revisions of other longer essays
being optional. In terms of
grading, where the difference between the old grade and the new grade is the
greatest, the new grade will completely replace the old grade. In all other cases--i.e.,
with additional revisions--the old grade and the new grade will be averaged.
Since
revisions are intended not to consist merely of surface error corrections, but
expected to be ambitious reworkings of subject choice, information,
organization, voice, style, etc., a student should conference with the
instructor or a writing tutor before undertaking a revision.
(under construction - use handout)
Advanced Composition (WRIT
212-AR) Essay Assignments
Houghton College
Spring 2003
Mini-Essay and Formal Essay
Assignments
Please
note: The assignment for Mini-essay
0.3, which will be completed during our “final exam period” (Monday, May 5,
1:30-3:30 p.m.) and which will be a reflection definition-by-example piece
concerning “good writing” we have discussed during the term, will be
distributed and reviewed at a later date.
Mini-essay
0.1: Narration Driven by Dialogue or Descriptive Profile
(complete
draft and two extra copies due: Monday, January 20;
revision
and all accompanying materials due: Wednesday, January 22;
optional
second+ revision due: on or before Friday, February 28)
Option #1
Write a short
narrative driven by dialogue: i.e., tell a story or relate an event driven by
conversation--in this case, one that entertains and/or spiritually encourages.
You will probably want to pick something that happened to you or that happened
to someone else, as you were able to observe it. The narrative, then, must be
true in the sense that it is factual, so it should be recent or memorable enough
to be rendered in detail, and in this case, it must have the specific purpose of
causing us to laugh or chuckle or admonishing us.
What is the broader purpose of narrative? Foremost,
we tell a story to give information, to tell what happened, when, how, why, and
to whom. Less obviously, but no less importantly, a story is told for other
reasons. Usually we tell a story because the event has both significance to the
teller and potential significance to the listener. In other words, the story has
as much of a "so what?" as a "what?" quality to it, although
we often concentrate much more on the showing than the telling aspects of our
narrative. (For this particular assignment, please use more than 70% showing and
less than 30% telling as a general guideline.)
Two facts about narrative stand out: first, narrative
takes place over time (that is, it is by nature chronological); and second, its
central part of speech is the verb. Time is indicated by three things: first, by
the sequence of events as they are told; second, by verb tenses (past, present,
future, etc.); third, by time or sequence indicators, such as when, after,
before, until, soon, now, in the past, presently, after a short time, etc.
Verbs, in addition to their significance in indicating time relative to the
action of the story, provide the action or energy of a story. One should,
therefore, choose lively, informative verbs and choose verb forms that are
simple, direct, and active. Single verb forms are nearly always stronger than
verb phrases, and active verbs create more energy than passive constructions.
While narrative generally moves from some early stage
in the event to some later stage, time or sequence can be shaped for the needs
of the subject as well as for the effects the writer is trying to achieve. One
can, for example, highlight important parts of the story while omitting
relatively unimportant parts. Another way to express this is to say that one may
warp time by expanding important elements while reducing or condensing less
important elements. Sometimes we may want to begin in the middle of the action
(en medias res) and then flash back to what has led up to a moment of
crisis, change, or insight. It is also possible to employ other techniques to
shape the story. When one is writing history, for example, the causal
relationships of events (a, b, and c cause(d) X to occur) are sometimes more
important than is a literal representation of time. Thus, the "story"
of history is often seen as "forces bringing about change" rather than
simply as "things happening" over time. Using a thematic frame is
another approach. In a frame the beginning and the conclusion of the piece touch
on the same idea or refer to the same point in time. Regardless of these
variations, however, it is still generally correct to say that all narrative
structure depends upon time.
All of
these elements with regard to time, action, energy, and structure provide us
with a sense that the narrative is about something larger--that it has a reason
for being told. We usually identify this "something" or this reason as
the narrative purpose. Often the purpose of the narrative is obvious and does
not need to be identified overtly. When this happens in fiction, readers may
talk in terms of theme in order to determine why the story was written and what
it might mean, although meaning may still be difficult. With non-fiction, such
as this assignment, the narrative purpose must be clear whether or not the
writer makes use of a thesis statement.
In a narrative driven by dialogue, tags are extremely
important. While they should not be
overused, they should be used strategically and gracefully.
Often they include such elements as the speaker’s name, the speaker’s
tone of voice, accompanying gestures, other relevant circumstances, and the
like.
When writing dialogue, also remember to begin a new
paragraph each time the speaker changes.
Option #2
Write a short,
self-contained description of a person about whom you are sympathetic and/or
whom you admire. Control your short essay by focusing your subject and creating
a single dominant impression through careful selection of concrete details.
Support or balance any general descriptive comments within concrete
details/evidence.
