Faculty Course Description
ENG102: First-year Seminar in Rhetoric and Writing
Dr. Christopher Diller
Associate Professor
Office: Evans 214
Office phone: 238-5877
e-mail: cdiller@berry.edu
Course Description
RHW 102 (3 credit hours) is the second course in Berry College’s two semester required sequence in college writing. It integrates research, argumentation, and rhetorical persuasion into the analytical thinking and writing processes introduced in RHW 101. Prerequisite: completion of RHW 101 with a “C” or better.
Course Purpose
The primary purpose of RHW 102 is to develop argumentative and persuasive skills to produce arguments appropriate for a variety of academic, professional, and civic audiences. The course develops these skills in the context of readings on current social and political issues.
Course Goals
Goals of the course include: argument and audience analysis; the development of critical reading skills and the ability to diagnose logical fallacies in writing; the proper evaluation, use, and documentation of sources; and, an awareness of how the rhetorical elements and resources of discourse—personae; voice; tone; audience; ethos, logos, pathos; arrangement; syntax; style—ultimately secure the success or failure of an argument.
Methods of Instruction
Discussion, peer review, lecture, individual and group research projects, mentoring through individual conferences and, especially, writing practice.
Expected Outcomes
Students will be able to generate, critique, and revise summaries, argument papers, annotated bibliographies and score on a midterm exam to an average of at least 70%. Students will also take and pass the Berry College Competency Exam.
Required Texts and Other Materials (available in the bookstore)
Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson.. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with
Readings. 5th edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001.
Berry College Theme Folder: all of your writing (pre-writing, drafts, and final essays) must be included in this folder and submitted at the end of the semester to receive a grade in the course.
Other readings on reserve at the Memorial Library.