Course Descriptions
Spring 2012
A&S 100-002: SPECIAL INTRO COURSE: STUDIO: COMPOSING WITH VISUALS
Instructor: Rachel Elliott
Meeting Pattern: 8-week Course – recurring weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays, from Monday, February 13, 2012 through Wednesday, April 04, 2012; 4:30PM - 6:30PM in Fine Arts Graphics (LCLI 004B)
Course Overview: Composing with Visuals - an eight week studio class focusing on the visual aspect of digital communication skills. Students will create visuals to explore identities, tell stories, and interpret information. A variety of high and low tech media will be used with hands-on practice in digital photography, document design, and creating charts, maps, and info-graphics. This is a 2-credit course.
ENG 104-001: WRITING: AN ACCELERATED FOUNDATIONAL COURSE
Instructor: TBD
Meeting Pattern: MWF 9:00AM – 9:50AM
Course Overview: This intensive course in writing emphasizes critical inquiry and research, formulation of academic writing projects, and orientation to university study. Instruction and practice in reading critically, thinking logically, responding to texts, developing research skills, writing substantial essay through systematic revision, addressing specific consequences, developing a fluent, precise, and versatile prose style, and expressing ideas in standard and correct English. Focus on topics pertinent to university disciplines, activities, and environs.
WRD 110-001-006 and 201 (online): COMPOSITION & COMMUNICATION I
Instructors: TDB
Meeting Pattern: (vary)
Course Description: Composition and Communication I is the first course in a two-course sequence designed to engage students in composing and communicating ideas using speech, writing, and visuals. Students will develop critical thinking and information literacy skills within an academic context that emphasizes the problems confronting educated citizens of the twenty- first century. Students will practice composing, critiquing, and revising ideas for audiences in oral, written, and visual formats, and will work in small groups to develop interpersonal communication skills. Same as CIS 110.
WRD 111-001-077 and 401-402: COMPOSITION & COMMUNICATION II
Instructors: TBD
Meeting Patterns: (vary)
Course Description: Composition and Communication II is the second of two general education courses focused on integrated oral, written, and visual communication skill development emphasizing critical inquiry and research. In this course, students will explore issues of public concern using rhetorical analysis, engage in deliberation over those issues, and propose solutions based on well-developed arguments. Students will sharpen their ability to conduct research; compose and communicate in written, oral, and visual modes; and work effectively in groups (in pairs and small groups). A significant component of the class will consist of learning to use visual and digital resources, first to enhance written and oral presentations and later in digital projects intended for various public audiences. Same as CIS 111.
WRD 203-001-026, 401-404: BUSINESS WRITING
Instructors: TBD
Meeting Patterns: (vary)
Course Description: Instruction and experience in writing for business, industry, and government. Emphasis on clarity, conciseness, and effectiveness in preparing letters, memos, and reports for specific audiences. Course fulfills the Graduate Writing Requirement for those who have met the University Writing Requirement.
WRD 204-401: TECHNICAL WRITING
Instructor: TDB
Meeting Pattern: MW 5:30PM – 6:45PM
Course Description: Instruction and experience in writing for science and technology. Emphasis on clarity, conciseness, and effectiveness in preparing letters, memos, and reports for specific audiences. Course fulfills the Graduate Writing Requirement for those who have met the University Writing Requirement.
ENG 205-001 (WRD 205): INTERMEDIATE WRITING (TOPICS IN RHETORIC & WRITING): DIGITAL MEMORY
Instructor: K.J. Rawson
Meeting Pattern: TR 9:30AM – 10:45AM in a Mac computer lab
Course Overview: Unlike our grandparents’ dusty journals or their faded photo albums, we are collecting our history and our memories on hard drives and in cyberspace, measured in gigabytes rather than shoeboxes. In this course we'll team up with UK Special Collections to learn first-hand about digitization and the Kentucky Digital Library and our class will create an online digital exhibit. Students will also create history by attempting to capture what it’s like to be a typical UK student now through audio interviews in the style of StoryCorps. Our course materials will be a diverse range of texts, audio, and still and moving images. Course fulfills the Graduate Writing Requirement for those who have met the University Writing Requirement.
https://www.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/WRD%20205_%20Digital%20Memory...
Listen to a description.
