Racism Syllabus 2013

RHE 330D • Rhetoric Of Racism
44420 • Roberts-Miller, Patricia (Trish)
Meets MWF 1000am-1100am PAR 203
Office Hours: Parlin 21 WF 1:30-3:00; Th 10-12
Phone (email is better): 471-8378
Email: redball@mindspring.com
Advice on how to email a professor: http://www.wikihow.com/Email-a-Professor
My webpage (with many links to handouts): http://www.drw.utexas.edu/roberts-miller
To access UT webspace: https://webspace.utexas.edu/xythoswfs/webui

COURSE GOALS

I’ve long been interested in the notion that rhetoric is the alternative to violence; that is, talking is better than hitting, and a community that can resolve its differences discursively is going to come to better decisions in better ways than one that resorts to violence. But, discourses of racism complicate this simple faith in several ways that relate to the course goals:

1) Sometimes discourse enables violence; sometimes (a troubling number of times) rhetoric is used to persuade members of a community to hate some group, often to the point of exclusion, discrimination, or even genocide; that this group is often entirely a social construct, and the arguments are often dependent on a socially constructed taxonomy (e.g., “race”) doesn’t make the discourse any less real in its impact. The notion of race is a very recent concept (some scholars argue that it is a product of the Enlightenment; others put it in the Middle Ages). As you’ll see in this class, racist discourses are surprisingly unable to define the central concepts (such as “race”) in any kind of consistent way, let alone a way that fits the evidence they present to support their arguments about races. So, one course goal is to ponder: why is this discourse so persuasive?

2) It’s easy enough to see and say that rhetoric enables communities to work things through when the disagreements aren’t very deep, but what about in the really hard disagreements? As you probably know, it’s hard to have a productive conversation about whether something is racist, so, another course goal is to think about: how can we argue productively about whether a text, policy, or discourse is racist?

3) To say that “race is a social construct” is often taken to mean that we can simply ignore it, or that we are no longer troubled by it (we are “post-racial”). But, things like money, market value, nationality, and even gender are also social constructs, and yet our acknowledgement that those are social constructs doesn’t immediately lead to the notion that we can simply do without them. So, another course goal is to think about write about the question: how can we argue about “race” without falling into essentialism or denial?

4) Finally, but not least, this course is about learning to write interpretive arguments about definitions and about arguments that engage informed and intelligent opposition arguments—that is, multiple sides that are taken to be of good faith, even when we’re hurt or angry with one another.

Students will write and substantially revise three researched papers, each one between 1750 and 5000 words. There will be a short answer quiz, peer review, and short writing assignments due for almost every class meeting.

This is a demanding course; make sure you read the advice to students from other students. Also, read the assignment prompts—you may find that you have no interest in the paper topics. And I will say that the reading is very offensive and even enraging. (It’s not uncommon for students to report that they threw the coursepack at a wall.) Students generally recommend that you not take two courses with me in the same semester (since the papers in both classes are due on the same day).

REQUIRED BOOKS

Coursepack at Jenn’s
Fredrickson, Racism
Jackson, Race, Racism, and Science
Memmi, Racism

COURSE GRADING

PAPER 1.3 = 20%
PAPER 2.1 = 10%
PAPER 2.2 = 20%
PAPER 3.1 = 10%
PAPER 3.2 = 20%
MICROTHEMES =10% (up to 10.2)
QUIZ =10%

If you do not turn in a good faith first version of a paper (1.1, 2.1, or 3.1) on time, you may not revise the paper. (“Good faith” is defined later in this material—a “good faith” first submission is not the same as a draft.) If you don’t turn one in at all, you’ll receive a 0 (which is below an F); if you turn it in late without permission, you will not be allowed to revise the paper, and the first version grade (with late paper penalties) will count for both versions. So, don’t do it.

If a single piece of student work violates the academic honor policy, including microthemes or drafts, you will receive an ‘F’ in the course, and there may be additional penalties.