What is
description? Description provides details to help the reader understand a
subject by presenting it sensually, that is, by means of the senses. Usually the
writer will want to help the reader visualize his or her subject as a matter of
first priority, since our sense of the visual tends to be the most fully
developed; it is how we recognize and identify things. We might say, then, that
the purpose of description is to create for the reader a word picture or image.
Broadly speaking, description can or may refer to any number of verbal activities; a narrative, for example, might be thought of as a description of an event or action. A process analysis is a description of a process characterized by its stages or sequence. More narrowly, as the term is employed here, description refers to the details belonging to a specific physical subject. It appears whenever the writer wants the reader to visualize or when a general statement needs physical details for support or clarification. A description of the classroom you are sitting in, to choose a physical subject close at hand, would include shapes and colors, which are visual, and also might include the sound of the fans in the ventilation system or the cold draft that drops from the ceiling registers. Such non-visual details will help your reader develop a more complete or realistic sense of the room. How you choose and arrange my sensual details will contribute to the dominant impression your description leaves. If you concentrate on the color scheme, which is several shades of gray, the practical design of the arm-desk chairs, the sealed windows and vertical blinds, you will create a description that leaves the reader with the impression that the room is impersonal and utilitarian, even cold. If you concentrate on the arrangement of the desks, especially in relation to the blackboard and lectern, you will create a sense of the room's order, focus, and purpose
People and things, in addition to places, are fit
subjects for description. For this particular paper, you specifically are
being asked to choose a person. When describing, writers are particularly
concerned with finding nouns that are as specific and concrete and verbs that
are as energetic as possible. Adjectives and adverbs can be helpful, but it is
important to remember that modifiers should complement rather than overshadow
the words they modify.
How is description organized? A good deal of the
logic, or arrangement, of details is spatial, as indicated by the descriptive
indicators (prepositions) that follow: over, above, inside, next to, underneath,
just behind, beyond, etc. Description may also require a pair of eyes, that is,
a location from which the scene is being viewed--literally the point of view.
Because it is never possible to be exhaustive,
details are selected and arranged carefully to create a single dominant
impression. For the sake of understanding its function, which is created though
not usually stated directly, we might say that the single dominant impression is
equivalent to the thesis statement of an explanatory or persuasive essay.
Mini-essay
0.2: Parable or Analogy ("Crazy Like a Fox") Analysis or Creation
(complete
draft and two extra copies due: Wednesday, January 29;
revision
and all accompanying materials due: Friday, January 31;
second+
optional revision due: on or before Friday, February 28)
Write a short essay in which you examine a parable or an analogy. Relate a parable or an analogy that you have seen in print or heard in class, chapel, church, or conversation. Describe briefly its context and intended meanings; then evaluate its strengths and/or weaknesses. If you use more than one parable or analogy, relate them to one another and embrace both or all of them in your statement of purpose; consider relating either one good and one bad parable or analogy--or several--that exemplify different points on the good-bad spectrum.
A parable is a short, easily understood story used to illustrate a moral or religious truth. The word “parable” comes from the Greek word paraballein, which literally means “to put beside” and which implies that a comparison is being made. Numerous parables are found in the Gospels, serving as prime examples of didactic lessons Jesus used to communicate with the people of His day.
An analogy, as you know, is a "big" simile that someone has employed in prose rather than in a poem. Its primary function is the same in both places: to enhance the true subject. "Simile," like its cousin "metaphor," is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things; one of these things, the analogy (simile), is used to clarify, illustrate, give specific shape to, or to amplify the other (subject), which may be less well known, more complicated, or just abstract. One distinguishes between simile and metaphor in this way: metaphor just happens (e.g., "Jane is a pillar of her community") where simile is signaled by "like" or "as" (e.g., "John runs like a deer"). Analogy is a creative, subtle form of argument that encourages connection making.
The original intention for this assignment was for students to analyze a parable or analogy. However, if you would like to write a parable an analogy of your own, you may do so. (My only cautions if you choose to do the latter are that you make sure the parable or literal half of the analogy works and that you do not push your parable or analogy past its breaking point.)
Formal
Essay 1.0: Definition
(complete
draft and two extra copies due: Monday, February 17;
revision
and all accompanying materials due: Friday, February 21;
second+
revision due: on or before Friday, April 11)
Write an essay using extended definition as your dominant rhetorical pattern. This essay should incorporate research into outside sources of information for at least some of the aspects of the paper so choose a subject that permits such an approach, especially if you have not used research in your earlier papers. The general instructions for earlier essays regarding such things as focus and process apply here as well.
