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Visual Rhetoric and Culture
Syllabus | Fall 2018

Course Information: WRIT 4260/ 5260

Meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 - 12:15 a.m. in Kirby Plaza 312

Course home page: <http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/f18/4260/>

Students enrolled in WRIT 5260 should see additional requirememnts at
<http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/f18/4260/syllabus_adden_grad.html>

Professor Information

Dr. Craig Stroupe; Department of English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies; 726-6249, Humanities 420V, cstroupe@d.umn.edu;

Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:15 - 1:15 or by appointment.

Resources Needed

  • Susan Sontag, On Photography, ISBN-13: 978-0312420093, Picador, 1977 (print copy only)
  • Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, ISBN 006097625X, Harper Perennial, 1993 (print copy only)
  • Edward Tufte, Visual Explanations, ISBN 0961392126. Graphics Press, 1997 (print copy only)
  • Purchase and download a copy of Affinity Photo if you don't already have access to Photoshop or some other image-editing softrware. One copy of Affinity Photo can be used on mulitple computers. For Mac, purchase from the App Store. For Windows, purchase direct from Affinity.
  • occasional articles or book chapters that I will make available from the course Moodle site. I will require you to print out these chapters, read them on paper, and bring them to class, rather than just looking at them online.
  • occasional access to a digital camera
  • access to a printer, or funds for printing

Grades

  • 50 %: Your achievement in the major projects (weighted according to size and complexity), based on criteria announced in the assignments (Fulfills course goals 1, 2, 4, 5 below)
  • 30 %:
  • Participation in class, including contributions to class discussions, completing the readings, various hands-on exercises, in-class activities, online discussions, attendance, conferences, quizzes, class discussion, promptness.(Fulfills course goals 1, 2 and 3 below)
  • 20 %: Final Exam. This comprehensive final exam will cover readings and concepts from the entire semester. We will discuss the exam's purposes and format early in the semester. (Fulfills course goals 1, 2, and 3 below)

See the General Grading Rubric below.

Purpose and Goals

This course explores how images become evidence, drama, history, and alternative realities.

"Visual Rhetoric and Culture" offers skills needed to conceive, produce, interpret, and write about eloquent visual texts. In addition to teaching hands-on techniques of graphic production, the course draws widely on the disciplines of analytical design, cultural criticism, digital design, graphic narrative theory, creative writing, New Media theory, and technical writing.

WRIT 4260 / 5260 is designed to acquaint you with the concepts, skills, and practice needed to realize the following goals:

  1. employing principles of critical thinking, writing, and design to create visual projects that convey analytical insight, narrative significance, and cultural meaning (W1, W4);
  2. designing and writing projects that effectively combine visual and verbal discourses (W4);
  3. analyzing graphic work in critically, historically, and theoretically informed ways (W1);
  4. using a variety of software and online services to create graphic projects in online formats (W1)
  5. engaging potential audiences of visual texts (W3)

(Numbers in parenthesis indicate program student-learning outcomes that each goal fulfills, and provides a link to a page describing those outcomes. W refers to the outcomes for the Writing Studies major; D for the Digital Writing, Literature, and Design minor; E for the English major; L for Liberal Education.)

Writing, Design, Readings, and Discussion

This course features critical readings, discussions, hands-on tutorials, and classroom activities which culminate in several visual projects, an analytical essay, and a final exam.

The Projects

The assignments linked from the Projects Page are the semester's primary pieces of work. You'll complete these in two-week units through the term, using the hands-on skills that you've learned in class, as well as insights and inspirations from the readings and discussions. One of the projects is an essay about an image of your choice.

Late Penalties. There is a three-point penalty per day for late projects. Projects over seven days late will receive no credit. Exceptions are granted only in cases consistent with the UMD excused absence policy explained below.

Digital projects are late if you haven't posted a working URL to the correct online forum as of the day and time specified in the schedule. A digital project that's five minutes late is the same as one that's 23 hours late. You may continue to make updates to a project even after you have uploaded a project to the web and posted the URL, though changes made after the assigned day/time may or may not be included in the evaluation.

Paper-based projects need to be submitted as a hard copy at the time and place assigned. I will not accept e-mail-attachments or electronic copies of paper-based projects. Due dates for all requirements are included in the online schedule, which will be updated throughout the semester.

Project Commentaries

Often, the visual project assignments will require that you write a 250-word self-commentary on your project. Your commentary should fulfill both the general guidelines for commentaries as well as any project-specific requirements listed on the assignment page.

The Final Exam

There will be a final exam, which will comprise a combination of opened- and closed-book formats.

Early in the semester, I will go over the kinds of things you'll be expected to remember, understand, and be able to discuss on the exam.

Hands-On Tutorials

You'll learn hands-on techniques and workflows for particular software and online services by completing tutorials as homework. We will often troubleshoot the tutorials during the next class meeting. For some tutorials, I may collect your tutorial worksheets, or announce a deadline by which an online final product will need to be posted to the web and a URL sent to the appropriate online forum.

Late Penalties. For any submitted exercises, each day late will deduct 20% (a point for a five-point exercise, for example), with no credit given after five days.

Other Writing and Design Work

In addition to the design, creation, and/or writing of the projects themselves, you will complete

  • writings in the online forums
  • brainstorming sessions and preliminary writings or designs for your projects,
  • peer critiques for workshops
  • other writings as prompted in class

Readings

On days when readings are assigned, please do the following:

  • have the readings completed by the beginning of class;
  • As you read, mark in the book or on the printout, noting key terms, ideas, issues, questions, and names. Try following the techniques described on my page on Active Reading. These markings and notes will be extremely valuable to you in the exams.
  • Before class, complete any Preparation Sheets, Reading Guides or other preparatory activities that I have assigned. I may ask you to read your responses aloud in class to help generate discussion.
  • expect brief quizzes or guided reading responses at the beginning or end of class. There are no make-ups on these responses if you are absent, late, or leave early

Use paper copies of the assigned readings, and not online versions as your primary means of reading them. However, software tutorials and manuals are okay to consult online.

