FS2012 RHE330E (Propaganda)

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FS2012 RHE 330E • Propaganda  44255 •

Meets MWF 1000am-1100am PAR 308

Trish Roberts-Miller Office Hours: MWTh 1:30-3:00 Parlin 21.

471-8378 redball@mindspring.com

Microthemes should be sent to: redball@mindspring.com

http://www.drw.utexas.edu/roberts-miller

To access UT webspace: https://webspace.utexas.edu/xythoswfs/webui

(If you don’t know about webspace, ask in class.)

My goal in writing this course description is to persuade students to enroll who want a challenging, interesting class that will improve their writing. Does the fact that I'm trying to get my intended audience to do something mean this course description is propaganda? What I want them to do--enroll in my course--benefits me. After all, if I succeed rhetorically, then I have a class full of interesting students who are willing to work hard. What if, in the course of trying to persuade students, I promised certain benefits to the students--your writing will improve, you'll learn a lot about propaganda, you'll learn a lot about how to do research--does that make it propaganda?

Or is it only propaganda if I appeal to the emotions of my potential audience? I could have a fear-inducing paragraph about the horrors of propaganda--the ways that people have been persuaded to go to war, support corrupt politicians, buy dangerous products, put their money in worthless investments, all through effective propaganda. Or, perhaps, I could appeal to greed, and claim that this course will enable students to sell anything to anyone, as some books claim. But, if my claims are accurate--if propaganda really has done harm, and if students really will improve their writing (the course won't really enable you to sell anything to anyone)--then is it still propaganda? Obviously, this course will raise a lot of questions about the concept of propaganda--if it's even a useful concept, how scholars have tried to distinguish among kinds of rhetoric, what seems to make propaganda effective, what seem to be the marks of unethical propaganda.

Students will write and substantially revise three researched papers, each one between 1750 and 3000 words (it’s common for good papers to be longer, but rare for them to be shorter). There will be short writing assignments for every class, and there may be a midterm or final exam, depending on student performance.

COURSE GOALS

This course has several goals:

1) to improve your ability to write researched interpretive arguments;

2) to improve your skills in rhetorical analysis;

3) to familiarize you with some of the major controversies regarding propaganda and ethical public deliberation specifically and the discipline (and practice) of rhetoric more generally;

4) to enable you to identify misleading moves in argumentation.

REQUIRED BOOKS

Herman and Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent

Pratkanis and Aronson, Age of Propaganda

Goldacre, Bad Science

Coursepack at Jenn’s

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.) Furthermore, you will receive a 0 (which is below an 'F') on that paper, so 30% of your final grade will be 0. Thus, if you fail to turn in 1.1 on time, expect a note from me telling you to drop the class.

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 section 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. Every paper requires research using scholarly sources (and neither general interest encyclopedias nor dictionaries count as scholarly sources.)

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. In other words, if you do not turn in a good faith effort at a first submission on time, you will receive a 0 for 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 or 2.1 and 2.2, and so on.

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. (If you do secondary research on the microthemes, you need to tell me where you got your information.)

MICROTHEMES. A microtheme is a short piece of writing (usually 200-500 words is plenty) graded primarily on effort. I am not asking you for a formal essay, but for your reaction to the text, and for you to try out the concepts. 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 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.

You get – (minus) 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 Ö, 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 Ö.)

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 check 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.

The microthemes should be sent to redball@mindspring.com. 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.

There are 27 microtheme prompts in the course calendar. There are six possible “grades” for the microthemes:

“grade”	points	explanation
+	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.
Ö+	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.
Ö	4	I give this for a good faith effort at the prompt. Getting a Ö doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve appropriately described or applied the concept. Note that if you get a Ö on every microtheme, you will have over 100% for that portion of the grade.
Ö-	3	I give this for something that was minimal effort.. If you get a √- on every microtheme, you will get 75% on the microtheme grade.
-	2	A microtheme that was on time, and says that you didn’t do the reading or you didn’t do the microtheme. Notice that this will get you 50%.
0	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. 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). Please put “microtheme” in the subject line. I can’t accept microthemes late (for obvious reasons); if you have computer problems, let me know. (Also, you can set your mail so that you get a receipt when I open your mail.)

You’ll rarely hear back from me on them (although I’ll talk about them in class); they’re “writing to learn” and so the important aspect is what you learn in the course of writing them. You should assume that you got a check unless you sent one that said you didn’t do the reading or you hear back from me.

