American Rhetorical Movements Since 1900
Spring 1998

Description: This course continues the story of American rhetorical movements, beginning before the turn of the century with the labor movement, and covering the twentieth century civil rights movement, the anti-Vietnam movement and the second wave of feminism. At the end of the semester we will also look briefly at new right-wing groups and their antecedents.

Assignments: There will be two short papers (5–8 pp., 40%), a midterm (20%) and a final (20%). A term paper (15 pp) may be written in place of the final. All term paper topics must be approved in advance. Each student will participate in an oral debate on a given topic (10%), for which a typed outline and bibliography must be turned in. This semester, there will be an additional web participation grade (10%, see below).Assignments for Graduate Students: Graduate students enrolled in COM341 are expected to use the course to study movement theories in rhetoric and to produce a term paper suitable to submit to a professional conference. As part of their directed reading for the course they will write two short papers (8–10 pp., 40%), one covering movement theory and the secondary literature in movements and public discourse, and the second being a critical piece on a specific text. The research for these papers should result in a term paper incorporating both theoretical and critical elements (50)%). The 10% participation grade for grad students will encompass both participation in a leadership role in the list discussion (see below) and an oral presentation of research related to their term project. Graduate students are not required to take the exams or participate in the assigned oral debates.

Web Site: A web site accompanying the course is in development. You will find all future revisions of the syllabus, class handouts, assignment instructions, and other useful information on the site (www.wfu/~zulick.COM341.html). You are responsible for all class material distributed in this manner. You should subscribe to the course subscription list as soon as it is operational, and I will expect weekly comments on the readings from everyone as part of the course requirements. I hope this will make classroom discussion much livelier as well. We will also use the list to publish changes in the syllabus and make suggestions for interesting additions to the web site.