392b W19 Clary-Lemon

392B

ENGL 392B: Visual Rhetoric

10:00-11:20 p, HH 139

Course Outline, Winter 2019

Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Clary-Lemon

Email: jclarylemon@uwaterloo.ca

Phone: (519)885-1211 x 33594

Office: Hagey Hall 368

Office Hours: T, Th 9:00-10:00 a.m. and 11:30p-12:50 p.m. and by appointment

In this class, held at the University of Waterloo, we acknowledge that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (also known as Neutral), Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten kilometres on each side of the Grand River.

Course Description

This course introduces students to the interaction of texts and images in such professional writing fields as advertising, book illustration, technical documentation, journalism, and public relations. Issues may include visual and textual literacy, the semiotics and rhetoric of design, and the ideological basis of social communication. In this particular section of the course, emphasis will be placed on historical and material analyses of visuals, as well as the production of visual images when considering academic texts.

Course Objectives

Specifically, by the end of the course, learners should be able to:

• Understand key terms, concepts, and theorists regarding visual rhetorical analysis
• Understand historical and material influences in visual rhetorical studies
• design, draft, and persuasively deliver visual rhetorical artifacts
• justify decisions about the language, content, and genre used when communicating and designing visuals
• practice collaboration and peer review in support of iterative communication design processes, including revision.

Required Texts and Materials:

Online readings. See course LEARN site.

Assignments and Grading:

Summary:

Keyword Glossary Essay: 10%

Using Carolyn Handa’s Index to Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World, you will choose one term or theorist relevant to the field of visual rhetoric and your own interest, and develop a 500-word researched keyword glossary entry in the spirit of Bern’s Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition essay. Note that keyword essays give a historical overview of the term (or theorist) at hand, note its competing definitions (or, in the case of a theorist, major ideas) from specific to general, and note its changes over time. A final draft of your Keyword glossary term will be uploaded to a class Google doc (http://bit.ly/2GdvDEv) for class reference throughout the term.

Visual Rhetoric in the Archives: 25%

For this assignment, we will visit the University of Waterloo Archives. Making field notes of your process, you will track down a particular archival photograph of your choice. Reflecting on the distinctions between material visual artifacts (such as photographs, negatives, or daguerreotypes) and digital ephemera, in a maximum of 4 pages you will analyze your experience of working in the archives and with a material visual artifact, drawing on at least 3 readings from the course.

Digital Mapping: Book Covers: (Map: 10%, Analysis 15%)

In this assignment you will search out at least 5 different images that represent different historic book covers of a popular book (that may be fiction or non-fiction). You will create an annotated Google map of each cover (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-fBd8TbXwg for tutorial), locating each image in the time and place of publication and annotating the image with historical notes about publication and circulation (inclusive of citations). In the analysis, using the vocabulary and concepts laid out in the IEEE “Visual Grammar” and Ehses “Representing MacBeth” readings, in a maximum of 4 pages you will analyze the rhetorical situations of the book cover images themselves (taking into account such elements as argument, substance, image/icon, text, placement, and color). Note: this may be an easier assignment if you have read the book that you choose.

Team Graphical Abstract and Analysis: 20

In a group of 4, you will create a graphical abstract using Pictochart of an agreed-upon article that we have all read for class. In an accompanying 5-page analysis, you will discuss your rhetorical choices in the creation of the graphical abstract (argument, arrangement, tone, substance, etc.) using Wroblewski and at least one other course reading to frame your analysis.

Team Graphical Abstract Presentation: 5%

In a 10-minute presentation (all team members participate), you will discuss your team graphical abstract and your rhetorical choices that shaped it.

In-Class, Homework, and Peer Review Assignments: 15%

We will often complete activities in class that engage with our course readings (note: you must be in class to receive credit for in-class assignments). Often you will be given homework that engages course readings (or, in the cases that in-class assignments go long). When we workshop writing in class, you are expected to act as a willing and prepared reviewer of other writers’ work. This means that on peer review days, you show up with a finished draft in class, and act as a thoughtful reader and commenter of your peers’ work.

