| RHET 100 |
| How Writing Works |
| This course, taught at either the York Correctional Center in Niantic or at the Hartford Correctional Center in Hartford, is an interdisciplinary writing course whose goal is to develop and refine students’ facility with the stages of preparing, drafting, and revising analytical essays. Assignments will include readings from a variety of disciplines as well as frequent short essays that will culminate in a sustained final project. (HUM) |
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0.50 units, Seminar
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| RHET 103 |
| College Writing |
An introduction to the art of expository writing, with attention to analytical reading and critical thinking in courses across the college curriculum. Assignments offer students opportunities to read and write about culture, politics, literature, science, and other subjects. Emphasis is placed on helping students to develop their individual skills. (HUM)
This course is not open to juniors or seniors. |
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1.00 units, Lecture
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| RHET 108 |
| Research and Writing |
| Research is a fundamental element of academic writing. In this class, students will explore and apply practical methods of library, database, and internet research. Using different strategies for source assessment and management, they will develop research-based writing skills across a range of academic disciplines. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 125 |
| Writing for a Digital World |
| As reading and writing shift from pages to screens, images and other visual elements are becoming increasingly important to successful writing. This course is designed to help students think critically about the role of the visual in written communication today. Using digital design tools in combination with academic writing skills such as research and drafting, students will develop strategies and skills for blending images and words effectively in a range of genres and contexts - both digital and printed, academic and professional. (WEA) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 128 |
| Writing and Mindfulness |
| In this course, you will analyze theories of mindfulness and engage in classroom exercises designed to demonstrate how contemplative practices can improve writing. Through a writing-workshop approach, you will write and revise analytical essays; you will also write regular informal reflections on a range of readings and practices. The ultimate goal of the course is to teach you to harness the complexities of your internal and external experiences in order to generate thoughtful and original writing. (HUWW) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 202 |
| Writing in the Disciplines |
| Students in this course will explore a variety of genres in scholarly, professional, and public writing. Students will learn to identify and use the conventions of these genres and to make effective rhetorical choices in their writing. Students will engage in writing frequently and intensively to improve overall learning in their discipline. The course will facilitate student involvement with particular bodies of knowledge, their methods of scholarship, and modes of communication. (WEA2) |
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1.00 units, Lecture
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| RHET 208 |
| Argument and Research Writing |
| This course delves into the ever-evolving information landscape, exploring how sources mediate knowledge in today's digital age. It emphasizes rhetorical source assessment, aiming to understand how information shapes meaning and our role in interpreting it. Students research topics of interest, applying rhetorical analysis to uncover and advocate for the significance of information presentation. (WEA2) |
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1.00 units, Lecture
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| RHET 209 |
| Academic Leadership |
| Introduces the interconnected scholarship of leadership, mentoring, and tutoring in order to explore the potential for leadership development through mentoring and tutoring. This is the anchor course for the Leadership in Mentoring and Tutoring certificate. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 210 |
| Professional and Technical Writing |
| In this course, students explore the multifarious dynamics of professional and technical written style and their role as rhetorical decision-makers in their writing and revision process. Students will learn to apply the principles of professional style in producing and editing written texts, as well as applying the technical vocabulary of style in producing in-depth editorial reflections that explain and justify their decision-making processes. In addition, students will explore some of the representational and ethical issues associated with their writing style in a variety of public and professional contexts. (WEA2) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 216 |
| Writing the Personal Essay |
| Writing effective personal essays--those that make private experiences and thoughts relevant to the larger world--is more complicated than it may seem. It requires both that we question and analyze our immediate perceptions, and that we have the patience to discover intriguing structures that do justice to our ideas. This class is a writing workshop that will allow you to explore the form by shaping your own experiences and reflections into well-structured, thoughtful essays. Readings include a range of writers who approach the personal essay in divergent ways; they will offer inspiration as well as instruction in the craft. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 217 |
| Writing and A.I. |
| In the Fall of 2022, the English-speaking public was inundated with the release of numerous synthetic text-generating chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Bard, and Microsoft's Bing AI, among others. These chatbots' level of sophistication prompted many to herald a new renaissance in so-called "artificial intelligence." A similar number decried the ways that synthetic text generators could represent the death-knell of writing as a human-centered endeavor. To what degree are either of these claims true? In this class, we will investigate the impact that synthetic text-generators, so-called "A.I.," can have on the writing process by placing them in their historical context, playing with them and examining what they actually do (and don't do), and reflecting upon their affordances and limitations in our own writing processes. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Lecture