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 Ö+, 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. 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 one-third grade if they are turned in during class, and a full grade 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.

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. 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.

In short, official DRW policy is that if you miss over six classes, you will receive an 'F' in the course. 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 six 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).

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 recording, 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 immediately.

You will be required to have one conference with me, and I strongly recommend more than that. (One class day is canceled, so I’m not requiring additional time from you.)

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 from. 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.

Remember that UT retired the “mail.utexas.edu” server, so if you’ve been using that for UT notices, all that mail is bouncing.

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. I’ll announce changes in class, and send email using blackboard (so, see the notice above about the correct address). 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.

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.

Monday	Wednesday	Friday
	8/29 First day of class. [hand out syllabus]	8/31 Read pages 1-32, Age of Propaganda, and “List of Fallacies.” Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.):  Submit the URLs of at least three sites that you think do a good job of using logic, argument from credible authorities, and studies or statistics to make an argument regarding a public policy, medical treatment, or practice. Explain what you think is good about the arguments. Also, feel free to ask about any fallacies that aren’t clear to you. Please read the info on microthemes in the first day handout.
9/3 LABOR DAY	9/5 Read Bad Science 1-111, and watch this video, “The BBC have found someone whose cancer was cured by homeopathy” http://www.badscience.net/2010/02/the-bbc-have-found-someone-whose-cancer-was-cured-by-homeopathy/. Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): apply some of Goldacre’s concepts and criticisms to this video.	9/7 Read Bad Science, 112-171 and this talk by Rath “The Stanford Speech:  Eradicating Heart Disease”  http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/NHC/cardiovascular_disease/lecture/stanford_speech.htm Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): apply some of Goldacre’s concepts and criticisms of Rath to this speech.
9/10 Finish Bad Science and read this article: http://www.familyresearchinst.org/2012/04/frr-apr-2012-%E2%80%94-boys-hpv-vaccine-the-homosexual-connection/ Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): apply Goldacre’s concepts and criticisms to this article. [In class: hand out sample papers.]	9/12 Read the prompts, “Advice on Writing” (not advice to students), and sample papers. These papers were for a different class with a slightly different prompt, but they’re still good models in many ways. Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.):  what surprises you about any of this material? What questions do you have? What seems especially strong about the papers?	9/14 Read the course material on thesis questions. Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): write out your thesis question.
9/17 1.1 Due. Please make sure you have a Works Cited and a Works Consulted. Please note that failing to turn 1.1 in on time (unless you have permission) pretty much guarantees you’ll flunk the course. While you still have time to make changes, please do the “Paper Checklist” and include that with your paper.	9/19 Read Age of Propaganda, 33-87 and “Snake Ban Lacks Bite” (http://prime.peta.org/2012/02/snakes).  Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): Identify several fallacies in the snake ban article; in what ways does it fit or not fit P&A’s definition of “propaganda”?	9/21 Microtheme (in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.):  do a draft review of your own paper. Class cancelled (mandatory individual conferences next week)
9/24 Read Age of Propaganda 93-146. Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): take the “Not Graded Quiz” in the coursepack (not the “Quiz on Terms”). Don’t do any research to answer the questions—just do it off the top of your head. After you’ve taken the quiz, you can look up some of the questions. You don’t have to include any of your answers; you should write about whether you discovered you were wrong—if so, do the ways you were misinformed map onto Pratkanis and Aronson’s argument? Notice that you probably discovered something you didn’t like (someone or something you like did something you don’t like, or someone or something you don’t like did something you do like). How did that make you feel? Did you try to rationalize it away?[return 1.1]	9/26 Read Age of Propaganda, 216-230; 250-258, and Hogan, “The Tactics” (44-114); Covert Persuasion. Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.):  compare and contrast Hogan and P&A. . (conferences)	9/28 Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.):  what are your main goals for revising your paper? [Go over sample papers in class] (conferences)
