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Welcome

Welcome to ENGL1102: The Rhetoric of Space and Place in Atlanta!

This website is your space. We have given you some tools to get started and the information you need to know in order to succeed in this course. You should feel free to add to, configure, and customize this site, however. This is where you will be doing most of your work for the course, and this is where you will be able to find and compile answers to your questions about the syllabus and class policies, our projects, our readings, and our discussions.

Getting Started

Grading

You will earn points for just about everything you do in this course–attending class, completing in-class work, studying, major projects, contributing material to our collaborative archive about the built environment in Atlanta, etc., etc.:

Reading Summaries (6): 300-600 points
Annotated Bibliography (10 entries): 250-500 points
Built Environment Descriptions (3, 1 each for exterior, interior, digital space): 300-600 points
Built Environment Analysis (1): 300-600 points
Participation (including attendance): 400-???

You can also lose points for missing class, failing to turn in a project on time, coming to class unprepared, etc., etc. At the end of the course, if you have completed all four of the major projects (reading summaries, annotated bibliography, built environment descriptions, and built environment analysis), your letter grade will be assigned based on the points you’ve earned. In order to pass the course, you must complete all four of the major projects. FAILURE TO COMPLETE ANY OF THE MAJOR PROJECTS WILL RESULT IN AN AUTOMATIC GRADE OF “C-,” MEANING THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO RE-TAKE THE CLASS.

If you complete all four of the major projects, earning at least the minimum number of points for each and miss no more than four class meetings (two for hybrid sections), you will earn at least 1,475 points and pass the course with at least a grade of “C.” After that, your grade will be determined by the number of points you’ve earned in total. Students who complete all four of the major projects and earn at least 2,500 points will automatically receive a grade of “A.”

For those who earn below 2,500 points and more than 1,475 points (and complete all the major projects), the top earner from each section will determine the grading scale for the rest of section.

For instance, let’s say the top earner in your section completed all of the major projects and accrued 2,600 points. She will get an A+ and everyone who completed all of the major projects and earned at least 2,500 points will get an A. Further, the top points score of 2,600 determines the grading scale for everyone who completed all the major projects but didn’t earn at least 2,500 points as follows:

A-/A: major projects complete + 2,340-2,600 points
B-/B/B+: major projects complete + 2,080-2,339 points
C/C+: major projects complete + 1,475-2,079 points
Non-passing: one or more major projects incomplete, or fewer than 1,475 points total

You will be able to view a record of which major projects you’ve completed and how many points you’ve earned at any time on our D2L Brightspace course site. Keeping track of your total points and completed projects is the only thing for which we will be using D2L Brightspace.

Projects Overview

This is just a quick overview of the four major projects, and the basic guidelines for class participation (including attendance). For more information about each of the projects and class participation, you can click on the project name below or in the dropdown menu under “Projects” above to see a complete description.

Reading Summaries (6) | 300-600 Points

For this project you will read all of the assigned readings for each unit, but choose only two per unit to summarize (50-100 points each). Compose 500-750 words max per summary. Compose more summaries for more points (up to 50 points per submission, for a max total of 600 points).

Your reading summaries will be created as blog posts on your WordPress site, in the category “Reading Summaries,” and tagged appropriately with the title of the reading you have summarized. You will submit links to your reading summaries using the form on your WordPress site.

Annotated Bibliography (10 entries) | 250-500 Points

For this project, you will compose an annotated bibliography using Zotero. Your annotated bibliography will comprise ten complete bibliographic entries and ten annotations. An annotated bibliography is a list of sources. It provides a complete bibliographic entry for each source in MLA format, and then for each bibliographic entry, gives a brief annotation (150-200 words) that evaluates the source and identifies why it is relevant to our ongoing study of the rhetoric of built environments.

Each bibliography annotation (bibliographic entry + annotation) is worth 25-50 points. Compose more bibliography annotations for more points (up to 25 points per submission, for a max total of 500 points on this project). You will use Zotero to create your bibliography and submit links to each bibliography annotation using the form on your WordPress site.

Built Environment Descriptions (3) | 300-600 Points

For this project, you will write 3 detailed built environment descriptions (100-200 points each):

Description of an interior site
Description of an exterior site
Description of a digital site

Compose more descriptions for more points (up to 100 points per submission, for a max total of 600 points for this project).

Your site descriptions will be created as blog posts on your WordPress site, in the category “Built Environment Descriptions,” and tagged appropriately (“Interior,” “Exterior,” or “Digital,” and “[Site Name]”). You will submit links to your built environment descriptions using the form on your WordPress site.

Built Environment Analysis (1) | 300-600 Points

The final product is a detailed and evidence-based analysis of a single location (1500-2000 words). In this analysis, you make one argument that you support with evidence. For example, you might argue that the rhetoric of the built environment suggests that a particular neighborhood in Atlanta is becoming racially segregated as it undergoes gentrification. Or you might argue that the rhetoric of the built environment in a museum makes it unwelcoming to children, even though it is a space that its history and advertising suggest has been created for a young audience.

Students who submit their required built environment analysis early by April 15 may submit one extra built environment analysis (for up to 300 extra points, for a max total of 600 points for this project).

Your site analysis will be created as a blog post on your WordPress site, in the category “Built Environment Analyses,” and tagged appropriately (“Interior,” “Exterior,” or “Digital,” and “[Site Name]”). You will submit links to your built environment analysis using the form on your WordPress site.

Participation

Ask not what you can do to earn credit for this course; ask what you will do to earn as many points as you possibly can.

During the course of the semester we invite you to engage with the course material and assignments, with your peers and with your instructors, consistently and in inventive ways.We will assign points to your work reflecting the level of your participation both inside and outside of class. We will also subtract points for failing to participate (e.g., missing class) so as to fairly reflect your level of engagement with the course concepts. Your goal is to accrue as many points as possible during the semester.

Turning-in Work

Use this form to submit pretty much everything for which you’d like to earn points–study group reflections, major project drafts, contributions to our Atlanta built environment archive, etc. We will keep track of when you come to see us during office hours for individual or group conferences and when you complete exercises in Writer’s Help. For everything else, however, you will need to submit a link to evidence of your work on your own site, on Zotero, on Google Maps, or elsewhere on the web.

If you ever have questions about what kind of evidence you need to provide to document your participation and how to submit it, stop by during office hours or ask the question before or after class. You’ll earn points for the office hours visit, asking the question, and for finding a way to make the information available to the rest of your classmates.

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Atlanta Built Environment Archive

Over the course of the semester, you will contribute sounds, images, signage, artifacts, descriptions, and analyses to a collaborative digital archive about the built environment in Atlanta. You will contribute by posting these items here on your own site, in the appropriate category, with identifying tags. Your posts will then be aggregated with posts from everyone else in all of the other sections of the course. You can access the collected materials via your instructor’s course site: http://spaceplacerhet.robinwharton.net/.

Organizing Study Groups and Group Conferences

One of the many ways to earn points is to participate in an in-person or online study group or a group conference with one of the instructors. Use the links below to access booking forms for in-person study group sessions, online study group sessions, and in-person group conferences. You can use each form to sign-up sign-up just yourself, or the better option is to organize a group with at least one other person and sign up at the same time.

In-person Study Group Booking Form

In-person study groups will meet-up at the GSU Library South entrance. You earn points for organizing/participating in a study group when you submit a reflection post.

Online Study Group Booking Form

Online study groups will meet via Google Hangouts. You earn points for organizing/participating in a study group when you submit a reflection post.

Group Conference Booking Form

Group conferences will meet-up in the student lounge on the 24th floor of 25 Park Place. You earn points for organizing/participating in a group conference based on the instructor’s evaluation of your participation.

Attendance

You earn points for coming to class and lose points for unexcused absences. Students in the M/W F2F section earn 20 points for coming to class, and lose 20 points for each absence. Students in the hybrid sections earn 40 points for coming to class, and lose 40 points for each absence. Arriving to class late will result in a deduction of 10-20 points.

In this course, students are expected to adhere to the Georgia State University student code of conduct. This includes the university attendance policy. Excused absences are limited to university-sponsored events where you are representing GSU in an official capacity, religious holidays, and legal obligations such as jury duty or military service days. Absences for all other reasons will result in a points deduction as outlined above. In the event of extended illness or family emergency, I will consider requests for individual exemption from the general attendance policy on a case by case basis.