ENG 205-002 (WRD 205): INTERMEDIATE WRITING (TOPICS IN RHETORIC & WRITING): Rhetorics of Violence and Non-violence
Instructor: Elizabeth Connors-Manke
Meeting Pattern: MWF 11:00AM – 11:50AM
Course Description: This writing course will take as its theme the rhetorics of violence and non-violence. As the shootings in Arizona in January of 2001 remind us, how we frame discussion—public or private—effects the type of action that we imagine is possible in the world. Reading across cultures, we will consider texts from the U.S., Europe, and Asia, including writings from Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Alice Walker’s novel Meridian, the film Blood Diamond, the poetry of Wendell Berry, Holocaust-era writing of Viktor Frankl, and the Hindu epic the Bhagavad Gita. We’ll also survey current events and public discourse to understand how the way we write shapes the ways we act. In particular, we’ll analyze how styles, genres, and rhetorical strategies convey violence or non-violence; we’ll practice ways of re-shaping our prose to promote civil discourse. Coursework will include lots of reading and writing, including regular response papers, journaling, written/oral/visual web posts, two major writing projects, and a collaborative class project. Course fulfills the Graduate Writing Requirement for those who have met the University Writing Requirement.
Listen to a description.
ENG 205-003 (WRD 205): INTERMEDIATE WRITING (TOPICS IN RHETORIC & WRITING): SCREEN/WRITING
Instructor: Joshua Abboud
Meeting Pattern: MWF 10:00AM – 10:50AM
Course Description: Screens have become a critical part of writing technologies and help determine how information gets relayed. We will examine historical developments and rhetorical issues of screens: from the shadows of Plato's cave, to the darkened movie theaters, and arriving at computer monitors, tablet computers, and smart phone touch screens. We will ask how screens have structured spaces of writing and framed knowledge and communication. Course fulfills the Graduate Writing Requirement for those who have met the University Writing Requirement.
Listen to a description.
ENG 205-004 (WRD 205): INTERMEDIATE WRITING (TOPICS IN RHETORIC & WRITING): Rhetorics of Violence and Non-violence
Instructor: Elizabeth Connors-Manke
Meeting Pattern: MWF 1:00PM – 1:50PM
Course Description: same as ENG 205-002
ENG 205-005 (WRD 205): INTERMEDIATE WRITING (TOPICS IN RHETORIC & WRITING): Environmental Rhetoric in the United States
Instructor: Erik Reece
Meeting Pattern: TR 2:00PM – 3:15PM
Course Description: This course is an introduction to the vital American genre called environmental writing. Students will study its history, dating back to Thoreau, and undertake their own environmental writing projects which will engage current and local issues. (This course serves as a core class in the new Environmental and Sustainability Studies major). Course fulfills the Graduate Writing Requirement for those who have met the University Writing Requirement.
A&S 300-001 (WRD 420): TOPICS IN RHETORICAL THEORY AND HISTORY: FEMINIST RHETORICS
Instructor: Katherine Rogers-Carpenter
Meeting Pattern: TR 3:30PM – 4:45PM
Course Overview: We will explore the origins and originators of feminist rhetoric; how feminist and masculinist traditions differ (along with what they share); and how feminist rhetoric and theory are connected to women’s movements. After beginning the semester with the works of ancient rhetors Aspasia and Sappho, we will shift to nineteenth-century American works by Margaret Fuller, Ida B. Wells, and Sojourner Truth. Finally we will turn to contemporary writers such as Adrienne Rich, Gloria Steinem, and Rebecca Walker.
Listen to a description.
A&S 300-002 (WRD 324): WRITING CENTER PEER TUTORING
Instructor: Judith Prats Director, University of Kentucky Writing Center
Meeting Pattern: MWF 11:00AM – 11:50AM
Course Overview: The course is an undergraduate seminar that prepares qualified undergraduate students to become engaged and effective peer consultants in the UK Writing Center. Students in the course will be actively involved in reading, writing, listening, observing, speaking, researching, presenting, etc. as they become immersed in the theory and practice of Writing Center consulting. Students who complete the course will be eligible to serve as accomplished peer tutors in the Writing Center.
