392b S20 Dadey

392B

Syllabus: Visual Rhetoric (ENGL 392B)

Basic Information

Section Number: 001

Term: Spring 2020

Instructor: Bruce Dadey

Office: Hagey Hall 257 (not available in office during spring 2020)

Email: badadey@uwaterloo.ca (mailto:badadey@uwaterloo.ca)

Contact: For general inquiries about the course and how it works, post to the Ask the Instructor (/d2l/le/545204/discussions/topics/354832/View) Forum. For specific inquiries about your individual assignments, please email.

Course Description and Objectives

This course introduces students to the study of images from a rhetorical perspective. You will become familiar with the basic principles of rhetoric, visual grammar, and visual semiotics, and then use those principles to analyze the rhetorical workings of visual artifacts in a variety of media. In addition to practicing visual analysis, you will also be using your knowledge of visual rhetoric to create a visual product of your own.

By the end of the course, you will be able to use a variety of tools to analyze visual artifacts and understand how they function rhetorically, and you will also be able to employ those tools to create rhetorically effective visual products of your own.

Texts

All readings and resources for this course will be accessible through the course LEARN site.

Assignments

• Discussions (/d2l/le/content/545204/viewContent/2952377/View) 20% (Post 160-200 words, reply 125-150 words, due twice weekly)
• Rhetorical Theory analysis (/d2l/le/content/545204/viewContent/2952378/View) 15% (3 pages, due June 12)
• Composition Analysis (/d2l/le/content/545204/viewContent/2952378/View) 15% (3 pages,due July 3)
• Visual Analysis 1 (/d2l/le/content/545204/viewContent/2952378/View) 20% (4 pages, due July 17)
• Visual Analysis 2 (/d2l/le/content/545204/viewContent/2952378/View) 20% (4 pages, due Aug. 5)
• Visual production (/d2l/le/content/545204/viewContent/2952379/View) 10% (production and 3 pages, due Aug. 12)

Details of the assignments will be made available during the course.

Course Policies

Assignments and Class Procedures

Unless otherwise specified, assignments are due on 11:55 p.m. of the due date.

Major assignments that are late without good reason will be penalized at a rate of two percentage points for every week day late (10% per week). There are no late extensions on

Discussion assignments—they will receive a zero if they are submitted after the due day.

We will sometimes be using email to communicate with one another. All email communication will occur through your UWaterloo account, which you should check regularly.

Academic Integrity

In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. Check the Office of Academic Integrity (https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/) for more information.

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 (https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/node/100). When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Discipline

A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. Check the Office of Academic Integrity (https://uwaterloo.ca/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 instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline (https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/node/97). For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties (https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/node/131).

Appeals

A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/node/100) (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline (https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/node/97) 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 (https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/node/99).

Note for Students with Disabilities

AccessAbility Services (https://uwaterloo.ca/disability-services/), located in Needles Hall, Room 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 AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.

Tentative Schedule

Note: For readings and specifics around discussions and major assignments, consult the Task List and the Major Assignments sections on the course's home page (/d2l/home/545204).