Getting a “No Grade” is not the same as getting a 0. A “No Grade” on a paper does NOT mean ‘F’ or ‘0.’ It’s a grade I use under certain circumstances (especially paper 1.1) to mean that the paper will not count toward the final grade, and the majority of the class usually gets a “No Grade” on 1.1; quite a few get it on 1.2 as well.

Students do badly in my classes for one of two reasons: they just don’t have (or don’t take) the time; they don’t pay attention to the instructions in the course material (particularly the details and warnings in the assignment prompts). You need to read this material carefully, and repeatedly. Make sure, for instance, to give yourself time for the “draft review” that is due with every paper—that is NOT the first submission, so you need to have a completed draft about 24 hours before the first submission is due. If you don’t have time for the course, including time to go to the Writing Center, come to student conferences, and meet with other students, this is a bad course for you to take.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

PAPERS. There will be three major paper projects. For each project, you’ll submit two versions (a third one for the first paper) each of which is graded as though it were the final submission. Hence, don’t look on that first submission as a draft–it isn’t graded as one. Papers are typically between eight and 25 pages, with most of the ones getting a B or better falling in the 8-12 page range. There are 8-12 page papers that get very low grades. Students tell me that they take about 8-10 hours on a paper to get into the passing range.

You have what rhetorical theorists call a “composite audience” for your papers. You have to write to two sorts of readers—other members of class who are familiar with your primary texts and have an alternative interpretation (an intelligent and informed opposition reader), and other members of class who are not familiar with your primary text. Writing to such an audience (not to me) means that you are not just announcing and supporting your position, but that you are trying to move someone who disagrees with you. You will often be able to rely on the class discussion and readings to find your opposition audience, but you may need to imagine a reasonable opposition to your position. If there is no reasonable opposition, then you don’t really have an argument—you probably just have summary. (You should be able to phrase your argument as “At first glance, it might look like this, but when you look more closely you see that.”)

You will submit each paper twice, but the first submission is not a draft. You must turn in a good faith first submission on time in order to have the opportunity to revise the paper. If you don’t turn in a good faith first submission, you’ll get a 0, and that 0 will count for the second (or third) submission as well. If you turn it in late without permission, then whatever grade you get on the first submission, with late paper penalties, will count toward the second as well.

Every semester, at least one student misunderstands why I insist on a full submission and not a draft, so I’ll try to be clear–you learn an extraordinary amount about writing by coming to see how much it is possible to improve a paper that you thought was perfect. Thus, the first submission of the paper should be one that you think is the best that you can do. Every once in a while, students turn in a nearly perfect first submission, in which case, the next two weeks are very sweet for them. For most students and most of the time, however, there is a lot of work between the first and second submission. So, don’t make the mistake of making minimal revisions between versions and expecting major grade changes: minimal changes to the paper will earn minimal changes to the grade. (For the most part, minimal revisions are what are called “lexical”–when the writer changes words and phrases here and there. Major revisions usually require dropping and adding entire sections and often require additional research.)

Make sure to include a Works Cited and Works Consulted on any paper for which you use outside sources (which should be every one). While you should not use a general interest encyclopedia or dictionary for your Works Cited, they’re find in the Works Consulted. Use MLA or APA citation method (which may not be what you have learned or what you use in other classes). For every assertion that is not common knowledge—or, in other words, that you learned in the course of doing the research for the paper—you need to give a citation. That includes information from the introductory material, from class, from google searches, from friends or consultants.

MICROTHEMES. A microtheme is a short piece of writing (at least 200 words except when it’s the thesis question) graded primarily on effort. The class calendar gives you prompts, but you should understand those are questions to pursue in addition to your posing questions. That is, you are always welcome to write simply about your reaction to the reading (if you liked or disliked it, agreed or disagreed, would like to read more things like it). Students find the microthemes most productive if you use the microtheme to pose any questions you have–whether for me, or for the other students. They’re crucial for me for class preparation. So, for instance, you might ask what a certain word, phrase, or passage from the reading means, or who some of the names are that the author drops, or what the historical references are. Or, you might pose an abstract question on which you’d like class discussion to focus. I’m using these to try to get a sense whether students understand the rhetorical concepts, so if you don’t, just say so.

