Course Description & Goals
This semester, we will answer these questions by constructing and deconstructing public discourse in three spheres of rhetorical activity: (1) sci/tech writing, (2) social policy, and (3) higher education. We will study some of the arts of writing and editing that are intrinsic to each sphere to gain a better understanding of how they require more than just repetition and exposure—in fact, they require a sophisticated understanding of the relationships between rhetoric, audience construction, language, remediation, and medium—bringing alive the issues we care about through the texts that we create.
This is not a course in line editing or an introduction to the public sphere. (Students looking for a course in line editing should consider ENC 4212.) This is an advanced course in building the critical capacities that will help you to define “writing” and “editing” in their fullest sense. Readings and assignments stem from case studies that we will thoroughly unpack. For each “case” we’ll consider everything from context to intertext, looking equally at abstractions and minutiae, at content and form, at logic and delivery, at image and word. At the semester’s end, we will compose a project for the public sphere that asks us to apply what we have cumulatively learned.
By the end of the semester, you should be able to:
- compose and edit thoughtful, well constructed texts for a variety of audiences with different expectations and assumptions;
- analyze your own and other public genres for purpose, logic, organization, effectiveness, velocity, elegance, and delivery, recognizing how these concerns work together in various spheres;
- discover the principles underlying how writers read, revise, edit, and recreate for various occasions, across various media, and in various genres, both on- and off-line;
- understand how information is transformed as it becomes more “public” and how the functioning of rhetorical principles in one sphere can equip you to write and edit in another;
- negotiate the differences between expert and inexpert information;
- produce a substantial final portfolio that demonstrates your expert attention to all of the above.
Required
Access
- Laptop computer in class (for case studies, workshops, and our Wikipedia project)
- Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and Blackboard
- Printing capability (for those secure readings or class handouts you want to have in hard copy, or for the occasional assignment I will collect in hard copy)
- Portable media (USB drive, CD-RW, etc.) for submission of final portfolio elements
Paper is sometimes a necessity in this course, so you will need to figure out a strategy ahead of time for getting things printed on the occasions they are required. Tablets are not laptops. If laptop access is a problem on the days they are required, please see me at the beginning of the semester so we can make other arrangements. Limited class time will be provided for computer literacy and skills instruction. If you require more instruction, I can provide additional help outside of class or recommend other support for you.
Required Reading
- Blogging, 2nd Edition by Rettberg (ISBN 9780745663654)
- Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace, 5th Edition by Williams and Bizup (ISBN 9780321953308)
- Working with Words: A Handbook for Media Writers and Editors, 8th Edition by Brooks, Pinson, Wilson (ISBN 9780495050254)
- Assorted critical essays and webtexts in Blackboard Course Library (BB)
This course requires that you have material
forms of all of our texts, either in print/book format or downloaded in secure
electronic format. Partial, incomplete, or preview copies do not meet this
requirement. You must bring texts to class on the dates they are assigned without exception. This means that readings
marked (BB) should be brought to
class in either digital (laptop, e-Reader, etc.) or print format. Readings brought to class on your smart
phone won’t do you or your classmates very much good. Please bring Style and WW to class every day so that we can use them for different
activities. You should also expect to use them out of class as needed, since
every writer and editor can use at least one good handbook.
Evaluation & Grading
At the end of the semester, I will drop your lowest blog post and lowest short assignment. All else will be calculated into a final grade, using the 4-point system described in FSU’s Academic Regulations and Procedures (http://registrar.fsu.edu/bulletin/undergrad/info/acad_regs.htm). Please keep in the mind that at Florida State University, an “A” indicates exemplary work and means you have mastered the concepts of the assignment or made expert improvement as a result of careful revision. A “B” indicates very good work in which you have not only met all of the assignment requirements, but you have also met them at a level above expectations. A “C” indicates that you have sufficiently completed the assignment, have improved, and are moving positively towards mastering the concepts.