A&S 300-003 (WRD 320): Survival Technology: The Rhetoric and Literacy Practices of Black Sermon, Standup, and Storytelling Traditions
Instructor: Dr. Adam Banks
Meeting Pattern: TR 12:30PM – 1:45PM
Course Overview: What do Martin Luther King, Jr, Maxine Waters, and HipHop all have in common? Who were the first rappers? What made Richard Pryor and Moms Mabley two of the most brilliant comics in African American history? How have African American oral traditions been a means of both resistance to, and participation in American society? This course is both an exploration of the range in the forms and content of African American oral traditions, and a beginning exploration of the rhetorical practices involved in the Black sermon, standup, and storytelling traditions. What can we learn about navigating a technologically driven society by reconnecting with these traditions?
A&S 300-005 (WRD 212): Social Media: Theory, Culture, Politics, Practice
Instructor: Dr. Adam Banks
Meeting Pattern: TR 2:00PM – 3:15PM
Course Overview: This is an era where we feel everything shifting and sense some of the patterns, but one where we’re never entirely sure what’s going on because the shifts are so sudden and so constant. First the internet seemed to change and challenge everything about culture and even individual identity; then the rise of social media as a major part of internet culture seemed to change all the rules yet again. We’ll start to figure out what it all might mean in this class: we’ll use and experiment with all kinds of social media (sometimes all at the same time), and we’ll examine some of the theoretical literature to explore the ways these tools and larger systems are evolving—and forcing society to evolve with it. We’ll actually use the stuff—explore new networks, learn how to use new tools, and share our experiences with them.
A&S 300-006 (WRD 412): INTERMEDIATE DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION
Instructor: Dr. Thomas Marksbury
Meeting Pattern: MWF 2:00PM – 2:50PM
Course Overview: This a hybrid course dedicated to first critically examining a number of (mostly) contemporary documentary films and then applying that study, workshop fashion, to the construction of a documentary of one’s own. We’ll begin by looking as closely as possible at a number of non-fiction narratives which employ a variety of approaches to a wide range of subjects. These might include such films as Spike Lee’s rightly furious polemic When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, which meticulously pieces together the political, social, and emotional ramifications of Hurricane Katrina for the city of New Orleans and Terry Zwigoff’s Crumb, a variation on the traditional artist profile which locates the cartoonist within the confines of his dysfunctional family. For the second half, the emphasis will shift to a hands-on and mutually supportive workshop environment. Having isolated a subject and generated some raw material, we now begin to focus on the documentary writing process in all of its forms and functions—research, filming, interviewing, and editing, the delicate balancing act of shaping without distorting the material.
A&S 300-008 (WRD 311): Rhetorical History of the Documentary
Instructor: Dr. Thomas Marksbury
Meeting Pattern: MWF 12PM – 12:50PM
Course Overview: This course is designed to trace the evolution, refinement, formalization and eventual deconstruction of the documentary film from the inception of the Lumieree brothers to the dazzling deceptions of Banksy, examining both the acknowledged canonical masterpieces and a few other roads not quite as well mapped. Although the emphasis will be on the development of the American documentary, we will also be looking into contributions from France, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and Russia as we try to cultivate a sense of how these various countries and cultures have interpollinated each other. Such movements as the Soviet Avant Garde, Direct Cinema, and Free Cinema will be examined to connect individual works with more collective lines of influence.
ENG 301-001 (WRD 301): STYLE FOR WRITERS
Instructor: Brandy Scalise
Meeting Pattern: MWF 11:00AM – 11:50AM
Course Description: This course is designed for those who wish to improve their own writing style or the style of others. While the course may include some account of historical changes in prose style and require some stylistic analysis of literary texts, the emphasis is on editing contemporary prose, both in exercises and in the students’ own writing. Students will learn and practice principles such as economy, coordination, subordination, precision, parallelism, balance, coherence, rhythm, clarity, and grace. Prereq: Fulfillment of University Writing requirement.
ENG 401/601-001 (WRD 401/601): SPECIAL TOPICS IN WRITING: THE ESSAY
Instructor: Randall Roorda
Meeting Pattern: MWF 2:00PM – 2:50PM
Course Description: Studies of special topics in writing, in areas such as literary nonfiction (essays), responding to literature, cultural critique, and composing law and justice. Topics announced the preceding semester. May be repeated under different subtitles to a maximum of six credits.