A “minus” (-) is what you get if you send me an email saying you didn’t do the reading; you get some points for that and none for not turning one in at all. So failure to do a bunch of the microthemes will bring your overall grade down. If you do all the microthemes, and do a few of them well, you can bring your overall grade up. (Note that it is mathematically possible to get more than 100% on the microthemes—that’s why I don’t accept late microthemes; you can “make up” a microtheme by doing especially well on another few.)

Microthemes are very useful for letting me know where students stand on the reading–what your thinking is, what is confusing you, and what material might need more explanation in class (that’s why they’re due before class). In addition, students often discover possible paper topics in the course of writing the microthemes. Most important, good microthemes lead to good class discussions. That means that you won’t always get them back (I start to feel really guilty about all the paper I’m using); the default “grade” is √, except for ones in which you say that didn’t do the reading. (So, if you don’t get it back, and it wasn’t one saying you hadn’t done the reading, assume it got a √.)

If you get a plus or check plus (or a check minus because of lack of effort), I’ll send you email back to that effect. (I won’t send email back if it’s a minus because you said you didn’t do the reading—I assume you know what the microtheme got.) If you’re uncomfortable getting your “grade” back in email, that’s perfectly fine—just let me know. You’ll have to come to office hours to get your microtheme grade.

If you lose your internet connection and can’t email it, then send a text to that effect by the class time, and bring a hard copy to class. Please put RHE330D and micro or microtheme in the subject line (it reduces the chances of the email getting eaten by my spam filter).

There are 21 microtheme prompts in the course calendar. There are five possible “grades” for the microthemes:

+ 6 I give this for an extraordinarily good microtheme, one that demonstrates a clear understanding of the concept and applies it in an insightful way. These are very rare.

√+ 5.5 I give this for a microtheme that demonstrates a strong attempt to connect the concept to the text with some close analysis. This doesn’t mean you were right.

√ 5 I give this for a good faith effort at the prompt. Getting a √ doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve appropriately described or applied the concept. Note that if you get a √ on every microtheme, you will have over 100% for that portion of the grade.

√- 2.5 I give this for something that was minimal effort, or one that says you didn’t do the reading. If you get a √- on every microtheme, you will get 50% on the microtheme grade.

0 No microtheme, or one that is cut and pasted from another source (which might get you an ‘F’ in the class). Note that 0 is below 50%, so a low microtheme grade can bring down your overall grade substantially.

Please, do not send your microthemes to me as email attachments–just cut and paste them into a message. (The only exceptions are noted in the calendar.) Cutting and pasting them from Word into the email means that they’ll have weird symbols and look pretty messy, but, as long as I can figure out what you’re saying, I don’t really worry about that on the microthemes. (I do worry about it on the major projects, though.) Also, please make sure to keep a copy for yourself. Either ensure that you save outgoing mail, or that you cc yourself any microtheme you send me (but don’t bcc yourself, or your microtheme will end up in my spam folder).

If you get a check-plus or plus on a microtheme, print it up (the email from me saying that it’s a check plus) and make sure to put it in your folder so you can get the credit. You are responsible for keeping track of your microtheme grade. If you get a + or √+, I’ll either pass hard copies out in class or send you email back to that effect (unless you feel that that is sending you grades in email; if you do, just let me know). In addition to using the microthemes for class preparation, I find them really helpful for noticing recurrent issues in your writing, and I also use them for letters of recommendation.

LATE PAPERS. If you turn in 1.1, 2.1, or 3.1 late without permission, you cannot revise the paper. I have a stringent (even Draconian) late paper policy for two reasons. First, our schedule is packed, and getting thrown off even slightly will make both our lives miserable. Second, in my experience, students have trouble completing the work in a writing class because they’ve mis-defined the task. If I get involved, I can help. So, papers and work are due at the beginning of class. They will be dropped five points if they are turned in during class, and an additional ten points for every day late unless you contact me ahead of time. If you do contact me ahead of time (which includes sending email any time before class starts), then the late paper policy will apply to whatever the extension is.