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| RHET 225 |
| The Rhetoric of Broad Street |
| This course combines community learning and writing as a means of discovering how we define others and ourselves through journals, diaries, essays, and stories. Students explore Broad Street as a social and cultural metaphor, with a wide variety of readings depicting “the other” and reflecting the voices of members of underprivileged and privileged classes throughout history. Students perform community service as a part of course activities. (WEA2) |
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1.00 units, Lecture
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| RHET 230 |
| Visual Rhetorics |
| This course explores the rhetorical power of visual images. Students will examine how rhetoric is a means for knowing, communicating, and becoming as they explore different visual media, like photography, video, and even virtual reality. Using rhetorical methodologies, they will research how visual rhetoric creates realities and encourages audiences to become different subjects through an interactive, multimodal project. More specifically, we will explore how the rhetorical appeals (i.e. ethos, logos, and pathos) transform in visual, rhetorical situations, and we will discover how rhetoricians adapt rhetorical situation theory to meet the expectations and needs of viewers. By the end of the course, students will understand how rhetorical theory and practice shapes and is shaped by visual design, multimodal communication, and the politics of visual representation (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 260 |
| What is Rhetoric and Composition? |
| How do human beings effectively communicate with one another? What strategies do we use to speak and write persuasively? What are the best ways to learn to write? How do social, cultural, political, linguistic, and other elements of human life impact the ways we write, speak, and learn to write? How do visual and textual literacies relate to questions of race, gender, and power? These are the central questions of Rhetoric and Composition – a field that stretches from the ancient world to the 21st century college writing classroom and continues to pursue these questions in our ever-changing world. In this course, we will explore how scholars in Rhetoric and Composition have approached, answered, and complicated these questions. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 302 |
| Writing Theories and Practices |
| This course investigates the theories and practices of writing consultation in North American university writing centers as informed by studies in composition pedagogy, literacy, and rhetoric. Students will be introduced to the broad range of topics found at the intersection of practice and theory in writing centers, including socio-cultural dynamics, grammar instruction, English as a Second Language, learning disorders, critical reading, writing processes, and interpersonal communication. The course will encourage students to create new knowledge about writing and tutor research. By invitation only. For students admitted to the Writing Associates Program. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Lecture
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| RHET 315 |
| Writing in the Public Sphere: Theory and Practice |
| This course is a writing workshop in which students will explore the theory as well as the practice of language in the public sphere. Students will write and revise long and short essays aimed at various sources of news and information; they will also analyze those sources. Possible questions include: How do written words affect the process by which public opinion is formed? How can writing best promote public dialogue and deliberation? How is our concept of "writing" evolving in a changing digital landscape? How do various personalities and perspectives gain cultural prominence? How can we best participate as writers in the public sphere? Students will follow current issues with a goal of participating through writing in public conversations. (WEA2) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 320 |
| Queer Rhetorics |
| This class is open to anyone interested in learning how rhetoric can create new knowledges and perspectives on diversity and inclusion. Specifically, we will apply rhetorical methodologies to US history, popular culture, politics, and law to research the formation of LGBTQ identities alongside mainstream identities in America. Our course moves from the rhetoric surrounding the 1960s Stonewall Riots through current debates about Don't Ask Don't Tell and gay marriage. We also investigate the influence of alternative rhetorics, such as the subversive use of social media activism and the spatial arguments of gender neutral bathrooms. Students will take away the ability to rhetorically navigate key dialogues about gender and sexuality, as well as articulate how these debates influence research and knowledge creation in their majors. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 321 |
| Rhetorical Methodologies |
| What does it mean to conduct research within the field of rhetoric? How do
rhetoricians discover and analyze the persuasive potential of various
situations? In this course, we answer these questions by exploring the
disciplinary methods used to create knowledge about rhetoric, particularly
how it shapes and is shaped by social, cultural, and digital landscapes. Since
rhetoric, at its core, is about changing the world via persuasion, we apply
these critical research methods to questions of power, identity, and equity by
investigating rhetoric's formative role in discourses on civil rights, disability,
race, sexuality, etc. Students will take away not only a fundamental
understanding of rhetoric's methodologies, but also the skills needed to
persuasively intervene in social, cultural, and political issues affecting