Attendance and Participation

Classroom Preparation

Basic preparation means you have

  • read all material assigned
  • are prepared to talk about what you have read
  • the readings open (in print) on your desk
  • a notebook open for taking notes.

Informed participation demonstrates that you are taking the course seriously, which means that you

  • come to class having read and thought critically about the assigned material
  • listen and respond attentively and respectfully during class discussions
  • actively contribute quotations, ideas, and questions to class discussions that try to move the conversation to a new level of understanding or complexity, or that try to connect various ideas contributed by others.

Classroom Contributions of Quotations (Chronology in a Moodle Forum)

To help me evaluate your participation, after each class meeting I will ask you to log any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class. You will log each of these contributions in a post to a Moodle forum, "Classroom Contributions." Please log only quotations that you contributed to discussion out loud.  Post one message for each quotation using the format of this example:

M 3/14: Orwell, The Labyrinthine World of Doublethink
His mind slid away...contradictory, to know/not know, memory, unconsciousness, forget. 35.3

This format of each message includes:

  • a header (including the date of class, the work's author, and a word or phrase that sums up the topic or point of the quotation),
  • a string of key words from the quotation, especially from the beginning and end, to help us find the passage on the page,
  • the page number (with tenths to indicate how far down the page).

Attendance

Since this class will function as a community of inquiring writer-designers, your regular attendance is absolutely necessary. The UMD Attendance Policy states:

Students are expected to attend all scheduled class meetings. It is the responsibility of students to plan their schedules to avoid excessive conflict with course requirements. However, there are legitimate and verifiable circumstances that lead to excused student absence from the classroom. These are subpoenas, jury duty, military duty, religious observances, illness, bereavement for immediate family, and NCAA varsity intercollegiate athletics. For complete information, please see: http://www.d.umn.edu/vcaa/ExcusedAbsence.html

Allowed Absences:

You are allowed a small number of absences which you can spend however you wish: 4 allowed absences (in a MWF class) or 3 (in a TT class). Allowed absences do not excuse you from the work due or completed on the days you are absent, and some in-class activities and timely requirements cannot be replicated or made up. Save your "free" absences for a rainy (or snowy) day.

Unexcused Absences and Penalties:

Absences in excess of the budget of allowed instances deduct 2 percent each from your overall grade.

Excused Absences:

In the case of serious, legitimate, and verifiable conflicts that result in absences in excess of the allowed number, the absences can be excused if

1. you contact me prior to, or as soon as possible after, the circumstance resulting in your absence(s)

2. you provide written documentation from an authoritative source (e.g., a doctor, the Athletic Department) which speaks specifically to the reason you were unavoidably unable to attend class that particular day.

3. the absence qualifies as a legitimate, excusable absence according to UMD policy.

Like the other types of absence, documented, excused absences do not excuse you from the work due or completed when you did not attend, and some in-class activities and timely requirements cannot be replicated or made up.

Tardiness and Leaving Early

In addition to your budget of allowed absences, you also have 3 or 4 instances (depending on the TR or MWF schedule) of arriving late or leaving early to use if necessary. Instances in excess of this allowance will decrease your overall grade by 2 percentage points each. If you need to leave class early, even if it's one of your allowed instances, please arrange it with me in advance.

Participation

This class is designed to provide a number of avenues for building a productive sense of community, including brainstorming sessions, peer workshopping and critiquing, in-class "studio sessions," support groups, and various online communications and collaborations. Your sincere and regular contributions to maintaining this collaborative environment will count in your grade, and of course will greatly benefit your final products in the course. Because your work is the subject matter for this course, turning in all projects and writings on time is critical.

General Grading Rubric

A = outstanding contributions to class discussion and excellent written work; no more than 2 absences. To achieve an “A,” take a leadership role in class discussions, including working actively to get others involved; prepare readings thoroughly, find and talk about connections among them and among other aspects of culture (then and now); make your presentations and written work stand out by bringing to them something really special in terms of your own contributions, interests, and ideas.

B = regular contributions and solid written work—exceeds average performance, but room for improvement; informed, active participation in all class discussions; no more than 2 absences. To achieve a “B,” prepare assigned readings thoroughly, initiate discussions about them by asking good questions or suggesting ways to interpret readings; prepare assignments and presentations that reveal that you have done good additional work that you can make both interesting and meaningful.

C = work that meets average (i.e., high) standards for UMD students, but some problems with content and/or expression; informed, active participation in most class discussions; no more than 3 absences.

D = significant problems with any or all course components (writing, examinations, participation).

F = performance that does not meet minimum standards for university students; more than 4 absences.

Students with Disabilities Policy

It is the policy and practice of the University of Minnesota Duluth to create inclusive learning environments for all students, including students with disabilities. If there are aspects of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or your ability to meet course requirements such as time limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos, please notify the instructor as soon as possible. You are also encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Resources to discuss and arrange reasonable accommodations. Call 218-726-6130 or visit the Disability Resources web site at https://umd-general.umn.edu/disability-resources for more information.

Incompletes

Incompletes for the semester will be given only in the following very limited circumstances:

  • you must contact me in advance of the semester's end to make a request for an incomplete;
  • no more than one or two weeks of class, or one or two assignments, can have been missed;
  • you must be in good standing in the class (not already behind, in other words);
  • you must have a documented family or medical emergency, as required by university policy;
  • you must arrange a time table with me for completing the missed work that is acceptable to both of us.

Academic Integrity and Student Conduct

Please see UMD's pages concerning these two issues: