Assignments

These are the assignments that will make up your grade in this class.

Turn-in Procedures

All assignments will be turned in on eCampus to the appropriate drop box under the “Assignments” sidebar link. Do not bring a printed copy or email me your assignment.

Assignment Values

Assignment Descriptions

Short Paper 1

Over the course of the semester, you will be asked to write three (3) short (3-4 page) papers in response to course discussion and the readings we are doing in class.

Papers should be formatted using 12pt, Times New Roman font and double spaced with 1-inch margins.

Pick a passage in one of the texts we have read for class. A passage could be a portion of a dialogue (3-4 paragraphs) or a paragraph or even a single sentence, but not an entire text or sub-division of a text. Discuss the stylistic, thematic, and imagistic content of this scene, while also connecting these issues to larger themes within the text itself.

This paper uses internal evidence only (or primarily). You will be quoting material from the section in question and then discussing the style, theme, or imagery of the passage as it relates to the larger theme of the work.

You may need to do some additional historical or etymological research, especially as we are working with texts in translation. Additionally, consulting commentary or footnotes, especially on the Plato texts, will prove helpful.

De Copia Project

This project responds to our mini-seminar on Erasmus’s De Copia over the final five weeks of class. The project asks you to create an artifact (see below) that responds to some aspect of Erasmus’s text and a creator’s statement that explains to what aspect of De Copia your project responds, after you have submitted a proposal.

Project Artifact

I use the term “artifact” because it sounds more formal and academic than “thing” but I want to keep it vague to allow you to respond how you want. An artifact could be a video, a digital project, a paper collage, origami, a series of journal entries, fan fiction, drawings, a painting, or even a traditional research essay. But it need not be any of those things. Rather than continue to analyze the history of rhetoric, I want you (or your group, if you choose to work in groups) to think about how to use the rhetorical tradition, as discussed by Erasmus and others that we have read this semester, as a living source of inspiration.

The important thing about grading criteria for this portion of the assignment: I am less concerned with you producing something polished (or even finished), so much as I am interested in how you go about thinking about Erasmus and rhetoric and how you choose to think about embodying that connection.

This semester, it is important that you make something digital so you can turn it in remotely. If you were to, say, build a life-size butter sculpture of Erasmus, I would want you to turn in a video of you demonstrating the sculpture as your artifact. The digital requirement should not limit your creativity, but I want you to remember it as you propose your project.

Creator’s Statement

Due at the same time as the artifact, this is your chance to explain how your project relates to Erasmus or some other aspect of the rhetorical tradition. This should be a three to four page traditional paper describing both what you did and why you did it. In explaining why, I want you to show me you understand something important about rhetoric, so quote from our readings and offer some summary of some of the theories we have discussed.

Project Proposal

Due first, I am asking for a one page statement detailing your plan: what you intend to make and a brief explanation of why. I will offer feedback on your project, hopefully suggesting ways you might improve and where you might want to pare back on your analysis.