INSTRUCTOR:
Jennie Young, Ph. D. I study words in real life (bio @ end of syllabus).
COURSE DAYS/TIMES:
This course is online/asynchronous, which means you can work on it whenever you want within the span of the course (dates above).
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course serves as an introduction to applied rhetoric. What that means is that we will be learning not simply about rhetoric and rhetorical tools, but how to APPLY rhetorical principles and tactics to your own life (work, family, social, romantic, etc.).
***This is the syllabus; please do not skim it. Everything we will do in this course, and every principle it’s founded upon, requires close attention to every single word. If you don’t enjoy this level of attention to detail, this course will not be a good fit for you in terms of engagement, and you will not obtain the full impact of its lessons or benefits. That said, let’s begin .
First lesson: In the course description above, in the phrase “how to APPLY the principles and tactics to your own life,” I had to choose between the word “strategies” and the word “tactics.” The former is more polite, more PC, whereas the word “tactics” evokes manipulation and war. But I decided it’s also clearer in this usage. I don’t just want to help you “strategize” your life (though you’ll get that too); I want to give you concrete tools that radically improve it. So that was a rhetorical choice I made: tactic > strategy in this case.
In the bolded paragraph above that begins with 3 asterisks (***), I had to make a decision about the type of tone I wanted to set for kicking off this class. I chose “serious”; this was a rhetorical choice. That doesn’t mean it won’t also be fun; it’s just that you need to understand my definition of “fun” often means, “Let’s tear apart every single syllable, weigh its rhetorical implications, and see what we can find out.” If that’s your idea of fun too, you’re about to have loads of it. 😁
As I hope you saw from those two paragraphs, front-loaded on the first page of this syllabus (also a rhetorical choice), ALL of life is a series of rhetorical choices. These manifest *actively* (what you say and do) and *responsively* (how you react to what others say and do and how accurately you interpret others’ motivations and impacts). Your expertise in both determines your success, your happiness, your peace of mind, and your interpersonal efficacy.
COURSE COMPONENTS:
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