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I’ll probably talk about these in more detail later, but as our course descriptions (125 words max) were due yesterday, I thought I’d share. (I guess it’s a bit late for feedback.)

English 303: Reading and Writing Arguments
In ENG 303, we will examine the primary methods of argumentation as we analyze other people’s arguments and write arguments of our own. We will consider the forms of persuasive discourse we encounter every day, both the explicit ones that have a clear argumentative purpose and the implicit ones that many not seem to have a persuasive intent. As we discuss what generally makes for an effective argument, we will pay attention to the role audience and medium play in defining the criteria for effective persuasion. Our examination of argument will include a unit on visual rhetoric and a consideration of the (changing?) nature of persuasion in the digital age. Required work will include four projects and informal writing assignments.

English 315: Topics in Writing & Rhetoric: Memory, Technology, and Culture
What constitutes memory? A recollected experience? A ritual? A photograph? Can societies have memory? Can meaning exist without memory? Once considered the “guardian of all the parts of rhetoric,” memory is today its least studied part. In fact, at a time when the disciplines of history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and literary studies were all turning to memory, a prominent 20th-century rhetorician suggested that little could be said, in a theoretical way, about it. Interest in rhetorical memory, however, is again on the rise. As an introduction to rhetorical memory, we will begin this course with a survey of memory in Classical and Medieval rhetoric and in contemporary cognitive science, before turning our attention to the intersection of rhetorical memory, technology, and culture.

English 389: Rhetorical Theory from 1900
In the Twentieth Century, rhetoric has been defined as “the art of dressing up some unimportant matter so as to fool the audience for the time being” (Pound), “the study of misunderstanding and its remedies” (Richards), “the study of the means for producing future discourse” (Murphy), and “the study of honest, effective, communication” (Winterowd). In this course, we will survey rhetorical theory since 1900, beginning with Existentialism and ending with a consideration of the future of rhetoric as we enter into the digital age. Central to this course is the idea that we use rhetoric both to make sense of the world and to communicate our understanding of the world to others. Course work will include individual and collaborative projects and presentations.