Choosing a subject to define is not difficult if you stay clear of the two extremes, namely, focusing on the very concrete or loosely focusing on the abstract. On the one hand, a writer who finds he or she has little to say on most subjects should not choose to "define" an object, a toothbrush, for instance. The exception to this general caution involves defining an object with complex or hidden aspects to it. A gun, to name one such object, is both a weapon of destruction and a tool for survival; to some it is a symbol of law and order, while to others it means death or oppression. On the other hand, large, complex, and/or abstract subjects may easily grow out of control. One must be very careful to focus a subject like "love" or "liberal," either by establishing a specific context or by intentionally restricting one's purpose, so that the essay does not ramble.
Determining degrees of concreteness or of abstraction will help one determine whether a subject is too large or too small to fulfill this assignment. One can estimate length often by noting ahead of time what approach one will take toward the term or terms to be defined and by mapping out the complex issue or context and examples; thus, it is useful to invest enough time preparing the subject before one actually begins writing the introduction.
As with cause and effect, the organizational options for definition will depend largely upon how much is known or needs to be known about the subject by the target audience. The writer's purpose and point of view also shape the essay structure and strategies. Generally, it is useful to accentuate the positive, i.e., to describe characteristics and to clarify or develop with examples. In other words, the general trend should be to answer the question "What is X [the word or phrase in question]?" rather than discussing simply or primarily "What is X not?" In some situations, however, defining a term negatively may be absolutely necessary. When one is defining positively, one will often use the common one-sentence formula before extending that definition into particular relevant directions. The one-sentence formula basically follows this form: A (term) is a (larger group to which the term belongs) characterized by its (differentiating qualities). [A dachshund is a dog characterized by its short legs, pointed snout, loud bark, and tendency to burrow or tunnel.] One extends such a definition by a variety of means, the most obvious being classification, comparison, and example.
While this is not the specific purpose of this assignment, bear in mind that definitions are often necessary in a larger discussion to let your reader know how you intend to use a word. If there are differences between common definitions and your use of a word, simple definitions are crucial to a proper understanding and reception of your essay.
Formal Essay 2.0: Cause and/or Effect
(complete
draft and two extra copies due: Friday, March 14;
revision
and all accompanying materials due: Wednesday, March 19;
second+ revision due: on or before Friday, April 11)
Write an essay using cause/effect as your dominant rhetorical pattern.
Your first task is to identify a subject that lends itself to treatment in such a pattern. Any subject about one might reasonably ask "Why?" or "What happened as a result of _____?" is potentially useful for cause and effect.
The second task is to focus your subject, usually by narrowing according to space limits, audience familiarity with the subject, and purpose.
The third task is to consider the nature of the causes and effects you have identified for your subject.
The chief difficulties for cause and effect are 1.) finding true causes and effects and 2.) simplifying without being simplistic. True causes are those events, motivations, or situations that clearly precipitate some result. It follows, then, that one should be careful not to mistake events that simply happen sequentially or chronologically for causes just because they occur close to or before the result. They may be causal, but they also might be coincidental. (The latter is known as the logical fallacy of post hoc, ergo propter hoc, Latin for "after this, therefore because of this." Think, for example, of the (il)logic behind the statement "It rained because I just spent $5.00 at the car wash.") It is the responsibility of the writer to sort through possibilities and find true causes. A similar caution needs to be made as regards major and minor causes. To this end it is often helpful to map out possible related events to help the writer visualize relationships among them.
The second difficulty lies in simplifying. If a subject is at all complex--and many are--it will be necessary to simplify it in the essay to help you meet length limits and to help your reader understand. The danger, of course, is in simplifying so much that either truth or credibility is compromised. When a writer presents a simplistic causal explanation, she may have made an error either in recognizing and reckoning with the complexity of a causal relationship or by presenting the material dishonestly, that is, without somehow identifying complexity. I do not mean to suggest that a writer must always explain all complexities in all subjects, but that she must acknowledge complexities as she focuses her essay.
How one organizes the cause/effect essay will depend on several factors, chief among them the nature, number, and complexity of the relationships being described. In a simple situation, where one cause leads to one effect, the writer might only be required to present and explain her prioritized reasons (i.e., her support) after making her claim. If two causes lead to one effect or one cause leads to two effects, the writer must, in effect, present two sets of evidence, being careful to clarify the nature of the links being established. Such care is particularly important in terms of choosing language that clarifies. If, as a final consideration, one wishes to establish a series of causes and effects that lead like a chain from one to the next, one must organize around sequence. In any case, the language of cause and effect is crucial; such words as "thus," "therefore, " "consequently," "because," "hence," "as a result," "then," "so," and "accordingly" are a few of the common terms considered causal indicators.