10/1 1.2 Due. Please turn in your folder with your marked copy of 1.1. Please make sure you have a Works Cited and a Works Consulted for your 1.2.	10/3 Read Sweeny et al, “Information Avoidance” and Hart et al, “Feeling Validated” (just the discussion sections). Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): what are times you have avoided information and why? What are times you were wrong, and someone was trying to show you information you were wrong? What did you do?	10/5 Read Patterson, “Of Games and Gaming” and “Images of the Game They Play” (53-134); Out of Order. Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): [return 1.2]
10/8 Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): what are some things you’d expect a website that claimed to help guys get younger women to do?  After you’ve written that down, poke around on this site: http://steelballs.com/. In what ways were your predictions correct? In what ways were they wrong? Who does he say he audience is, and what does he say his intention is? How does he portray women? What are some consistent messages in the site?	10/10 Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): write out at least two different thesis statements in the form of “at first it looks as though this book or site does X, but when you look more closely you see Y.”	10/12 Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): revised thesis statement and introduction.
10/15 2.1 Due. Please turn in your folder with your marked copies of 1.1 and 1.2. Please make sure you have a Works Cited and a Works Consulted for your 2.1.	10/17 Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.):  write a peer review of your own paper.	10/19 Microtheme (due in email, to stephanie.odom79@gmail.com, [NOTICE THE DIFFERENT EMAIL] by 8:00 a.m.): find a recent ad (that you can print out and bring to class, so not a TV ad). Describe the ad briefly, and what you were able to find out about it—who is the “author,” where it was published, what references it makes to other ads, historical events, cultural concepts, etc.
10/22  Read Charles Davidson’s “The Confederate Battle Flag: A Symbol of Racism?” http://www.pointsouth.com/csanet/confederate_flag.htm and Fallows, “Bad Attitude” (129-181); Breaking the News. Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): first, summarize Fallows’ argument; second, apply Fallows’ argument to the speech. If Fallows is right, what kind of coverage would there have been of this speech? If he’s wrong, what coverage would there have been?  [return 2.1]	10/24 Read Fallows, “Getting in the Way” (182-234); Breaking the News. Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): summarize Fallows’ argument. What are ways you could test his claims?	10/26 Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.):  revised thesis statement and
10/29 2.2 Due. Please turn in your folder with your marked copies of 1.1, 1.2, and 2.1. Please make sure you have a Works Cited and a Works Consulted for your 2.2.	10/31 Necessary but not sufficient condition for getting an ‘A’ on 3.1 or 3.2-- Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): identify which prompt you’ve chosen, and list at least twenty articles you think you will be using, with full citation information.	11/2 Read the “Introduction” to Herman and Chomsky. Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): summarize their argument, and give your own examples (hypothetical is fine) of each of the filters.
11/5 Read Jost et al. Although the article uses the term “conservative,” that isn’t the most helpful way to think about this research—it’s more accurately called “authoritarianism.” Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): assuming that Jost et al are right, what would authoritarian news coverage look like? (Use a hypothetical example of a debate between Chester and Hubert regarding the squirrel conspiracy.) 1.3 Due. If you are doing a 1.3, then please don’t take your entire packet when you get 2.2—please leave me 1.1 and 1.2. [return 2.2]	11/7 Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): thesis questions for your 3.1.	11/9 Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.):  introductions for 3.1.
11/12 Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): full, good faith draft of your paper. Also bring a copy to class. [in class: peer review]	11/14 No microtheme. [in class: go over student material]	11/16 3.1 Due. Please turn in your folder with your marked copies of 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, and 2.2. Please make sure you have a Works Cited and a Works Consulted for your 3.1. If you printed copies of your sources for your paper, I’d appreciate your including them in your folder.
11/19 Visual propaganda. Look over this category of tampered photos: http://www.fourandsix.com/photo-tampering-history/tag/photojournalism-ethics. Microtheme (due in email, redball@mindspring.com, by 8:00 a.m.): which tampering seem to you to fit the category of propaganda? (All? Some?) Pick two or three and write about how the message is changed in them.	11/21 Quiz review.	11/23 THANKSGIVING
11/26 [in class: return papers]	11/28 Quiz	11/30 Quiz Review
12/3 evaluations	12/5 evaluations	12/7 LAST CLASS MEETING 3.2 Due

