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Course Schedule

The following schedule offers a provisional plan for all work throughout the semester. We may revise it as needed. PDF readings are available for download at EMU Online (see Doc Sharing).

1.Week of Sept. 6-10
We.8 Introductions
In class: Syllabus and Schedule

2.Week of Sept. 13-17
Mo.13 How Technology Enframes: A Brief History
Read: Baron, "From Pencils to Pixels" (PDF)
In-class: P1.Elements of Style Remake setup
*DUE: SP#1
We.15 Style as a Technology for Oral/Written Expression
Read: Crowley and Hawhee, "Style," Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, pp. 229-263 (PDF)

3.Week of Sept. 20-24
Mo.20 The Elements of Style
Project: What is a remake?
Read: Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, Foreword, Introduction, and pp. 1-33.
Read: The Sandwich Spread Elements of Style
We.22 The Elements of Style, cont.
Read: Pell, The Marquis de Sade Elements of Style, selections (PDF)
Read: Elements of Style, pp. 34-85.

4.Week of Sept. 27-Oct. 1

Mo.27 P1 Workshop
Bring materials and drafts
In class: Project development
We.29 Peer response
Bring full draft of Project One
In class: Peer response

5.Week of Oct. 4-8 (Conferences Week)
Mo.4 DUE: P1.Elements of Style Remake
In class: P2.Issues In Setup
We.6 Issues In Demo: Joseph Williams
Read: Williams, Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, Preface and pp. 1-43 (PDF)
*DUE: SP#2
Issues In selections

6.Week of Oct. 11-15 (Conferences Week)
Mo.11 P2.Issues In Workshop
We.13 P2.Issues In Workshop

7.Week of Oct. 18-22 (Conferences Week)
Mo.18 TBD
We.20 Style & Technology Open Gallery

8.Week of Oct. 25-29
Mo.25 In class: Midterm Evaluation
DUE: P.2 Issues In + Responses/Reviews
We.27 3.33 Ways
In class: P3 3.33 Ways setup
Choosing a nonfiction passage

9.Week of Nov. 1-5
Mo.1 Sentences
Read: Tufte, "Short Sentences," from Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style (PDF)
*DUE: SP#3
In class: Syntax analysis for style's sake
We.3 Paramedic Method
Read: From Lanham's The Longman Guide to Revising Prose (PDF)
In class: Applying the P-M

10.Week of Nov. 8-12
Mo.8 Oulipo Logic
Read: Selection from Queneau, Exercises in Style (PDF)
Read: Selections from Matt Madden (PDF)
P3: Commit to a non-fiction passage
We.10 Workshop - Writing with Pictures
Read: Selections from Scott McCloud (PDF)
In class: Blaze: Writing with Pictures
*DUE: SP#4

11.Week of Nov. 15-19
Mo.15 Typeface Style
Helvetica
film
We.17 Imagetext
Project One or Two revision due (see "Add-ons" in syllabus)
Read: Wysocki, "Awaywithwords: On the Possibilities in Unavailable Designs" (PDF)
*DUE: SP#5

12.Week of Nov. 22-26
Mo.22 Ignite Series
Read: Selection from Reynolds' Presentation Zen (PDF)
DUE: Draft of P3.3.33 Ways
In class: Ignite Series Overview
Addiction! Staying Afloat in the Age of the Stream (in class)
We.24 No classes - Thanksgiving Recess

13.Week of Nov. 29-Dec. 3
Mo.29 Workshop
In class: Project 3 and Presentation Development
We.1 Ignite Series
In class: Presentation comment-evaluation

14.Week of Dec. 6-10
Mo.6 Ignite Series
In class: Presentation comment-evaluation
We.8 Ignite Series, cont.
In class: Presentation comment-evaluation
DUE: P3.3.33 Ways

15.Finals Week - Dec. 13-17
Mo.13 DUE: Final Exam

Contact Information

Derek N. Mueller, PhD
Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing
Director of Composition
Department of English
Virginia Tech
Office: 315 Shanks Hall
Spring 2020 Office Hours: T, 12-3
Phone: +1-734-985-0485
dmueller@vt.edu
http://derekmueller.net/rc/

"Neither The Elements of Style nor any other style book can be the definitive text on writing in every genre or media." —ENGL328 student, Fall 2009

"We concentrate on utility at the expense of joie de vivre. And we then wonder, as de Tocqueville prophesied we would, why life has lost its savor" (19). —Richard Lanham, Style: An Anti-textbook

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