ENG 401-002 (WRD 401): SPECIAL TOPICS IN WRITING: Writing About Religion and Spirituality
Instructor: Erik A. Reece
Meeting Pattern: TR 9:30AM – 10:45AM
Course Description: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” wrote Joan Didion. From the beginning, those stories have asked the questions, “Where do we come from?” and “Why are we here?” And from the beginning, we have tried to answer those questions, first through oral stories and later through written narratives. The religious impulse has often been a catalyst for writing, and it will be in this course. We will examine contemporary writers on religion such as Annie Dillard, Ann Lemott and Wendell Berry. Then we will embark on our own nonfiction essays that will include meditations, personal narratives, profiles of spiritual places and people, and polemics. (This is NOT a course in religious proselytizing, but rather one in which we will write honestly about the great questions of belief and disbelief).
ENG 401-003 (WRD 401): SPECIAL TOPICS IN WRITING: WRITING ABOUT ANIMALS
Instructor: Roxanne Mountford
Meeting Pattern: TR 2:00PM – 3:15PM
Course Description: What makes us different from animals? This question has engaged philosophers, scientists, animal trainers, and ordinary people who love wildlife or have animal companions. In this course, we will read widely about animals, encounter them in the local environment, and write about them in various forms of nonfiction prose, all the while exploring our assumptions about them. Students will submit at least one piece of writing produced in this course to a journal, newspaper, or magazine for publication.
ENG 405-001 (WRD 405): EDITING ENGLISH PROSE
(This course is not yet in the online catalog.)
Instructor: Rhonda Reeves, Editor of ACE Magazine
Meeting Pattern: TR 11:00AM – 12:15PM
Course Description: This course is designed for students interested in the basics of editing and publishing and offers instruction and extensive practice in editing and revising both the student’s own writing and the prose works of others. In addition to learning techniques of revision, verification of sources, and preparation of manuscripts, student will be expected to learn about the editing profession generally and to follow trends in editing and publishing. Prereq: ENG 301 or ENG 306 or consent of instructor.
Fall 2011
WRD 110 COMPOSITION AND COMMUNICATION I
Composition and Communication I is a course in speaking and writing emphasizing critical inquiry and research. Throughout the course, students are encouraged students to explore their place in the broader community and take a stance on issues of public concern—that is, to begin to view themselves as engaged citizens. Students will engage in reflective thinking and analysis, conduct primary research in the community and secondary research using Library resources, and learn how to write and speak effectively about a local issue not only for their classmates but also for audiences beyond the classroom. A significant component of the class will be learning to use visuals and online resources to enhance writing and oral presentations. Over the course of the semester, class members can expect to work independently, with a partner, or with a small group of classmates to investigate, share findings, and compose presentations of their research, as well as to practice and evaluate interpersonal and team dynamics in action.
WRD 111 COMPOSITION AND COMMUNICATION II
Composition and Communication II is the second of two general education courses focused on integrated oral, written, and visual communication skill development emphasizing critical inquiry and research. In this course, students will explore issues of public concern using rhetorical analysis, engage in deliberation over those issues, and ultimately propose solutions based on well-developed arguments. Students will sharpen their ability to conduct research; compose and communicate in written, oral, and visual modalities; and work effectively in groups (dyads and small groups). To learn to analyze a public issue using rhetorical analysis, the entire class will explore together one contemporary social issue and related texts about it. A significant component of the class will consist of learning to use visual and digital resources, first to enhance written and oral presentations and later to communicate mass mediated messages to various public audiences. Over the course of the semester, class members can expect to work independently, with a partner, and in a small group (team) to investigate, share findings, and compose and deliver presentations, as well as to practice and evaluate interpersonal and team dynamics in action.
A&S 300.016 RHETORIC BETWEEN ATHENS AND JERUSALEM
Rhetoric is a powerful, architechtonic art that often gets maligned in colloquial English by its association with “bullshit” or empty speech. Yet the tenets of rhetorical theory have allowed for both the analysis and production of powerful symbolic texts for thousands of years. In this course we will investigate the history of rhetoric in Ancient Greece and Israel to explore the productive space between Greco-Roman and Jewish/Hebraic rhetorical traditions. We will also learn about contemporary debates in rhetorical historiography as well as contrastive and comparative approaches to studies in rhetorical history and theory. Required texts and materials may include Aristotle's Rhetoric and Nichomachean Ethics; Plato's Gorgias and Phaedrus; Megiallat Esther; and more. Students will write several short reading response essays, a mid-term, and a major research project.
