Topics in Theory and Method

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• The ability to read critically and discuss the aesthetic, rhetorical, or cultural qualities in texts.
• The ability to develop convincing, well-supported print or digital projects.
• The ability to understand the relationship of literature or rhetoric to history or culture
• The ability to incorporate research into a print or digital project.
• The ability to understand and implement a literary or rhetorical theories
• Identify and understand the key terminology and characteristics of each approach to embodiment and interpretation.
• Understand and enjoy some of the best contemporary writing in theory and fiction.
• Get a handle on the pivotal developments of the half century in the history of theory and related fields at home and abroad and on the role of the material world in the shaping of these changes.
• Improve the skills of reading literary and critical-theoretical texts in their various contexts by writing about these works and by discussing them.
• Analyze written texts to understand how they relate to particular audiences, purposes, and contexts as a way to inform one’s own writing.
• Create and revise written texts for particular audiences, purposes, and contexts.
• Through oral or written reflection, demonstrate awareness of one’s writing choices as well as of how one’s own writing contributes to ongoing conversations in the relevant discipline.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Attendance, Participation, Oral Projects	25%
Written Projects	75%

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Oral Participation (includes group work and any possible pop quizzes)	25%
Paper#1	30%
Paper #2	45%

Grading Scale

Percentage	Letter Grade
93.0 and above	A
90.0 – 92.9	A-
87.0 – 89.9	B+
83.0 – 86.9	B
80.0 – 82.9	B-
77.0 – 79.9	C+
73.0 – 76.9	C
70.0 – 72.9	C-
67.0 – 69.9	D+
63.0 – 66.9	D
60.0 – 62.9	D-
Below 60.0	F

Attendance/Participation:

Late Papers: No late papers—and any other kind of late work for that matter—accepted. However, if you foresee any deadline-related problems, please come to see me ahead of time. We shall work together to find a solution.

Attendance: You are allowed no more than 3 absences during the semester (which absences you must document). These are only for illnesses, religious holidays, and emergencies preventing you from attending. Any unjustified absences will seriously affect your grade; 3 undocumented absences may result in your being asked to drop the course. If you are the victim of an emergency or serious illness, please stay in touch with me by e-mail or phone. Because tardiness disrupts class too, be aware that coming in late 3 times will count as an absence. If you do not attend this class at all, you will be dropped at the end of the second week.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

• Ahmed, Sara. The Cultural Politics of Emotion, 2nd ed., New York: Routledge, 2015.
• Bridle, James. Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence. New York: Picador, 2023.
• Hayles, N. Katherine. Bacteria to AI: Human Futures with Our Nonhuman Symbionts. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2025.
• Bryant, Levi R. Onto-Cartography: An Ontology of Machines and Media. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.
• McEwan, Ian. Machines Like Me. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2019.