Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Professional Writing
English 4000 | Spring 2019
Course Values
With a focus on audience, context, and
the persuasion inherent to all human This course and its definition of professional communication are grounded in
endeavors, rhetoric greatly informs the rhetoric, which students will hopefully come to value as a productive method for
purpose of this course. negotiating, constructing, maintaining, and reshaping their professional lives.
Rhetoric, briefly defined, is the use of symbols to produce an effect (e.g., a
verbal command to Stop, a red traffic light, a Journey song imploring us Dont
Stop Believing, or a floor plan that privileges collaboration over isolation).
However, rhetoric necessarily exceeds the symbolic, manifesting itself in
embodied practices and spatial arrangements (e.g., curb cuts, roundabouts, and
jersey barriers that direct our movements). Though rhetoric has become a
negative word within political circles and contemporary media, it has a rich
history as one of the oldest intellectual pursuits in the Western world. With a
focus on audience, context, and the persuasion inherent to all human endeavors,
rhetoric greatly informs the purpose of this course.
Course Mission
In Things Without Honor, Arthur Stanley Pease writes of the tradition of
encomiaa speech or text praising someone or somethingdevoted to
humbler topics, such as the lower animals, plants, or inanimate objects (27).
This kind of composing is called adoxography, which means fine writing on a base
or trivial topic. Pease argues, To seek the causes of so long-continued and
widespread an epidemic of apparent nonsense is perhaps not without its
value (30). He connects this epidemic to the traditional work of delighting and
entertaining audiences. He also traces this practice to the development of
Alina Wheeler, Designing Brand Identity. natural science in thinkers like Aristotle, for whom no least detail was too trivial
5th ed. Wiley Press, 2017 for earnest consideration (32). Most importantly, though, Pease argues that
(ISBN-13:978-1118099209) such encomia are intimately connected to the workings of rhetorical training:
Working within the spirit and tradition of adoxography in the context of the
What better training, from the sophistic
standpoint, than this exercise of defending practice of rebranding, teams of students will select a mundane thing (an object
the indefensible or salvaging the like a pebble or dust; practice such as getting lost or stubbing your toe) that
universally rejected. needs rebranding. Something that we think needs to be celebrated and
circulated more widely and more intensely. Crucially, this mundane thing
cannot be proprietary: it cannot be something owned as property, intellectual or
otherwise. For the first phase of this work, teams will assess the mundane things
marketing strategy and propose a new strategy to effect change. In the second,
final portion of the class, teams will embark on a marketing campaign. This
campaign will ask you to put into practice all the forms of business and
professional writing through the creation of a trend analysis, a media kit and a
presentation.
Late Work
Late work will not be accepted and will result in a failed grade unless there is an
emergency, which, of course, requires documentation. If for some reason you
feel you cannot complete an assignment by the provided due date, please speak
with me well in advance of when the assignment is due. The work for this course
is carefully sequenced and will grow out of ongoing class work and homework
assignments. Staying on top of these assignments, completing them diligently,
and turning them in on time are crucial for your success in this course.
Course Goals
Writing in Context negotiating the ethical
Analyze cultures, social contexts, and dimensions of rhetorical action
audiences to determine how they
shape the various purposes and forms Project Management
of writing, such as persuasion, understanding, developing and
This class hopes to cultivate a set of
organizational communication, and deploying various strategies for
habits vital to successful professional
communication. The best way to good public discourse, with an emphasis on: planning, researching, drafting,
habits is lots of practice. writing for a range of defined revising, and editing documents
audiences and stakeholders
Attendance
Attendance
Regular attendance is expected, and is fundamental to your success in this class.
Adoxography challenges a writer to wax
We will be working constantly with your writing, so your presence is quite
poetic about the minuscule, mundane or important. Because it is so important for your success in the course, the Writing
simply unmentionabledust and bees, for Program has instituted a program-wide attendance and tardiness policy. You
instance.
may have three unexcused absences over the course of the semester. Starting
with your fourth absence, your final course average will be lowered by 3 points
for each new absence. So, if you have five unexcused absences, you lose 6
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is honest, truthful and responsible conduct in all academic
endeavors. The mission of Saint Louis University is the pursuit of truth for the
greater glory of God and for the service of humanity. Accordingly, all acts of
falsehood demean and compromise the corporate endeavors of teaching,
research, health care, and community service via which SLU embodies its
mission. The University strives to prepare students for lives of personal and
professional integrity, and therefore regards all breaches of academic integrity as
matters of serious concern. The governing University-level Academic Integrity
Policy was adopted in Spring 2015, and can be accessed on the Provosts Office
Sample media kit. w e b s i t e a t : h t t p : / /w w w. s l u . e d u /a c a d e m i c s /g r a d u a t e /u n i v e r s i t y -
wide_academic_integrity_policy_final_6-26-15.pdf
Additionally, each SLU College, School, and Center has adopted its own
academic integrity policies, available on their respective websites. All SLU
students are expected to know and abide by these policies, which detail
definitions of violations, processes for reporting violations, sanctions, and
appeals. Please direct questions about any facet of academic integrity to your
faculty, the chair of the department of your academic program, or the Dean/
Director of the College, School or Center in which your program is housed.
Specific College of Arts and Sciences Academic Honesty Policies and
Procedures may be found at: http://www.slu.edu/arts-and-sciences/student-
resources/academic-honesty.php
Title IX Statement
Saint Louis University and its faculty are committed to supporting our students
Of animals we find representatives of and seeking an environment that is free of bias, discrimination and harassment. If
those which are more or less homely or you have encountered any form of sexual misconduct (e.g. sexual assault, sexual
mean, such as the ass, the horse, the
harassment, stalking, domestic or dating violence), we encourage you to report
cow, the parrot, the ant, and the
bumblebee, but also of those which are this to the University. If you speak with a faculty member about an incident of
annoying or dangerous, as flies, gnats, misconduct, that faculty member must notify SLUs Title IX coordinator, Anna
fleas, lice, and bedbugs. Of encomia of R. Kratky (DuBourg Hall, room 36; anna.kratky@slu.edu; 314-977-3886) and
plants I have already spoken; in the field
of inanimate objects we find thus honored share the basic fact of your experience with her. The Title IX coordinator will
the Dog Star, pots, pebbles, salt, wine, then be available to assist you in understanding all of your options and in
figs, the lyre, dust and smoke, and even connecting you with all possible resources on and off campus. If you wish to
ashes and dung.
speak with a confidential source, you may contact the counselors at the
University Counseling Center at 314-977-TALK. View SLUs sexual misconduct
policy: http://www.slu.edu/about/safety/pdfs/sexual-misconduct-policy-
version7.0.pdf.
Course Schedule
This class is designed to meet the students needs. For this reason, the syllabus is
subject to change throughout the semester. Daily agendas are posted to the
course Tumblr site before each class session.
Jan. 17
Feb. 5 Workshop
Rebranding
Feb. 7 Workshop
Apr. 2
Due: Media Kit Drafts
Consultations
Apr. 4 Compose: Assessment Memo (due 11/20)
Apr. 11
Apr. 18 No ClassEaster
Apr. 23
Presentations
Due: Marketing Campaigns
Apr. 25 Rehearsals