PAPER PROMPTS

People have a tendency to identify "propaganda" used by the opposition, but not to recognize how we are often persuaded by propaganda. The point of this course is not to get students to realize that there is a lot of sloppy rhetoric around (I assume you know that) but to get you to recognize how sloppy and misleading a lot of apparently good arguments are. Thus, you will often find yourself arguing against another version of yourself—that is, the interpretation you initially had on looking at the material. You aren’t expected to “take sides” on the controversy—your “side” might remain unchanged—but to apply the concepts of propaganda to something that initially looks reasonable.

Paper #1. You should pick a webpage with which you are sympathetic—on the whole, you agree with the stance (or policy) of the organization, website, or author. You will look at the reasoning the site uses (especially argument from authority) in order to assess the credibility and quality of the argument. You’ll need to find the sources of the page’s (or pages’) information; sometimes they give that information, and sometimes you’ll have to try to find it yourself. Consider also the role that “propaganda” plays in the assumptions made in the argument—what common beliefs does the page appeal to?

Below is a list of sources; I’ll also add some that are generated from webpage you give.

·       http://newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty306.htm  “WHAT IF 20 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS VACATED AMERICA?” (anti-immigration.

·       http://www.icr.org/article/evidence-for-global-warming/ “Evidence for Global Warming”

·       Pitbull FAQ (argues in favor of regulating pitbull ownership and breeding) http://www.dogsbite.org/dangerous-dogs-pit-bull-faq.php

·       “No Proof Paula Deen’s High-Fat Southern Cooking Caused Her Diabetes” http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/17/no-proof-paula-deen-s-high-fat-southern-cooking-caused-her-diabetes.html

·       “Obama’s “New” Climate Initiative” http://greenpeaceblogs.com/2012/02/17/painful-reminder-in-state-department-climate-initiative/ This page criticizes Obama’s climate policies for not being green enough.

·       “Impaired Driving: Get the Facts” http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Impaired_Driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html

·       “Why Government Spending Does Not Stimulate Economic Growth: Answering the Critics” http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/01/why-government-spending-does-not-stimulate-economic-growth-answering-the-critics I’d only recommend this one for someone really comfortable with reading scholarship in economics. So, business, econ, and math majors might like it.

·       “It’s the Inequality, Stupid.” http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph Various charts and graphs about income inequality in the US.

·       “InfoFacts: Marijuana” http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/infofacts/marijuana

·       “Live Tobacco Free Austin” http://www.livetobaccofreeaustin.org/ You’d have to use several pages from this one, as there doesn’t appear to be a single page that makes the need and plan cases.

·       “Teachers Unions Exposed” http://teachersunionexposed.com/bargaining.cfm This one might not work, as it appears to have very few sources, so it might be time-consuming. But it might work. 

Paper #2. This paper asks that you work with a large amount of material in order to persuade an opposition audience (that is, people with a different interpretation of the material) that your interpretation is thoroughly grounded. You’ll have to learn how to balance close analysis with assertion.

Your argument should be that, although one might expect to find certain things in the material, you are arguing that this material propagandizes on a point (or in a way) that one would not expect. You might think about some of the things that Fallows mentions—the game frame, an adversarial frame—or paired terms (which I assume you talked about in your 321 class), or constructions of group identity.

For instance, if you were writing about a bunch of Cosmopolitan magazines (you aren’t—that isn’t one of the prompts), you wouldn’t write a paper showing that the magazines, even on wildly different topics, all propagandize the message that women should be attractive to men, or need to buy a lot of products, or need to be thin. That’s what anyone even mildly familiar with Cosmo would expect. What is a consistent message in the material that a reasonably informed person would not expect and has not noticed? You might argue that Cosmo is relentlessly misandrist (it is—and that surprises you, right?), and then make an argument why that is a rhetorically savvy message. For this paper, use concepts from class readings.

·       Media coverage of a study: http://www.plosone.org/annotation/listThread.action;jsessionid=62594A98277531FABFA780E49831BEC4?root=50431

·       You couldn’t talk about all of these links, so the first step for this set of material would be to find a sensible way to limit it (and not just by letter of the alphabet). http://kill-or-cure.heroku.com/

·       Chick Tracts. You’d also want to find some way to limit these texts—probably by topic. http://www.chick.com/default.asp

·       The February 1942 House Un-American Activities Report (aka “Yellow Report”) on supposed Japanese sabotage activities. (You’ll need to get a copy from me; if you want to analyze the photographs, you might have to get a copy a different way—the photos didn’t reproduce at all.)

·       James Arthur Ray’s Harmonic Wealth.

·       David Lereah’s Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust.

·       The “Institute for Creation Research” http://www.icr.org/

·       PETA http://www.peta.org/

Paper #3

In this class, you've read various explanations of ways that the media as a whole engages in propaganda. Your goal in this paper is to test one of those hypotheses by looking at media coverage of a specific event. Although you will be able to do much of the research via the Internet, you will almost certainly have to go to the library for it as well. You are forewarned that you'll have to do this, and that it will take a lot of time, and that you are likely to need the help of a reference librarian. So, if you leave the paper till the night before, you may be staring right into the face of an F for 10% of your course grade. (Unfortunately, that has happened with this assignment.)

