Using Rhetorical Media to Meet Outcomes
and Satisfy Stakeholders
Unit 1:
The course will begin with a unit that builds to a capstone project of song lyric/video analysis. This assignment will help students begin to consider how multimedia works to create an argument. The writing assignments in this unit and the next will be supplemented with reading from Thank you for arguing (Heinrichs, 2007). This text will serve as a thorough, yet enjoyable introduction into rhetoric. Students will be encouraged to draw from the text as they analyze the musical composition they select.
Unit Goals: In this unit, students will
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1.learn basic rhetorical principles,
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2.practice critical thinking, reading and writing,
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3.demonstrate knowledge of writing processes, and
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4.adhere to academic genre conventions.
Goal Justification: To build understanding of rhetorical principles, the class will read from Heinrichs’s Thank you for arguing. This reading will present students with concepts such as the rhetorical appeals, logical fallacies, and the rhetorical cannon. Building their understanding of this knowledge requires that they read closely and critically to learn to apply these principles to approaches to their communication occasions.
Heinrich’s text is used because it is both a text that introduces complex ideas and one that begins where students already are. The book uses real life examples that students relate to and is light-hearted and humorous. As a result, the students become engaged with the text. After the first semester teaching with this text, multiple students stated that this text was the strongest aspect of the course. It was able to connect to them in a nonthreatening manner.
In a similar way the subject matter of the unit--music lyrics and or videos--allows the students to begin the course with a topic that is, often, familiar to them. Beginning the course with familiar subject matter another thing done to decrease student fear.
Finally, the assignment asks students to write in a traditional academic form. This essay is purposefully thesis driven, and uses MLA conventions. Students will engage in all stages of the writing process from invention to revision. Special attention will be given to helping students reach and maintain Standard Academic tone and a product that is fluid and graceful.
Sample Capstone Prompt: Music Analysis Assignment
