Welcome to English 101

To Do List for Today: Go over syllabus Discuss turnitin accounts and course website Prepare for success in Eng 101 Discuss the questions “What is rhetoric?” and “What is pop culture?” Review the writing process

Syllabus Highlights The best way to reach me is my or faculty mailbox. Assignments are due on the date they are listed under on the syllabus. Please note policies on cell phones, absences, and rough drafts. The syllabus is available on the class website. You are responsible for knowing and understanding the content of the syllabus.

Course Resources We have a class website that is accessible by going to my faculty page and clicking on our class name I will be posting copies of assignment sheets and handouts that I pass out on the website. If you lose a handout or your syllabus, it is probably posted there. (Note: This does not apply to copies of readings.) You will be using our course turnitin.com site to upload all paper drafts and do peer review.

What can I do to be successful? Come to class Do the work Strive for excellence In order to help you meet these goals… – Have a partner in the class who will take notes/get copies of assignment sheets for you (assignment sheets will also be posted on the class website) – Come to see me during my office hours. – Come to class prepared to participate. – Indulge in curiosity. Question your assumptions.

What should I bring to each class meeting? Yourself. Show up ready to engage with the material we are learning every class meeting. Your text books. Even if there is no assigned reading, I may ask you to refer to one of the books during a lecture or activity. The most current draft of the current essay and paper and pens/pencils. We will be doing frequent in class assignments. You may also bring a laptop/tablet for work on your essay and taking notes.

What will our class meetings look like? A regular day might include… Discussion of readings that are listed as due on the syllabus for that day. This means that if it’s listed on the syllabus, you should come to class prepared to offer your ideas about it. Lecture on a new writing technique and time to practice it. Lecture on a writing technique and time to incorporate it into an essay draft. (If I tell you to bring a draft, this is why. If you don’t bring a draft, you won’t get the time to work on it in class using what you learned.) An in-class writing addressing a question about a reading or a set of readings we have already done. A quiz on the reading that is listed as due on the syllabus for that day.

Student Data Sheet On the back of your student data sheet, answer the following question: “Why are you here at Ventura College?” What experiences have led you to this place? What are the goals you hope this college will help you to accomplish? I have two rules for in class writing, and they are: – Write the whole time. At no point during an in class writing situation should you be finished. There is always something you can do to improve your work. – Don’t talk while other people are trying to write.

The Big Picture: In this class, we will be using the topic of “popular culture” as a springboard for class discussions and writing assignments. Through our work with this topic, we will hone our skill with rhetoric.

What is “Rhetoric”? Definition of RHETORIC (from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary) 1: the art of speaking or writing effectively: as a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient timescomposition b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion 2a : skill in the effective use of speech b : a type or mode of language or speech; also : insincere or grandiloquent languagemodegrandiloquent

Who Uses Rhetoric? The short answer is, everyone. If you have ever convinced someone to come around to your point of view, written a facebook post, or written a clever tweet on twitter, you have used rhetoric effectively. Rhetoric is simply the study of how to communicate effectively and persuasively. When I talk about “rhetorical choices,” I am talking about the choices that a writer makes in order to fulfill the purpose of the piece of writing and communicate effectively.

The Writing Process Prewrite – Choose a topic, brainstorm, freewrite, outline. If you are writing a research paper, then this is where you being to find sources. Draft – Put your ideas together in a first draft. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but this is a first try. Revise – It’s time to see your writing from a new perspective. Seek advice from peers, tutors, and instructors. Put revision strategies we learn in class to work. Edit – Check for grammar, spelling, word choice, and clarity. Read your essay aloud to yourself. Publish – Check your format, make sure your paper looks the way you want it to on the screen, then print/upload.