A&S 300.017 VISUAL RHETORIC
We live in a world of persuasion and argument. At each turn, we are bombarded by messages in posters, commercials, flyers, books, articles, speeches, TV Shows, movies, and songs. The very buildings we live, work, and play inside shape our actions through discrete messages. While the majority of these arguments are visual, academic inquiry often stresses the analysis ofpurely textual artifacts. In this course, we will reverse that tendency.
This course constitutes an inquiry into rhetoric by other means – visual means. We will discuss not only the history of visuals in American culture, but also the history of their study. We will also keep that word, “inquiry,” at the forefront as we progress. We do not enter this course with answers, but with questions.
We will concern ourselves with artifacts from popular and academic cultures, including comic books, art installations, paintings, buildings, academic books and articles, advertisements, and films.
Argumentative writing. Emphasis on development of a fluent, precise, and versatile prose style. Continued instruction and practice in reading critically, thinking logically, responding to texts, developing research skills, writing substantial essays through systematic revision, addressing specific audiences, expressing ideas in standard and correct English. Prereq: ENG 101 or equivalent. Notes: (a) Credit not available by special examination; (b) ENG 101 and ENG 102 may not be taken concurrently.
ENG 104 WRITING: AN ACCELERATED FOUNDATIONAL COURSE
An intensive course in writing emphasizing critical inquiry and research, formulation of academic writing projects, and orientation to university study. Instruction and practice in reading critically, thinking logically, responding to texts, developing research skills, writing substantial essay through systematic revision, addressing specific consequences, developing a fluent, precise, and versatile prose style,and expressing ideas in standard and correct English. Focus on topics pertinent to university disciplines, activities, and environs. Notes:(a) credit or exemption not available by CLEP or by special departmental examination; (b) exemption possible by ACT, SAT, or AP English Language exam score.
Instruction and experience in writing for business, industry, and government. Emphasis on clarity, conciseness, and effectiveness in preparing letters, memos, and reports for specific audiences. Prereq: Completion of University Writing requirement.
ENG 204 TECHNICAL WRITING
Instruction and experience in writing for science and technology. Emphasis on clarity, conciseness, and effectiveness in preparing letters, memos, and reports for specific audiences. Prereq: Completion of University Writing requirement.
ENG 205 INTERMEDIATE WRITING
Instruction and experience in nonfictional writing. The emphasis is on clarity, conciseness, and effective form in abstracts, in case studies,and in literature reviews for special audiences. Assignments include research and oral presentations. Prereq: Completion of the University Writing requirement.
ENG 301 STYLE FOR WRITERS
This course is designed for those who wish to improve their own writing style or the style of others. While the course may include some account of historical changes in prose style and require some stylistic analysis of literary texts, the emphasis is on editing contemporary prose, both in exercises and in the students’ own writing. Students will learn and practice principles such as economy, coordination, subordination, precision, parallelism, balance, coherence, rhythm, clarity, and grace. Prereq: Fulfillment of the University Writing requirement and consent of instructor.
ENG 306 INTRODUCTION TO PROFESSIONS IN WRITING
This course overviews a few of the many possible professions in writing. The main focus will be in-class presentations by invited speakers who will provide insight to their work and workplace through talk, example, and class discussion. Assignments for the course will involve reflective and exploratory writing in and about the various genres presented, and emphasis will be placed on rhetorical variation. Professions in Writing explored in class may include activist writing, college teaching in rhetoric and composition, community writing, computers and writing, editing, environmental writing, free-lance writing, grant writing, literary journalism, magazine writing, new media writing, nonfiction writing, professional writing, publicity, publishing, science writing, teaching English as a second language, teaching writing in public schools, technical writing, writing about technology, writing for nonprofits, and/or others. Prerequisite: Fulfillment of University Writing Requirement.
ENG 405 EDITING ENGLISH PROSE
This course is designed for students interested in the basics of editing and publishing and offers instruction and extensive practice in editing and revising both the student’s own writing and the prose works of others. In addition to learning techniques of revision, verification of sources, and preparation of manuscripts, students will be expected to learn about the editing profession generally and to follow trends in editing and publishing. Not for students with writing deficiencies. Prereq: ENG 306 or ENG 301 or consent of instructor.
