What? No readings? No focal issues? No, our subject is writing and how it manages to (or fails to) persuade us. We will begin with a little theory about kinds of rhetorical aims, understanding rhetorical as "attempting to increase the reader's adherence to your point of view on a matter." The assignments in English 281 are designed to give you practice writing papers with four different rhetorical aims. That is, you can choose any topic for the papers, but the paper should be of the type assigned. These terms and concepts will probably be somewhat unfamiliar to you—feel free to keep asking questions until you get an understanding of the assignment you can work with. We will refer to these papers as arguments. They should be of moderate length (roughly five pages typewritten). We will devote some class time to advanced points of mechanics and punctuation and the analysis of style as it functions rhetorically. We will also pay some attention to the function of images in rhetorical writing.

Texts:

• Bryan A. Garner. The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style.

Prerequisites:

While 281 has no formal prerequisite, this is an intermediate writing course, and instructors expect entering students to know how to formulate claims, integrate evidence, demonstrate awareness of audience, and structure coherent sentences, paragraphs and essays. Thus we strongly encourage students to complete an introductory (100 level) writing course before enrolling in English 281.