You need to look at a broad range of sources--in my experience, it takes students ten to twelve sources (that is, articles from ten to twelve different papers, journals, etc. NOT ten to twelve total articles) to have enough material to write the paper (and keep in mind that they need to be major media--personal and even many organization webpages are irrelevant). A fair number of sources should be non-American, and you need a range of political viewpoint--that last note is really important. In the past, students have said that they spent about ten hours just finding the material, and it had to be broken over several days because they needed help (from archivists, reference librarians) to get the material.

Am I being clear? Start this paper AT LEAST two weeks before the due date.

Test the hypotheses of Herman and Chomsky, Jamieson and Waldman, or Patterson by looking for a specific kind of media bias in the coverage of one of the following incidents:

• The withdrawal of Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip (spring 2006);
• The accusation of killings by UN forces in Haiti’s Cité Soleil community on December 22, 2006;
• The release of the Carnegie Report "WMD in Iraq: Evidence and Implications;"
• The 5/7/99 NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy;
• The 2003 Report to the UN regarding Iraqi compliance;
• The release of the 2006 Uniform Crime Report http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2006/crime2006;
• Claims that Halliburton was awarded highly profitable “no bid” contracts while Cheney was Vice President;
• George Bush's "road map for peace" speech on June 24, 2002;
• The Chavez coup in Venezuela in 2002;
• The March 2003 UN deliberations over military action in Iraq;
• Pat Tillman’s death;
• A speech by any of the 2008 Presidential candidates that was policy-heavy (that is, which clearly laid out a policy on some important issue);
• The winter 2010 SPLC designation of the FRC as a hate group;
• 2002 or 2003 estimates of the cost of the Iraq invasion.

Do not try to identify which source is more biased or more objective--such a paper would necessitate your first determining what really happened. You can argue that media coverage confirms, contradicts, or complicates the specific hypothesis you're testing. You should not try to test the hypothesis that the media has filters, but that it has the "source" filter (Chomsky and Herman), the media as amateur psychologist frame (Jamieson and Waldman), the "game" schema, and so on--that is, a specific one mentioned by a specific author we've read. Also, you need to rely on primary sources for this. Sources that describe how some other entity covered the event don't count.

In the past students have done just as well arguing against the authors as they have arguing for them. (In fact, one reason that I include the Chomsky and Herman although it's getting old is that it makes students really mad.) When students have had trouble, it has primarily had to do with time management, and being able to get the sources. (Some perfectly good paper ideas collapsed just because students couldn't find the necessary material.) It's really difficult, for instance, to test the advertising budget filter (the hypothesis that media soft-pedal any news that might hurt or offend their advertisers) simply because you're talking about an absence. It's the same problem with the media ownership filter. (The only time I've had students do well with this was when they looked at how Disney newspapers handled negative news about Disneyland.) I'm not saying that therefore those filters don't exist--just that you don't have the time to test for them properly.

You need special permission to do an incident not on the above list--to get that permission, you need to send me a list of ten sources (not ten articles from a smaller number of sources) more than two weeks before the paper due date.

This is the most straightforward of the third unit paper topics, but it does tend to go wrong if students either do not understand the hypothesis that they are testing, or if (the most common pitfall) they try to write the paper relying on four or five sources gathered on the internet. (And by "go wrong" I mean "get an 'F.'"

PAPER CHECKLIST

When you think you're ready to turn in a paper in this class, make sure you've run through the following questions. (Note that this list does not apply to other classes, but it's a good idea for you to have a similar list for those situations. You almost always have to make it yourself--what are the things the teacher has told you s/he wants in papers?)

1) Is there a Works Cited page, and is it  in MLA or APA format?

Do not rely on what you think correct format is, or the format you've always used. Rely on a handbook or "noodlebib" (available off the UT library webpage).

2) Is there a Works Consulted list, and is it in MLA or APA format?

Very few instructors ask for a Works Consulted list, but it helps me when I'm giving you research advice. It's a list of the things you looked at, but did not actually cite.

2) Does the first page have your name, course name, semester (or date), paper version (i.e., 1.1, 1.2), and my name?

This is something you should do for every class. Some instructors want a separate title page.

3) Are the pages numbered and stapled together?