Notice that this means that turning a paper in late could get you below an F (which is 50 points).

You are better off emailing me your paper on time than you are running around campus trying to find a printer.

In addition, if you turn a paper in late (even with an extension), chances are that you will not get it back before the next submission is due, and you may not be able to have a student conference.

ATTENDANCE. Official DRW policy is that if you miss over six classes, you will receive an ‘F’ in the course. When I first started teaching, I distinguished between excused and unexcused absences, and I found myself getting entangled in all sorts of ways. More important, I discovered that, even with the best of intentions, students just couldn’t make up the work–students who missed a lot of class did poorly. Poor attendance and poor grades are probably associated in this kind of class because one cannot “make up” the class work (in the way that one can with a lecture course).

Thus, I don’t distinguish between “excused” and “unexcused” absences. It is none of my business why you miss class. It is your business to contact me ahead of time if there is any work due on the day you miss (the late paper policy applies whether or not you are present in class), and also your business to find out from other students what happened in class. The only “excused” absences are for religious holidays and National Guard service.

If there are medical reasons for your absences, please talk to me so that we can arrange a medical withdrawal. If you miss close to five classes, you can expect that it will negatively affect your grade–not because I will punitively lower your grade, but just because you will have missed the discussions and information that would help you write better papers and exam answers.

In addition, coming to class more than ten minutes late, leaving class more than ten minutes early, or engaging in egregious forms of mental non-attendance (sleeping, not paying attention) constitute absences.

Finally, I don’t want to have a tardy policy, but I will mention that students who continually show up a few minutes late also tend to do poorly in writing courses. My personal crank hypothesis is that students do poorly because important announcements are made in those first few minutes, so those students keep missing important information. It’s also very rude to your classmates to show up late (as there’s always a disruption when someone comes in late). So, please show up on time. If there is some reason that you have trouble getting to class on time (e.g., a physical disability that slows you down, a prof who tends to keep you late), please, please let me know. If you have an issue with getting to class late, or with attendance, I will not write a letter of recommendation for you.

I’m sorry to have to do it, but I have to ban laptops, iphones, and all such devices. I’ve had too many students who spent their class time facebooking, texting, working on things for other classes, or generally not paying attention who then came to my office hours because they were lost in class (or complained in teaching evaluations that I hadn’t explained things). Also, those technologies distract students behind you (which is one of the ways that teachers know when you’re messing around and not just taking notes—they can see the student behind you looking over your shoulder at your crotch). Just as a general piece of advice, don’t underestimate the intelligence of your teachers. If you are really struggling in a class, and you look like you’re paying attention, most teachers will try to work with you as best they can. But you can imagine that it’s a little weird if a student doesn’t pay attention in class and then wants all sorts of extra time outside of class.

RECORDING CLASS. You are not allowed to audio or video record the class without my written permission. I generally don’t give that permission unless it is necessary for an ADA accommodation. Students are more hesitant to participate in class discussion if it’s being recorded, so it has a chilling effect on class discussion.

OFFICE HOURS. Office hours are your time–you can come by just to chat about the class, talk about things only minimally related to the class, go over course material that’s especially interesting or confusing, brainstorm your papers, go over paper comments, or even just shoot the breeze. Students sometimes come to me for help on writing statements of purpose, appeal letters, or papers for other courses–that’s fine (and you’re welcome to do that long after you take a course from me). Some students prefer to get help through email, which is perfectly fine by me (and can be especially convenient on weekends), but I can’t guarantee I’ll get back to you before the next class.

PLAGIARISM. Plagiarism is the unattributed borrowing of ideas or language. It does not matter if the original source is a published book or article, something from the web, something written (or told to you) by a student, or even work for another course. Changing a few words here and there does not solve the problem–correctly citing the source does. Any plagiarized coursework will receive a 0 (that is below an ‘F’). Even a single instance of plagiarism may result in an ‘F’ in the course.

