Course Description: Students will analyze how persuasion occurs in public discourse by studying foundational rhetorical theories and methods of rhetorical criticism.  Through reading and writing criticism, students will evaluate the interplay of audience, situation, and rhetor; the rhetor’s choice to persuade in a particular manner; and how public discourse influences audiences. 

Course Purpose & Objectives: By successful completion of this course, students will: 

• explore, cultivate, and demonstrate critical knowledge about human rhetoric in a wide variety of circumstances
• develop a new awareness about the depth, complexity, and richness of texts and visual artifacts as rhetoric
• write more clearly, speak more ably, and analyze, interpret, and evaluate messages more soundly
• explore and analyze the ways in which communication technologies impact and generate rhetorical texts
• engage in textual analysis of written, visual/aural, and embodied forms of communication
• learn how to approach a message from multiple critical perspectives

Professor: Dr. Brian Carroll
Office: Laughlin Hall 100
Office phone: 368.6944
E-mail: bc@berry.edu
Home page: cubanxgiants.berry.edu
Blog: WanderingRocks.wordpress.com

Office hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 1-5pm; Wednesdays 3-5pm, by appointment, or just drop by

Policies

• Attendance: Be on time, just as you would for a job, surgery, or even a haircut. Everyone gets one unexcused absence or late arrival, maybe two, with no questions asked. Stuff happens. After that, unexcused and/or unexplained absences and/or lateness will result in point deductions from the "professionalism and participation" portion of your grade -- one point for each unexcused absence and/or late arrival. And late is late – one minute or ten minutes. It’s binary. What is excused is at the instructor's discretion, so you are best served discussing situations and extraordinary circumstances prior to class whenever possible. Medical attention typically is excused. Weddings, family reunions, vacations, job interviews, grad school visits, Winshape retreats, your roommate’s birthday? These are NOT typically excused. Save your free passes for these non-academic excursions.

  Late submissions (deadlines): Submit assigned work on time, printed out for grading, and submit this work in person. Do not email the professor your work; your professor does not offer a printing service. Similarly, posting your assignment somewhere in Canvas will not “count” as making deadline. Late work, including any work submitted any other way than that which is authorized, will be penalized one letter grade per class session. Work submitted a week or more after deadline will not be eligible for points. In-class quizzes cannot be made up, regardless of the reason it was missed. The instructor is very reasonable when consulted PRIOR TO deadlines. Finally, please appreciate that deadlines are also for instructors, so that we can move on, as well. In short, deadlines are real, they are our friends, and they will be enforced.

  Email etiquette: Related to the above, when emailing your instructor, please keep in mind that he is a person, not a vending machine for information, grades, etc. Begin each and every email with an address and a greeting, something like, “Dear Dr. Carroll. I hope this finds you well.” It’s courteous, and it doesn’t take much time to write. It’s also polite to thank someone for whatever was provided in response to your request. Speaking of email, it is the authorized communication channel for faculty and students at Berry, so you are responsible for checking your email and promptly responding to your instructors as needed.

  Distractions:  The instructor needs your attention and your respect, as do your peers seated near or around you. Your instructor is easily distracted, so he needs your help. Practically, this means:

  • ZERO unauthorized device use of any kind, including laptops, iPads, smartphones, and Apple watches. Put your devices away and make sure they are either off or on ‘silent.’ Use a device, even an Apple watch to check a text, and you will be marked as having been “absent” for that class session.
  • Doing homework for other classes somewhere else.
  • Avoiding the zipping up of backpacks and clearing off of desks prior to being dismissed.
  • Avoiding repetitive noisemaking, such as clicking pens, crinkling food wrappers, and clanging water bottles.

  Decorum: Related to the distractions described above, please remember that the classroom is the professor’s workspace and our shared learning space. It’s not your living room or den, in other words. You cannot, therefore, disappear with your phone into the restroom for 20 minutes whenever you might like. Getting up, leaving, using the door, returning, occasionally tripping over someone’s backpack and/or spilling their beverage – all of this distracts and interrupts. So, go the bathroom BEFORE you come to class. If nature calls – and I mean SCREAMS – ask for permission to (briefly) exit the classroom. Leave your phone behind. Students are permitted one or two “emergencies” during the semester, but deductions will be made from your professionalism and participation grade for chronic bathroom escapes or their equivalents.

  Academic integrity: Because academic integrity is the foundation of college life at Berry, academic dishonesty will have consequences. You are invited to consult the College Catalog for an articulation of the College’s policies with respect to academic integrity. Specific to this course, academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to: unauthorized collaboration, fabrication, submitting the same work in multiple courses, hiring a ghostwriter, asking an AI generator to write something for you that you later submit, failing to cite sources for your research (and, therefore, submitting others’ work as your own), consulting non-authorized sources or texts during an exam period, and aiding and abetting academic dishonesty by another student. Violations will be reported. Students who are sanctioned for violating the academic integrity policy forfeit the right to withdraw from the class with a grade of “W.” Attached to the course syllabus is the pledge of academic integrity you will be asked to sign for most major assignments.

  Class recording (Zoom): Per Berry policy, students are required to attend class in-person. Classes will not be available for remote learning, at least not regularly or without advance warning and authorization. Any recordings will only be available to students registered for this class and cannot be re-transmitted, distributed, or otherwise shared without the expressed, written consent of the instructor, who owns the copyright to the intellectual property contained in or by the recording.  

How you will be graded:

Takeaways/Residuals and activities	15%
Project proposal	10%
Literature review	15%
Analysis	15%
Smooth draft and peer review	15%
Final, finished paper & presentation	15%
Paper presentation	05%
Professionalism and participation	10%
Total	100%

To compute your final grade, add up your point totals, apply the appropriate percentages, then refer to the grading system summarized here:

A 93-100 A- 90-92 B+ 88-89 B 83-87 B- 80-82 C+ 78-79 C 73-77 C- 70-72 D+ 68-69 D 60-67 F 59 and below

Definitions of the grades can be found in the Berry College Bulletin. “A” students will demonstrate an outstanding mastery of course material and will perform far above that required for credit in the course and far above that usually seen in the course. The “A” grade should be awarded sparingly and should identify student performance that is relatively unusual in the course.

Academic Success Resources

Consultants at the Berry College Writing Center are available to assist students with all stages of the writing process. To schedule an appointment, visit berry.mywconline.com. The Academic Success Center provides free peer tutoring and individual academic consultations to all Berry College students. The ASC Session schedule is available on ASC Website: berry.edu/ASC.

Specifically, Morgan Thoem is a tutor specific to this course, an alum of the course. You can visit her in the ASC during her office hours, Mondays 8-10pm or Wednesdays 6-10pm.

Accommodation Statement

The Academic Success Center provides accessibility resources, including academic accommodations, to students with diagnosed differences and/or disabilities.  If you need accommodations for this or other classes, please visit berry.edu/asc for information and resources.  You may also reach out at 706-233-40480.  Please note, faculty are not required, as part of any temporary or long-term accommodation, to distribute recordings of class sessions. 

Finally, I believe we are here for a good time, not a long time, so let’s have some fun!