WRD 308:
Visual Rhetoric
Steven Alvarez, PhD WRD 308, Sec 001 / Fall 2016
Office: POT 1313 T/R 3:30 pm-4:45 pm
steven.alvarez@uky.edu Barker Hall 306
(859) 218-0958 Office Hours: Thurs 12:00-1:45 PM
wrdvisualrhetoric.wordpress.com
This course introduces visual rhetoric, covering its history, current practice, and possible futures. Utilizing the disciplinary tools of rhetoric, students will compose in textual and visual modes, learning a variety of methods with which to create and critique visuals. Students will create digital projects that explore design, delivery, and multimodality. Students will also consider the impact of the pervasiveness of the visual in contemporary society by reading theoretical texts on the subject of visual rhetoric and multimodal composition, historical and contemporary multimodal texts, and visually persuasive texts.
Course Goals
- Students will compose assignments with attention to visual appeal.
- Students will create a portfolio website.
- Students will produce visual presentations based on their research interests.
- Students will engage social media (Instagram, YouTube, and WordPress) for engaging and cultivating audiences.
- Students will remix music videos, book covers, and album covers for visual appeal.
- Students will read images and analyze ideologies.
- Students will become familiar with graphic novel design.
Required Readings
“An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord’s ‘The Society of the Spectacle’” by Tiernan Morgan and Lauren Purje
The Hundred Headless Woman by Max Ernst.
Mythologies by Roland Barthes
“Pepper Spray Cop and the American Dream: Using Synecdoche and Metaphor to Unlock Internet Memes’ Visual Political Rhetoric” by Heidi E. Huntington
Translinguality, Transmodality, and Difference: Exploring Dispositions and Change in Language and Learning by Bruce Horner, Cynthia Selfe, and Tim Lockridge
Typortraits by Kevin McPherson Eckhoff
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
*All readings will be found online.
Tardiness, Attendance, Participation, and Late Work Policies
TARDIES: We meet at 3:30pm—not 3:40, not 3:50, and certainly not 4:30. I do not tolerate tardiness, and I find it disrespectful. If you have problems with the time commitment for this course, I suggest finding another section that better suits your schedule. Excessive tardiness will be noted and will affect your final grade.
ATTENDANCE: Attendance is mandatory. Class discussion depends on the entire class being present. Because this course meets two times a week, you are allowed three unexcused absences throughout the course. After that, your final grade will drop by one letter grade for each additional absence. Prolonged absences due to illness or absences due to having to attend a university-sponsored event (athletics, theater, music, field trip) will be excused if you provide me with proper documentation from an appropriate authority. You are responsible for all work due for any missed class as well as for the readings and work for the following class. You are also responsible for any work covered during the class you missed. You should get the phone numbers of a couple of your classmates in case you miss a class. You can also contact me by e-mail.
PARTICIPATION: Students must participate actively in class. This is not a lecture course; it is a hands-on course where participation and interaction are required for learning and success. Participation means being a part of class (not checking e-mail, texting, playing games, doing homework for other classes). Be aware that grades for participation are not only based on how much you talk in class but also how respectful you are to your classmates, to me, and to your work.
LATE WORK: The assignments in this class build upon one another and culminate in your final research assignment. It is necessary for you, then, to complete each assignment before the next begins. Late or skipped assignments will seriously hinder this process. I RESERVE THE RIGHT NOT TO ACCEPT ASSIGNMENTS PUBLISHED LATE. That’s in bold and caps so you get my emphasis. If you feel that you will not be able to make a deadline, or if you must miss class on the day the assignment is due, you must contact me in advance so we can work something out. If your assignment is not published by the time I get to where I ask you to publish it online, I will skip you in the grading and you will receive no points. Don’t take the chance.
Assignments
The course is project-based, and you will complete four major assignments in addition to regular writing and in-class assignments that will be recorded on your blog. The themes for major assignments will be specified closer to the dates they are due.
Your blog assignments will focus on issues discussed in class, or your reflections responding to readings/documentaries/writing from the course. You can use your posts to compose these assignments, but you must edit the pieces. Each assignment will be published on your WordPress site.
Your assignments will be published on a site that will become an extended single text archived online. The revised larger project will develop with the additional information and insights you become more familiar with visual rhetoric and its discourses. You will be free to add information and observations gained over time instead of feeling that earlier assumptions and conclusions are set in stone. Use the readings in class and your instincts to guide your topic choice and how you connect all three assignments.
You will depend on your classmates, tutors in the Writing Center, and me as readers who will help you make decisions about how to present material and how best to interest your audience, but ultimately you will be the expert on your particular study of your chosen topic. You can spend a lot of time developing and revising, working on certain aspects of your writing, and all of this effort and expertise will be reflected in your final project and your grade. That means that your attention to revision and your awareness of your own work habits, strengths, and weaknesses will become a very important element of your writing process. Your final course grade will be based primarily on your participation, active blogging, and your community engagement.
Assignment 1, Graphic Story: 9/13
Assignment 2, Covers: 9/18
Assignment 3, Rhetorical Analysis: 9/22
Assignment 4, Remix: 12/15
WordPress and Instagram Posts
WordPress
You will compose 24 blog posts for the semester. This will generate material for you to use for your formal assignments, as well as serve as a space for you to experiment with archiving your research. The dates for the sets of 24 posts are listed in the schedule are 9/8; 10/11; 11/17; 12/6.
You will also have 64 Instagram posts due for the class where you will record your class projects, take notes, and practice visual journaling. Each of these will be composed in 16 posts, and the dates for these are listed in the schedule as 9/6; 10/4; 11/10; 12/1.
Evaluation / Grading
The break-down of grading is as follows:
Journal Posts: 24 POINTS
24 x 1 point each
Instagram Posts 16 POINTS
64 x 0.25 point each
Compositions: 48 POINTS
Assignment 1 8 points
Assignment 2 10 points
Assignment 3 12 points
Assignment 4 18 points
Participation 12 POINTS
___________________________________
Total 100 POINTS
Grade Equivalencies
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 60-69
E 0-59
Academic Integrity Policy
Section VI of the University of Kentucky Student Affairs Code states that all academic work‚ written or otherwise‚ submitted by students to their instructors or other academic supervisors‚ is expected to be the result of their own thought‚ research‚ or self–expression. See section 6.3.1; online at http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/Code/Section%20VI.pdf.
In cases where students feel unsure about a question of plagiarism involving their work‚ they are obliged to consult their instructors on the matter before submission. When students submit work purporting to be their own‚ but which in any way borrows ideas‚ organization‚ wording or anything else from another source without appropriate acknowledgment of the fact‚ the students are guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism includes reproducing someone else’s work‚ whether published or not. Evidence of plagiarism will be dealt with according to the university’s regulations.
Writing Center Support
The UK Writing Center tutors are trained to help you revise your writing. If you believe you need additional help with your writing, or if I ask you to set up a regular meeting with a tutor, you should make an appointment at least one week prior to when an assignment is due. You can also get online help by visiting the Writing Center. The Writing Center is located in W.T. Young Library, Room B 108B, in the Hub (lower level).
I offer one point of extra credit for each documented tutoring session you’ve attended. See me for details if interested.
Students with Special Needs
If you are registered with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) and require special accommodations to complete the work for this course, you must produce a letter from the DRC that details what you need before I can grant you these accommodations. Special accommodations cannot be granted retroactively. This is a non-negotiable class policy. Please contact the DRC at 257-2754 if you have questions about your eligibility for special accommodations.
WRD 308 Visual Rhetoric 