unit 1 overview slides

1. Sense of Place and Visual Rhetoric
Unit 1 Overview

2. Purpose of Unit
• To ease back into the rigors of academic writing with a more creative genre
• To consider the ways in which environment, both constructed and natural,
can be rhetorical and provoke an intended response
• To use writing to express images, emotions, and thoughts
• To understand the importance of writing style and voice within a given
genre
• To begin the process of Becoming Rhetorical by reviewing and
understanding the fundamental concepts of textual and visual rhetoric

3. Projects and Assignments
all work assigned builds toward your ability to complete the Unit 1 major assignment, as well as your ability to
demonstrate your understanding of the overall purpose of Unit 1
• Writing Journals
• Purpose: to highlight and process important information from textbook readings
• Discussion Board posts
• Purpose: to process lessons gleaned from readings and build on your knowledge through productive discussion
with classmates
• Process Assignment: Voice and Style
• Purpose: to understand the importance of voice in open-form writing and build toward establishing your own
voice for the Sense of Place Essay
• Sense of Place Essay
• Purpose: to produce an effective and engaging piece of writing that demonstrates your knowledge of the ways in
which a specific environment can have a rhetorical effect, as well as your ability to use description and reflection
rhetorically to communicate this effect to an outside audience

4. Readings
keep these purposes in mind when reading the following for Unit 1:
• Becoming Rhetorical Chapters 1 and 2
• Purpose: to understand basic concepts of rhetoric, and associated terms, which will serve as the foundation
of all lessons and assignments on which this class (and all communication) is based
• Examples of Professional Blog Posts
• Purpose: to understand the conventions and style associated with the genre in which you will be writing for
the Sense of Place Essay
• Joan Didion’s “Goodbye to All That” and Henry David Thoreau’s “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”
• Purpose: to understand how other writers within the broader genre of creative nonfiction communicate
their unique voice and style through their writing
• National Geographic Photo Assignment and Becoming Rhetorical Chapter 4
• Purpose: to understand the basic concepts of visual rhetoric and how you can use images to convey a
feeling, a message, or a theme

5. Lecture Slides
• There are no formal lecture slides to supplement the readings and
assignments included in Unit 1
• If you are having trouble starting your essay or understanding what is
expected of the assignment, please refer to the “Student Examples”
folder for models and ideas.

6. Learning Outcomes Addressed
• Comprehend college-level and professional prose and analyze how authors present their
ideas in view of their probable purposes, audiences, and occasions.
• Focus on, articulate and sustain a purpose that meets the needs of specific writing
situations
• Explicitly articulate why they are writing, who they are writing for, and what they are
saying.
• Understand writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and re-
thinking to revise their work.
• Give and receive constructive feedback from peers.
• Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation and
practice appropriate means of documenting their work.

7. Major Assignment Deadlines
• Rough Draft Due: Sunday, June 18th at 11:59 pm
• Submit via the link below the Unit 1 folder and as an attachment to the “Unit 1 Peer Review” Discussion
Board
• Final Draft Due: Sunday, June 25th at 11:59 pm
• Submit via the link below the “Rough Draft” turn-in on the BbLearn Course Site