There’s a handout in the coursepack on plagiarism, and most handbooks have good explanations of what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it. But, if you ever have any questions about how to cite, or if you are concerned that you have a borderline situation, just put a note in the margin of your paper saying that you are unsure.

Part of what I hope you will learn in this course is that citation of your sources is not something one does to please obsessive teachers, but a basic ethical responsibility of anyone participating in public discourse. You should always try to be clear where you have gotten your information from, and you should always insist that others tell you where they got their information. And you should know how to judge the basic credibility of those sources.

DISABILITY STATEMENT Students With Disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic adjustments for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TDD. If you have a disability, please let me know immediately, so that we can make appropriate accommodations.

If you have a disability that is temporary, or not quite in the realm of ADA recognized (e.g., you sprain an ankle, and are having trouble getting to class on time, or you need to be near the board to read it), let me know, and we can easily work something out.

EMAIL NOTIFICATION. The official policy of UT is:

Electronic mail (e-mail), like postal mail, is a mechanism for official University communication to students. The University will exercise the right to send e-mail communications to all students, and the University will expect that e-mail communications will be received and read in a timely manner.

UT uses whatever email you have listed on your UT Direct page, so make sure to keep that updated. Blackboard will send notices to that address, so, if your email address is incorrect, you won’t get notices when I clarify or change assignments.

CLASS CALENDAR. Following is the preliminary class calendar–as I learn more about your interests, strengths, and needs, I’ll make some changes to the reading as I get to know what you need. Work is due on the day shown on the calendar. I need you to look over this calendar and compare the due dates of the papers with the due dates of major projects in your other classes. I don’t want to have papers due on days when several students have exams or projects due in other classes, so please let me know ASAP if there are problems with any of the dates. (As time passes, it will become increasingly difficult for us to make changes.) Notice that sometimes the assignment for a particular day goes on to the next page.

If you ever have a question about a prompt (microtheme or paper), email me. Just as it is at work, lack of clarity in instructions means you need to get the instructions clarified; it doesn’t mean you’re free from having to do the assignment.

Sometimes things go wrong in the photocopying process, or it’s hard to find reading, or the instructions are confusing. If several students ask me the same question, I’ll email the class as a whole—so, it’s good for you to ask me questions about the syllabus.

Also, note the “necessary but not sufficient” requirements at various moments. Don’t let them sneak up on you. If you try to do those at the last minute, you won’t be able to, and that’ll hurt your overall grade.

PAPERS A “good faith” submission is at least 1250 words, responds appropriately to the assignment, does not violate the academic honor policy, has a substantial number of quotes from the relevant primary material, and makes an interpretive argument. It does not have asides (e.g., “In the next version, I’ll…”) You should expect that it will take you ten to twelve hours to do a good faith submission, not including the time for reading and research. If a single piece of student work violates the academic honor policy, you will receive an ‘F’ in the course; there may be additional penalties.

Papers 1.2, 1.3, 2.2, and 3.2 must be substantially revised. Substantially revising a paper means, at a minimum, you respond to every comment the teacher makes (teachers get really irritated if they remark on a misspelling in one version that remains in the next). But simply changing things at points with a margin comment is rarely enough to change a grade. Research on paper commenting shows that it doesn’t help students if teachers remark on every single error—what is more effective is for the teacher to note an example of a recurrent problem, and for the student then to try to find all the other cases of that problem. (Since, after all, to become a good writer you need to become a critical reader of your own writing.) If you don’t understand (or can’t read) a comment, or you understand it, but don’t have great ideas as to how to respond to the criticism, please come see me; that’s what office hours are for.

The most common problem for the first paper is that students have far too many assertions and very little evidence from the primary texts to support their assertions. Students often have enough claims in the first paper for two or three papers. For the second paper, students have often narrowed their topic, but still fail to provide adequate evidence.

It’s really easy to see if you have enough evidence. Your papers will have quotes from primary and secondary material: that is, you’ll be using a secondary (e.g., Burke) to talk about a primary (e.g., Triumph of the Will). Make sure you have more than one quote or example from your primary to support every one of your claims.