When you do peer reviews, you'll come to see how much easier it is to comment on a paper when the pages are numbered. If the author hasn't numbered them, then you have to. Similarly, if the author hasn't stapled the paper together, the reader has to--you don't want to put your reader to extra work on things like that. (You want any work on the part of the reader to involve how smart and subtle your argument is.)

4) Is the thesis marked (or written on the Works Cited page)? Is it in the introduction or early in the paper? Then you have major structural problems--if it isn't too late, move it, and rewrite the introduction so that it sets up a question.

5) Do you have your folder with your other papers and your checkplus microthemes?

6) Go through your paper and highlight evidence (probably quotes). How many paragraphs have one or two quotes from the primary? You need more than one or two quotes from the primary per paragraph.

QUIZ

On November 28, you'll be given a quiz on the following items. You should be able to answer the quiz on the basis of lectures and readings, but don't hesitate to ask me to define a term if it's  unclear. Keep in mind that the quiz is asking you how these terms are used in the scholarship we're reading on rhetoric and propaganda, so definitions from a general interest dictionary will not help.

You may receive up to four points for each term: up to two points for an accurate definition of a term, and up to two points for an apt example. While you can draw the definition from the written material, course lectures, or other class members, your example should be your own.

paired terms

"hermetic" wordings

straw man

hyperbole

red herring

false dilemma

fallacy of moral equivalence

argument from authority

argumentum ad misercordiam

kettle logic

propaganda

source filter

flak filter

game frame

illustrative v. demonstrative example

confusing causation and correlation

prosecutor’s fallacy

equivocation

ingroup/outgroup

peer-reviewed journal

control group

placebo effect

availability (as a heuristic)

epistemology

naïve realism

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.

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).

