English 1030: Composition & Rhetoric

Clemson University

Composition and Rhetoric is a course that will redefine how you view composition and the world around us. Composition is much more than text typed into a Word document, and understanding rhetoric helps us see that writing is persuasive and comes in many forms: websites, videos, podcasts, graphic design, etc. Over the course of the semester, we will analyze and discuss the ways texts communicate messages to audiences using different modalities such as alphabetic text, images, and sound. We will use design and composition methods to communicate to audiences through genres, learning the ways texts abide with and even break/hack specific conventions. We will approach situations and solve problems in and outside of the classroom where we will begin to understand how to interpret, plan, compose, revise, and circulate new media texts in a more efficient manner. ENGL 1030 will focus on building digital literacy and creativity while utilizing the professional software Clemson University supplies its students (e.g. the Adobe Creative Cloud, Camtasia, and others). By learning about rhetoric, we will become more effective writers paying special attention to persona, audience, medium, genre, design, and persuasive appeals (i.e. ethos, pathos, logos, Kairos). We will learn about and engage in visual, written, oral/sonic, and digital rhetorics by using, analyzing, and/or producing images, video, audio, web texts, print, and other technologies that embody the evolutionary processes of writing. Our projects and assignments will build on this knowledge, providing us with the scaffolding and tools needed to engage in digital creativity and literacy.