PAPER TOPICS. Notice that the students recommend that you look over all the paper topics now, and get started well before the paper is due. The prompts are designed to get more complicated and more time-consuming as the semester progresses—you’ll need a lot of time just for research for the final paper. Much of the research cannot be done just from your computer; you’ll have to go to the library. I’ve made an effort to come up with topics that are comparable in terms of work and difficulty. Sometimes we can work out other topics, but only if you come talk to me well before the paper is due.

Whether or not you do outside research, remember that you have to cite the sources of ideas as well as language–it doesn’t matter if the source is another student, another class, a paper for another course, the Internet, a book, or an article. If you have any questions about how to cite appropriately, or if you are nervous that you are plagiarizing, just write a note in the margin of your paper to that effect. Any handbook tells you how to cite sources, including webpages; papers without appropriate citation will be considered late.

I’ve grouped the assignments on the basis of course readings, but, if you discuss it with me at least a full week before the paper is due, you can do an assignment from another part of the course I just need to make sure that you write on a range of topics, and that your papers remain within an appropriate range of difficulty. If you simply turn a paper in from another part of the course, you can expect icky consequences.

Paper Topics for Paper One

In this paper, you’ll look at the attempt of a rhetor to draw attention to racial injustice within the context of a specific debate. (In other words, you’ll need to look at the argument to which they’re responding—that means you’ll read a lot more than you put into the paper.) Your paper will look at the use of some rhetorical concept (NOT ethos, pathos, or logos) discussed in class lecture or readings and how it is invoked, disputed, or manipulated within the debate. You might use association/dissociation, decorum, identification, a specific or universal topos, interpellation. I’ve listed authors below; you’ll want to find primary texts by them that you can analyze. It might seem that short texts are easier, but they’re actually harder.
• William Apess
• Charles Ball, Fifty Years in Chains
• Ruth Benedict, Races of Mankind
• Franz Boas’ criticism of Madison Grant’s Passing of the Great Race
• Ruth Muskrat Bronson, Indians are People, Too
• Ella Deloria, Speaking of Indians
• Cesar Chavez (http://www.cesarechavezfoundation.org/_cms.php?mode=view&b_code=00101300…)
• E. Pauline Johnson’s “A Strong Race Opinion: On the Indian Girl in Modern Fiction”
• Alain Locke, Race Contacts and Inter-Racial Relations
• Opposition testimony during the Spring 1942 hearings regarding Japanese internment (especially Sakamoto or Matsuoku)
• Something from this site: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/blackspeech/
• Zitkala-Sa, “Why I am a Pagan” http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=ZitPaga.sgm&images=i…
• Maria Stewart
• Tecumseh
• David Walker, An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World
• Ida B. Wells, The Red Record and Southern Horrors
• Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet”

Paper Topics for Paper Two

Compare and contrast two definitions of “racism” by applying both to one text, showing the differences in application. That is, scholars put forward heir own definitions because they think that their definition captures characteristics missed by existing definitions. In this paper, you’re trying to confirm, disconfirm, or complicate that hypothesis. You can either apply the different definitions to something definitely racist, or to something that is borderline. You can use any of the texts we’ve gone over in class, or suggest others (by 3/8). Some suggested texts are:
• Aryanism.net
• E.S. Cox, White America
• anything from the list for paper three (but then you couldn’t write on that for the third paper)
• Birth of a Nation
• World War IV (Podhoretz) (The interesting question about this text is whether it’s racist, or religious bigotry.)
• “The Hispanic Challenge”http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2004/03/01/the_hispanic_challenge

Your goal in this paper is to make a point about definitions of racism, as much as (or even more than) making a point about the primary text. So, it’s perfectly possible that your thesis would end up being something like, “By this definition, it is racist, but by this one it is not.” You might (but don’t have to) argue that one definition is better than another, or that it captures something nuanced, but you might also argue that they’re equally good, and simply point to different things.

Paper Topics for Paper Three

Each of these paper topics requires considerable research and additional outside reading.