ADVICE FROM STUDENTS WHO TOOK A CLASS WITH ME PREVIOUSLY

"She's hard, but fair." "I never had a class where I felt so free to express my own opinion." "She has high expectations, but the class is very manageable if the student works hard." "Don't be afraid to throw out a first sub that got a bad grade. If you find it hard to make changes on that one, it might be easier to start over on your second submission." "If Trish doesn't like your thesis, don't give up--just get more evidence." "Trish expects a lot out of her students, but at the same time is very fair. Talk to her if you need help. Also, get to know some of the other students, if not all. This might be the most beneficial thing because you can really help each other do better on assignments. It also makes the class more enjoyable, and you get more out of it." "Come to class every day. It helps keep you informed as to what's going on." "Work hard, relax, if you have a problem, go to her, tell her, she will help you and work with you." "Never hesitate to talk to Trish about any problem you are having. She really cares and wants her students to learn. There are no stupid questions with her." "Do not wait until the last minute to write your paper; it is a long process; if you have questions don't be afraid to ask. This is a hard class and takes up a lot of time (because of researching and actually writing the paper), so be prepared to spend a lot of time for this class. " "Don't be afraid to express opinions different than Trish's. She grades papers, not beliefs.""1) Ask for help if you need it--your paper will benefit from it. Trish is very good about working with her students. 2) Don't stress if you do badly on paper 1.1--you have plenty of time to improve by paper 1.2, and if you work with Trish you will improve. 3) NEVER WRITE A SUMMARY INTRODUCTION-- EVER!!!" "Go to her office hours and understand exactly what she means by her comments on your papers." "Go to class and pay attention." "Speak up, you learn more if you ask questions." "She wants you to do well so give her every opportunity to see you learning and working." "Don't put off your papers or reading the text, because you will get stuck on what to write." "Take it! But be prepared to read a lot, the microthemes seem annoying but they keep you on top of the reading and make you think about what you just read. Don't hesitate to go to Trish with problems on papers, even if you think it is too late!" "When entering the class keep in mind everything you read and hear in class will be used throughout the whole semester. I recommend that you read thoroughly and take good notes (taking good notes does not require a ton of writing). " "Give these writing techniques she talks about (example--introduction techniques) a chance. It may be hard at first, but you will benefit from them and become better writers with much better papers." "Keep up with the readings! Try not to start your papers the night before, they will come out better if you spend more time on it. If you are ever stuck on a topic, organization of your paper, Trish will always be willing to help you out! Talk to her!" "This class seems only to work with active participation by the individual." "Do your microthemes! Doing them is the best way to be a full participant and to keep yourself on track with the readings. Also, come to class on time, don't be absent, and turn your essays in on time. Start essays a week and a half early so you can go in and talk to Trish when you have a bunch of crap on paper and she can help you turn it into a decent essay." "Come to class, ask questions (lots of them), and keep up with assignments." "Start thinking of your paper topics really far in advance, because sometimes your first idea is useless if you cannot find a text to support it." "Take the course. Do the readings, they are interesting and it's worth it to be able to follow class discussions. Don't (EVER) be afraid to contribute in class or talk to Trish. She genuinely wants to hear what you have to say and she's there to help you." "Be prepared to change your writing habits and style. Be prepared to change your views on what you know." "This course is rewarding because you walk away with knowledge of writing effective arguments and a good understanding of the material. Even though it’s a challenge, you gain more than just a grade." "Spend the time reading the material. Spend the time researching. Spend the time writing. Spend the time going to see Trish. Time! Time! Time!" "Do it. It'll be fun." "Come to class with an open mind to any side of a disagreement. This will allow you to better judge a piece's effectiveness more accurately." "Read the readings! Seriously! They're useful." "The class requires a lot of work, and you get back what you put in. Trish is very willing to help with papers and concerns if you go to her, but don't expect her to come and find you with advice. This is a great class if you want to work hard and become a better writer." "Trish is an excellent teacher. The course was hard as hell. The class had an amazing way of making us actually think for ourselves--which seems to be rare lately. Anyhow, this may be the best class I've ever taken." "This class introduced me to a whole new way of thinking, writing, and communicating. Although I wasn't able to do as well as I had hoped, I learned more in this class than any of the others I took all year long." "I thought this teacher was great, and I actually learned lessons that could be used towards life; not just random facts. I loved this class!" "Trish is an absolutely wonderful professor. This class is not easy and she definitely makes you work hard if you're willing to put forth the effort. She always makes time to meet with her students after class even though it may be during her lunch J." "Great professor and very interesting class. Heavy workload but I had fair warning. Highly recommended especially for someone w/ a LA major." "Don't put off any of the reading. You'll want a lot longer than you think to write your papers, and the readings can take a while too. Even if the readings don't make complete sense, write an email to Trish about it, and she will always answer your questions in class the next day. Besides, everyone else is probably confused too. Hmmm...find good evidence for all of your claims. BS doesn't work so well in this class; Trish is a real teacher that actually sees through your tricks!" "Do it. Be aware of the time commitment involved, and plan accordingly, but take it or another course with Roberts-Miller. She is an excellent teacher. She cares if you learn she cares if you pass. Talk to her when you have a problem with a paper. She will work with you." "Ask Trish for help and clarification when you need it. Listen. Learn and enjoy her teaching style." "Focus on turning in the best product possible. (Avoid settling for procrastination at all costs.) The better writing you hand in from the beginning, the more constructive results you get back." "Take your work seriously. Use email. Spend time with Trish. Talk to other students in the class. Read the readings and take notes. 