In-class, Homework, and Peer Review Grading

Writing-to-learn activities that we complete in class are process oriented, which means you learn from the activity rather than from me assigning a letter grade based on a finished product. As such, when you receive in-class work back from me with a ü (checkmark), it means that you have received full credit (100%) for completing the writing-to-learn activity. For homework that are more involved learning-to-write activities, when there is more attention paid to format and polishing the product, you will receive a percentage grade out of 10 points. Peer Reviews will similarly be out of 10 points, with full credit being given for not only participating in peer review, but using the feedback gathered during peer review to revise your draft towards a polished final product. For final papers, you will receive a numeric grade out of 100.

Note: There is no final exam for this course.

Course Policies

Paper Format:

Unless otherwise specified, all papers should be typed and printed on a high-quality printer, double spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, MLA style (8^th ed.), and left-justified with one-inch margins. On the first page of the paper, in the upper left-hand corner, place your name, course title, assignment name, date, and my name (single space this heading).

Turning in/Picking Up Assignments

All assignments will be turned in hard copy at the beginning of the class period on which they are due unless otherwise stated. Your assignments will be returned to you in class; your final assignment may be picked up in my office (HH 368) three weeks after the last day of class.

Late Assignments

Late assignments will not be accepted without an extension. Permission to turn in a late assignment without penalty will be given rarely and only based on a conference with me, and never on the day the assignment is due. If you are having trouble completing an assignment, please come speak with me.

Basic Needs

Any student who has difficulty affording groceries or accessing sufficient food to eat every day, or who lacks a safe and stable place to live, and believes this may affect their performance in the course, is urged to contact the Dean of students in their faculty for support. Furthermore, please notify the professor if you are comfortable in doing so.

Children in Class

Although the University of Waterloo does not have a formal policy about children in the classroom, in my classroom, I recognize the complex and rich lives students with families have. Thus I have the following policies about children and babies in class:

• All exclusively breastfeeding babies are welcome in class as often as is necessary to support the breastfeeding relationship.
• I understand that all children get sick, and that childcare arrangements fall through. Occasionally bringing a child to class is acceptable, though obviously not a long-term childcare solution.
• In all cases where babies and children come to class, I ask that you sit near the door so that if your child needs special attention and is disrupting other students, you can step outside until their need has been met.

Institutional-required statements for undergraduate course outlines approved by Senate Undergraduate Council, April 14, 2009

Cross-listed course

Please note that a cross-listed course will count in all respective averages no matter under which rubric it has been taken. For example, a PHIL/PSCI cross-list will count in a Philosophy major average, even if the course was taken under the Political Science rubric.

Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integrity webpage for more information.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 - Student Appeals.

Accommodation for Students with Disabilities

Note for students with disabilities: The AccessAbility Services office, located on the first floor of the Needles Hall extension (1401), collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the AS office at the beginning of each academic term.

Mental Health Support

All of us need a support system. The faculty and staff in Arts encourage students to seek out mental health support if they are needed.

On Campus

• Counselling Services: counselling.services@uwaterloo.ca / 519-888-4567 ext. 3265
• MATES: one-to-one peer support program offered by Federation of Students (FEDS) and Counselling Services
• Health Services Emergency service: located across the creek form Student Life Centre

Off campus, 24/7

• Good2Talk: Free confidential help line for post-secondary students. Phone: 1-866-925-5454
• Grand River Hospital: Emergency care for mental health crisis. Phone: 519-749-4300 ext. 6880
• Here 24/7: Mental Health and Crisis Service Team. Phone: 1-844-437-3247
• OK2BME: set of support services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning

teens in Waterloo. Phone: 519-884-0000 extension 213

Full details can be found online on the Faculty of Arts website Download UWaterloo and regional mental health resources (PDF)

Download the WatSafe app to your phone to quickly access mental health support information