Analyze the debate over the racism of one of the following texts:

Films and TV: Imitation of Life; Dances with Wolves; Soul Man; Black Hawk Down; Out of Africa; 300; Driving Miss Daisy; Triumph of the Will; The Green Mile; The Lord of the Rings; Spanglish; American Gangster; Mississippi Burning; Porgy and Bess; Crash; Merchant of Venice; Othello; Django Unchained; The Wire; The Help; To Kill a Mockingbird; Passage to India; Jewel in the Crown; Last Samurai; Big Trouble in Little China; Falling Down; Aladdin; The Toy; Passion of the Christ
Books and written texts: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Uncle Tom’s Cabin; The Pioneers; Last of the Mohicans; The Negro Family: The Case for National Action; “Broken Windows” (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/304465/); Counting Coup

I’m not asking you to take a stand on whether the text is racist (in fact, you shouldn’t), but to look at the debate itself–are people disputing the racism because they have different definitions of racism? Or because they fail to define the term at all? You might think about the debate in terms of the rhetorical triangle—are the interlocutors at different points?

Do NOT write about something on which you think one side is absolutely right and the other benighted fools. It’s fine if you think one side is right and the other wrong, but you have to think the wrong side is a plausible and well-done argument (in other words, there is a difference between an argument that is good, and an argument with which you agree).

A very hard part about this assignment (and one that takes several hours) is simply finding good texts to analyze. Students who did badly on this paper in the previous class (and by “did badly” I mean “flunked”) did so because they went looking for texts to analyze at the last minute and couldn’t find good arguments on both sides. So, start early. You may have to change topics if you can’t find good texts. You need to make sure that there are reasonable and thorough arguments on both sides of the debate–it surprises students, but this paper is impossible to write if you pick something where one side of the argument is weak. A weak (or short) set of arguments doesn’t make the paper easier; it increases the likelihood you’ll write a failing paper.

You’ll notice that you’ll have a chance to generate some possibilities of your own with one of the microtheme prompts.

GRADING CRITERIA FOR PAPERS
As I keep saying in class, different readers emphasize different criteria. There are some generalizations that one can make about categories of writing (e.g., how high school writing is different from college writing), disciplines (e.g., the different things that English literature teachers tend to value as opposed to what Government teachers tend to value), and contexts (e.g., exams versus researched papers). But, unfortunately, many of the differences are hard to predict–some readers break out in hives when they see a sentence that begins with a coordinating conjunction (e.g., “But,…”), and some have odd quirks (e.g, me and the “dawn of time” introduction). On the whole, though, I think the following criteria will tend to help you in most situations. The one major difference is that many readers put some emphasis on “format;” for me, that’s part of “ethos.”

Thesis
The thesis is appropriate to the assignment (it’s amazing how often this is the major problem). In this class, that means it’s an interpretive argument (an argument putting forward a disputed or unexpected interpretation of a text or set of texts). It responds to one of the assignment prompts (again, this is often a major problem for students in college generally) through formulating a more specific and narrow version of the question.

This is the single most important criterion for me for grading, accounting for approximately 20% of the final grade.

Proof
It seems to me that the major difference between high school and college writing (and exam and paper writing) is the latter require proof, and the former do not. In “display” writing, or anytime one is writing to an “in” audience, proof is not really necessary. But, it’s tremendously important for persuading an intelligent and informed audience.

Evidence
In this class, almost all of your evidence will be quotes from the text. In other writing situations, you might use analogy, argument from authority, argument from consequences, example, or reasoning from the rules of logic. The relevant kind of evidence varies from discipline to discipline. Notice that if you don’t have enough evidence, you can’t possibly have adequate analysis (what would you analyse?); with inadequate evidence and analysis, your proportion will be off, and you won’t have responded to your audience’s main concerns. So, your evidence should be your main concern. The main problem that students have is that they give one quote to support their claim—if you have one quote per claim, you will probably write a failing paper.

Analysis
Some teachers call this “explanation,” and that’s also a useful way to think about it. For most kinds of writing (newspaper writing being one exception), readers need you to tell them what your evidence is and also how you think they should interpret it. Simply quoting the text, especially in the form of “hanging quotes” (quotes that are separate sentences, not incorporated into the text), is not persuasive.

Organization
Readers often describe this criterion as “flow” (a completely useless, when not actively harmful, term). The basic issue is whether the ideas seem to move sensibly from one to another. That reader perception is shaped by two things: the order of ideas; the degree and quality of “sign-posting” (or “metadiscourse”).

Order
As explained in “Advice on Writing,” there are lots of different ways of structuring your paper. Some disciplines have the structure specified (e.g., lab reports in experimental sciences). In general, the best structure is to move from “known to new”–that is, from what your audience already knows and is willing to grant to what is new. Or, as I keep saying, imagine that you are giving directions to your audience–start with where they are, and move them through the intervening areas to where you are.

Proportion
Order actively affects readability; proportion is more important for how persuasive your argument is. The basic principle is simple: make sure that you spend the most time on whatever most needs proving. In practice, that can be tricky to figure out, but ensuring that you explore your major claims pretty thoroughly will usually work well.

Introduction
A good introduction establishes certain clear expectations with the reader–specifically the topic (which is most usefully thought of as the specific question your paper answers), genre, and your ethos. When the reader finishes the introduction (which may or may not be one paragraph) s/he should be clear just what the paper will be about, what kind of paper it will be (e.g., a policy proposal, a history, a literary interpretation, a comparison of various theories), and your ethos (well-read, fair-minded, closed-minded, sloppy, careful, dishonest). The introduction should persuade your reader that there is a real question that the reader should want answered, and that you are the person to answer it. It does not have to have your thesis, unless you have a lazy reader. In this course, it should not have your thesis. Instead, it should have a clear statement of the problem your paper will pursue (not your answer to that problem).

Conclusion
A good conclusion is often two paragraphs: one that summarizes your argument, and one that points toward additional speculations. The summary part of your conclusion can be written by having a sentence the paraphrases each part of your paper. If you’re good at writing summary introductions, moving it to your conclusion will often work well. When you engage in speculation, make sure to signal that to your reader through your word choice (“one might conclude…this might suggest…”).

Ethos
This term simply means your credibility. Your credibility is affected by how careful you appear to have been–what sources you used (hence whether you have a Works Cited page that is useful), whether you seem to have looked over your work (hence spelling specifically and proofreading generally), whether you are clear (hence style), and whether you have looked at all the evidence.

Audience
A persuasive paper (that is, one that actually persuades an intelligent and informed reader) uses relevant evidence, considers alternative interpretations, and takes into consideration special concerns the audience might have. This criterion is closely connected to evidence and ethos (and, in fact, one that goes wrong with evidence will usually go wrong with all three).

SOME ADVICE ON THESIS QUESTIONS
Make sure you read the section on introductions in the “Advice on Writing.” First off, a thesis question is different from a thesis statement in that one is a statement and one is an implicit or explicit question. In this class, do not put your thesis into your introduction. Instead, your introduction should raise the puzzle, paradox, or violated expectation—your introduction should pose a question.

Delay your thesis statement (which I often simply call “thesis”) until your conclusion.

This strategy will have several consequences for your writing. First, it will make you think first about the interpretive problem your paper pursues, rather than your answer. An interesting paper deals with an interesting problem (as do most interesting texts). Second, it will help you refrain from arguing by repetition; that is, students often write by repeating their point over and over. If you can’t repeat your point, you actually have to argue for it.

QUIZ
These are probably the terms you need to know for the quiz (the date is on the class calendar). You will be asked to give the definition and an example for each term (note that two of them break into multiple parts, so you can get 16 points for the Burke, and 32 for the Paxton). You’ll get up to 2 points per term for giving an accurate definition and up to 2 points per term for an apt example. I am open to the argument that the items on this quiz should be different.

cunning projection
dog whistle politics
fallacy of the false dilemma
identification/division
ingroup/outgroup
interpellation
scapegoating
motivism
naïve realism
nostalgia
socially constructed v. ontologically grounded taxonomies
ultimate terms