campus, Hartford, and beyond. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 330 |
| Macho Rhetorics |
| From a rhetorical standpoint, what does it mean to argue there are multiple models of masculinity? Using rhetorical methodologies, where could we locate these masculinities: in bodies, social interactions, or culture? This course focuses on the relationship between rhetoric and masculinities. After delving into rhetoric's gendered history, we will investigate how scholars in different disciplines rhetorically construct men and masculinities through their writing and research practices. We will never lose track of how rhetoric also shapes our daily lives. In particular, we will explore how our experiences on campus connect to global discussions about masculinity. Students from any discipline will find productive opportunities to apply the study the rhetoric and masculinity to work in their majors, while learning how research is conducted in other disciplines. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 340 |
| Rhetorics of the Body and Activism |
| From wearing campaign buttons to lying in front of bulldozers, people use their bodies to make arguments and communicate ideas. This course will explore the concept of rhetorics of the body, which studies how people use their bodies in symbolic communication. We will begin by reading a series of texts theorizing the relationship between rhetoric and the body and how the body both constructs and is constructed by rhetorical communication. Students will research projects that explore the rhetorical situation and strategies of a specific activist or demonstration. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 360 |
| Rhetorics of Law and Violence |
| Law is an assemblage of words that rhetorically shape our reality. It affects human behavior, directs human choices, and even has the power to end human lives. This course will explore the nature of law as a rhetorical construct and law's complex relationship to violence. Students will study the work of legal and rhetorical scholars who challenge common views of law as objective or apolitical and then consider the rhetorical role of violence in the law via theoretical texts and case studies. While the course will focus on the legal system in the United States, the final project will provide an opportunity to expand our scope to an international scale. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 395 |
| Academic Internship |
| Internship or field work placement, with a required academic component to be determined by the faculty sponsor and student. Students need to submit a completed internship contract form to Career Services. Students will not be enrolled until the contract has been approved. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Independent Study
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| RHET 399 |
| Independent Study |
| Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office, and the approval of the instructor and Writing Center director are required for enrollment. (HUM) |
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0.50 units min / 1.00 units max, Independent Study
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| RHET 406 |
| Composition Pedagogy |
| Language and literacy have always served as lightning rods for social and political issues, as well as for conflicts of theory and practice in education. This course will explore the contemporary teaching of writing, with attention to the range of current pedagogies in US colleges. We will examine influences of 20th-century revival of rhetoric, process and post-process writing, cultural and feminist studies, cognitive theory, the digital revolution, and the implications of "the global turn" for 21st-century students and teachers of writing. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 410 |
| Modern Reception of Ancient Rhetorics |
| This course examines the history of rhetorics in the western tradition by focusing on major authors from ancient days to the twenty-first century. Alternatives to the western tradition are explored by reading representative cultural rhetorics and women's rhetorics. The course will showcase the relationship between rhetoric and political action as well as the search for knowledge. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Seminar
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| RHET 466 |
| Teaching Assistant |
| Students may assist professors as teaching assistants, performing a variety of duties usually involving assisting students in conceiving or revising papers; reading and helping to evaluate papers, quizzes, and exams; and other duties as determined by the student and instructor. See instructor of specific course for more information. Submission of the special registration form, available online, and the approval of the instructor are required for enrollment. Guidelines are available in the College Bulletin.
(0.5 - 1 course credit) |
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0.50 units min / 1.00 units max, Independent Study
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| RHET 498 |
| Senior Thesis Part 1 |
| This course is the first part of a two semester, two credit thesis. Submission of the special registration form and the approval of the thesis adviser and the director are required for enrollment. The registration form is required for each semester of this year-long thesis. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Independent Study
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| RHET 499 |
| Senior Thesis Part 2 |
| This course is the second part of a two semester, two credit thesis. Submission of the special registration form and the approval of the thesis adviser and the director are required for enrollment. The registration form is required for each semester of this year-long thesis. (HUM) |
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1.00 units, Independent Study
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| RHET 499 |
| Thesis |
| This course is a one semester thesis. Submission of the special registration form and the approval of the thesis adviser and the director are required for enrollment. (WEB) |
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1.00 units, Independent Study
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