Formal
Essay 3.0: Interview/Biography
(complete
draft and two extra copies due: Wednesday, April 2;
revision
and all accompanying materials due: Monday, April 7;
second+
revision due: at or before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 7)
People make fascinating subjects. As we read in Substance,
Style, and Strategy,
...shorter biographical essays usually focus on a single quality of a person's life, or on a brief moment in that life. Sometimes it is a moment of crisis and great decision making, and sometimes it is a moment that reveals a surprising, and perhaps, tender, quality that the world may not have appreciated. The brief biographical essay succeeds because of its focus and its detail. But it also succeeds generally because most of us are interested in knowing how people live. (Jacobus 63)
We may want to know more about an admirable people
while being fascinated with someone else's horrible or seemingly unexplainable
deeds (63). Charisma, achievement, difference/uniqueness, qualities that we want
to emulate, and/or scandal all generate interest in a public figure (68-69). We
want to get into a person's psyche so as to understand better what makes him or
her tick in terms of that person's thoughts, feelings, words, and actions.
Moreover, [w]riting about other people helps us express
generosity, clarify our own values, and study behavior more objectively than
when we examine ourselves. It also gives us a chance to reflect on the meaning
of a life or the effect that individuals can have on others and on history
itself. The study of the human spirit is one of the most compelling studies that
we conduct. It is sometimes inspiring, sometimes appalling, but always
interesting. (64)
You are being asked to interview someone who is one
of the career fields to which you are aspiring or to interview someone
about a subject in which you are interested and he or she has some lived
experience and/or academic expertise. If, for example, you are planning to
become a Webmaster, you might want to interview our very own Steve Johnson.
However, if you are toying with some other possibilities, e.g., becoming an
editor, you might decide to interview Professor Emeritus Dr. Richard (Dick)
Wing, and in doing so use this opportunity to explore an alternative rather than
your (now) first choice. Exploring your second (or third or fourth) choice
actually may be advisable, as it may open you up to possibilities and ideas you
have not yet considered fully.
In any case,
Consequently, the writing warm-up exercises will revolve around preparing questions and doing relevant background reading.
Formal
Essay 4.0: Argument
(complete
draft and two extra copies due: Friday, April 25;
revision
and all accompanying materials due: Wednesday, April 30;
second+
revision due: at or before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 7)
For our final formal paper, you are to write an essay in which you identify an issue, take a position with regard to that issue, and argue a point. While many of the papers assigned to date have been persuasive in a general sense, this one will be intentionally focused around a persuasive objective; thus, choosing, shaping, and understanding a subject is critical. Just as the writer wants to understand and focus her subject well, so too she wants to understand and target her audience. In this regard, she will need to ask herself questions not only about what the audience knows or needs to know, but also about what attitudes the audience is likely to have concerning the subject in question; i.e., she will want to understand what her audience believes and what values it holds.
To write a successful argument, the writer will need to think in terms of "issues" as she chooses and focuses her subject. For our purposes, an "issue" creates conflict; that is, an issue is a subject that produces differences of opinion in the primary audience. Any subject about which we are all in agreement in not an issue for us. To argue a point with respect to that issue means to take a side, or to establish a position; and to write an argument is to influence your audience somehow toward your position. The key may lie in figuring out the "somehow." It is not necessary, and often unwise, to take what we might call "absolute" positions on issues, especially in view of the relatively short length of your essays. An absolute position is one in which the writer paints an issue in terms of its extreme, or absolute, positions and then claims one as the only intelligent, rational, or possible choice. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA's) attitude towards animal rights in a case in point. One is forced simply by the terms in which PETA usually presents its case to accept it or reject it as a whole.
This need to couch an issue in appropriate rather than absolute terms is particularly important for those with rigid belief systems. Most orthodox Christians find themselves struggling with this issue in terms of presenting "eternal truths," which by their nature are absolute, to skeptical or disbelieving audiences. If Christians believe that all humans need to accept Christ as Savior or that we value all life, they will find that their views not only are unpopular, but are also likely to stir up direct and immediate antagonism. Many readers will oppose the writer before any arguments are even made. The solution is not to toss out those beliefs but to choose approaches that allow the audience to engage the issues without drawn swords. Christians are constrained to choose appropriate opportunities and appropriate methods, which means, among other things, choosing which battles to fight and how to establish "common ground." Even those with hard and fast beliefs can enter these discussions as fair minded (if not open-minded) and reasonable people.
You may employ any rhetorical pattern to achieve your persuasive purpose. In fact, you may want to employ several rhetorical strategies if the topic so demands. All will require examples of some sort; many will need to have terms defined. You should also be aware that your argument might not be structured around patterns we have studied at all, but around some other logical means of development, whether deductive or inductive. What is important for us is that the reader be able to discern your means of argument, to weigh its evidence, and to test its validity.
