Critical Project (60 points)
The Critical Project is part exploration and part demonstration of mastery, where you are re-seeing our course material through a critical lens for a new purpose. It should take time and discovery. It consists of two symbiotic parts: (1) a critical research paper; and (2) a genre presentation. Based on how we navigate the course, it is my hope that your project will connect past traditions with vital contemporary interests (whether those interests are cultural, philosophical, political, or pedagogical), expanding your understanding of rhetorical theory and practice. At the same time, your project will need to show that you have a better than competent grasp on the various theoretical “traditions” we have studied. If those seem like contradictory goals, they are not. In fact, it might help you to think about your critical project as a specific process or outcome:- identify a full-length theory text early in the semester (see me for a list), read it throughout the course, and discuss how it has centered and grounded (or complicated and diffused) your learning by bringing it into conversation with our other texts;
- identify an issue, problem, subject, or method that has been sorely neglected and show how it is amenable to theoretical inquiry;
- construct a new theory by tracing the impact of some of the movements and terms we have been studying all semester;
- propose an archive with a particular critical purpose that you see emerging out of our syllabus (i.e., construct an archive that some of our theorists would have liked to have made available for us);
- construct a digital repository by OCR-scanning a dated, less common, or even out-of-print rhetoric text that does theoretical work, writing a critical introduction that justifies the need through one or more of our strands;
- design an undergraduate course in rhetorical theory, where the challenge is to cover a simultaneously broad and deep range of material, and to set parameters on “rhetorical theory” without limiting its study.
Project Proposal
Around mid-semester, I will ask you to submit a brief proposal (~2 single-spaced pages) in which you (1) indicate a process or outcome for your project; (2) identify the critical problem underlying it; and (3) list/describe the main sources that have influenced you thus far. I am happy to meet with you at any point throughout the semester to talk through ideas and promote early planning, and I imagine you will want to begin thinking about this a couple of weeks ahead of when it is due. Due to Canvas on 10/20/16.
Critical Research Paper
Think of this paper as the source-based discussion underlying your critical project—and something you might eventually submit to the proceedings of a particular conference. It is not a personal reflection, an editorial, or a position paper, but rather a graduate-level exploration of a critical problem; thus, it needs to be situated and salient, and there should be a real reason for writing it. It is claim-based, like most critical research papers, and those claims make copious but meaningful use of relevant readings from the course (as well as outside sources, should the need arise). Above all, it should help contextualize and justify the Genre Presentation, but it need not explicitly mention that Presentation. As this paper is the focused articulation of your whole critical project, aim for ~6-7 single-spaced pages, including works cited. Due to Canvas on 12/13/16.
Genre Presentation
I will ask you to deliver a ~12-15 minute presentation during our last class session. Think of this presentation as the demonstration, illustration, enactment, or embodiment of your critical project. (For example, if you proposed an archive, then showcase the archive during this presentation; if you constructed a new theory, then present on that theory and help us see its workings and parts; if you read a full-length theory text alongside the syllabus, then provide us a schema for understanding what you read.) You will also need to be prepared to field questions about purpose and methodology, and this may mean rehearsing your presentation so as to stay within time constraints. Please provide a well-rendered handout so that your audience members have something concrete to take away. Due in class and to Canvas on 12/13/16.