7:45 a.m. is not a good time to write microthemes, especially if they are due at 8 a.m." "Make sure your material is enough to write on before you run out of time." "Plan ahead on assignments and pace yourself. Each paper is very important to your grade so put a lot of effort into each one. The class is not the easiest but it never seemed to matter because I was constantly trying harder and wanting to improve more each time." "Do not procrastinate. Also, when writing a paper use TONS of evidence, if it is relevant." "Prepare for a fairly arduous workload, but one which pays off with much improved writing, insight into the subject, and a good amount of fun in the process. Trish is tough not to be tough, but to make a much stronger writer out of you." "Complete the microthemes. It will really help when it comes time to write a paper or even choose a paper topic." "Use, use, abuse even the Writing Center." "Be persistent. Your ability to compose essays is likely flawed before beginning the class, so your first essay will be flawed as well. But keep writing, go to office hours. You will be rewarded in the end." "Be prepared to spend a lot of time on the papers, the reward is not only a good grade, but you will be astounded by what you can learn about your writing. Talk to Trish! If you are concerned about your writing, your paper topic, or your grade, she is happy to help." "Go to office hours, start readings early." "Don't get discouraged easily! It takes a couple of papers to get the hang of it, especially if you're recently out of high school. Go see Trish and go to the UWC!" "Take all that you can from Trish; she is full of knowledge and eager to share it with you. Everyone deserves to have a teacher like Trish while in college." "Be prepared to think differently! I almost cried when Trish said don't put the thesis in the first paragraph. It took me until the second paper (2.2) to really get into the swing of things. Also go talk to Trish! She's so nice and helpful. She wants you to do well. Go to her office hours. She's always willing to help." "Do the microthemes. For the love of God, do them!" "Ignore grades and concentrate on learning. The grades will follow once you figure out how to stop restricting yourself to the familiar. Don't be afraid!! You will struggle like the rest of us, but enjoy the freedom!" "DO MICROTHEMES! GO SEE TRISH/EMAIL HER--she responds quickly. PREPARE & do your RESEARCH EARLY so that the writing process is easier. Go to the Writing Center. Speak up in class; it's okay to have a different point of view. Don't feel discouraged about your first few papers. Go to class--it's fun, you'll stay awake (especially when Trish plays with the lights) and you learn a lot. Finally, go talk to Trish in her office hours. She is a fantastic and a wonderful person to get to know." "Be open to writing differently from what you were taught. Keep an open mind, and enjoy the class, it's so fun and you'll learn a lot. Use the prof, she's a great resource." "Keep up with the reading and talk to Trish about your ideas. She's fair with her advice and her grading style. She's very knowledgeable on the subject, so it will be helpful to keep in touch with her." "Do the microthemes because they help to comprehend the lectures and are easy to do and can really improve your grade. Don't panic if you don’t get your first essays right, just continue and try to improve them. Things do become easier as you rewrite an essay. You improve without even noticing it. Dedication and consistency in this class really does pay off." "I can't emphasize how early you need to get started on a paper. I spent all of college waiting till the last minute to do papers, and pulling As on them. Unless you are superhuman, this won't work." "Participate in class and let your ideas slosh around for a while. This is the kind of class where the point is to connect disparate threads and form coherent arguments from them--an excellent skill to practice, so don't let yourself stop thinking about the subject matter." "I would say that there is no right or wrong on any essay. As long as you can give evidence, it is okay." "Avoid writing arguments that you don't agree with. If you can't convince yourself that the argument is true, you won't be able to convince others." "Don't be afraid to defend your own opinions even if they aren't held by the teacher. As long as you provide a decent argument for your beliefs there won't be any problems." "If for some reason you do not know how to search the library databases, get help from a librarian or from Trish. In many cases, the databases can be a much more efficient way to search for data than Google." "It's okay to disagree as long as you can construct a good argument and give evidence for your case." "This isn't a class that tells you what to think--you'll have to struggle with that yourself." "Read and do the microthemes! Talk to Trish if you're confused about your paper; she is more than willing to help. She also points you toward the research you need to do." "Don't be afraid to speak your mind in class. This will open up the discussion and enhance your understanding of the subject." "Do not hesitate to try to find a way to write a paper you are really interested in. Trish is flexible (within reason) and you'll write a better paper." "Go to office hours, early and often. There, I learned the most about how to write. Trish is also great to just shoot the shit with, rant to, bounce ideas off of, etc." "Don't skip class. Pay attention in class. Have your reading done on time. It's very important in this class to do a good job on your microthemes, which requires you do your reading and think about the reading. Do not get discouraged when you get low grades initially--your writing will improve. Use the Writing Center. Talk to Trish. Eat a healthy breakfast." "TIME MANAGEMENT! There is no possible way to turn in a paper that you didn't start at least 7 days prior to the due date. Pick your topics early and see Trish if none of the topics appeal to you. She helped me find a more suitable topic for paper #2 that fits my strengths. Learn quickly what is a good source and what is not. Spend a lot of time learning how to separate thoughts and support them with tons of evidence. Each paragraph should theoretically be a small essay. Talk to Trish a lot! She wants you to succeed." "Start readings early! Start studying for the quiz early and make sure to take notes of all examples she gives in class. It helps come time for the quiz. Trish seems crazy hard at the beginning of the semester, but everything she says makes sense about halfway through the semester. This class will consume your life. Be prepared for that. But everything you suffer through is so worth it. You'll see." "Abandon all shortcuts, ye who enter here." "Start your papers early, have a regular (if short) sleep schedule, get a bigger bookshelf, and learn to love coffee." "Thesis goes at the end. Rewrite your paper thoroughly twice before turning it in the first time. Read anything and everything. Speak up in class and disagree with Trish and other classmates. Care. Be engaged. This is the most rewarding class at UT, if you apply yourself." "Show up on time. Do the readings. As soon as something goes over your head, ask about it. Don't be intimidated to show up in her office."