Course info

Join this advanced college-prep writing course and learn how to write in the nine rhetorical modes, with dozens of rhetorical techniques and devices to make your writing strong. Much of this course is equivalent to first-year college writing, so you can get what it takes to write excellent college-level essays and papers now. Be sure to sign up for 12-2 for a complete year of senior-level college-prep writing.

 

Note! This course is considered an advanced writing, pre-college course. As such, there is a greater amount of homework due each week -- and students are expected to have the skills of the 9-Series FOUNDATIONS courses and the 10-Series and 11-Series DEVELOPMENT courses here at the Aquinas Writing Advantage program. If you have not taken the previous courses, then it will help the student's success to watch (*or review) the 9-3 and 9-4 courses before taking this course.

 

How to get the most out of the Advanced Rhetoric & Writing 1: Rhetoric, Figures of Speech, Essays, & Papers (HS 12-1) with Professor Erin M. Brown (AKA Erin Brown Conroy/E.B. Conroy): First, read the course details below and order or download the necessary book. Prepare a notebook for note taking and homework. Students begin the course by clicking on the "Recording" and watching Professor Brown Conroy’s lecture for Class One. Review any supplemental materials (videos or readings). Complete any assignment(s). Turn it into your parent for grading, unless you have purchased the grading service in which case you turn it into Mrs. Weis for grading. If you need review, go back and watch the recording again and/or go over the PowerPoint. Complete any automated quiz. They should be automated, but if not please turn it into your parent for grading, unless you have purchased the grading service in which case you turn it into Mrs. Weis for grading. Repeat until all 10 classes are complete. Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

 

This is a Foundational Course for All High School Students and Essential for College-Bound Students!

 

Special Notes: This is the first of a 2-part series. Continue with HS 12-2 in the spring for a full year of Advanced Writing

Total Classes: 10

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: Because this is an advanced course that assumes your student has key writing foundations and the advanced writing how-to's in place that are specifically taught at AWA, the 9-1 through 9-4 writing courses are required prerequisites. Students may take the prerequisites in Unlimited Access recording or LIVE. Alternative to prerequisite: a passing assessment from the Aquinas Writing Advantage Assessment service, https://homeschoolconnectionsonline.com/writing-evaluations.

Suggested Grade Level: 10th to 12th grade, as long as the student has the required prerequisites.

Instructor: E. B. Conroy, MA, MFA

Instructor Email: ebconroy@homeschoolconnections.com

Course Description: The content of this course is a prerequisite for many colleges for college-bound students. Designed to give the teen skills that make writing strong and clear, your student will learn methods of rhetoric and how to use the skills in all of the main conventions of writing used in college, including in-depth use of nine basic forms of rhetoric (rhetorical modes); identifying and use major rhetorical strategies and figures of speech; pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing a comparison and contrast paper, including use of the hook, thesis, introduction, conclusion, and academic interior paragraph constructions. Students will cover rewriting with specific and individual feedback from the instructor. Vocabulary related to upper-level writing will be introduced and integrated into the learning. Specific class time will be used to show how to edit and revise upper-level work.

Course Outline:

• Class 1: The academic paper; advanced academic writing with strong thesis construction, hooks, and introductions

• Class 2: Rhetorical Mode 1: Narration; rhetorical strategies and figures of speech (tropes, aposiopesis, apostrophe, chiasmus, epithet)

• Class 3: Rhetorical Mode 2: Comparison and Contrast; creating a thesis and hook for your paper

• Class 4: Rhetorical Mode 3: Illustration and Exemplification; rhetorical strategies and figures of speech (litotes, zeugma, euphemism, idiom)

• Class 5: Rhetorical Mode 4: Description; drafting your paper’s outline

• Class 6: Rhetorical Mode 5: Process Analysis; rhetorical strategies and figures of speech (hyperbole, metonymy, metaphor, mixed metaphor, extended metaphor); prewriting for papers

• Class 7: Rhetorical Mode 6: Definition; rhetorical strategies and figures of speech (bathos, caricature, Deus ex machine, epiphany), and your paper’s rough draft

• Class 8: Rhetorical Mode 7: Cause and Effect; advanced methods of draft revision 1

• Class 9: Rhetorical Mode 8: Division and Classification; advanced methods of draft revision 2; formatting advanced academic works (brief style guide introduction)

• Class 10: Rhetorical mode 9: Argumentation and integrating rhetorical strategies into upper-level writing

Course Materials:

Simplified Writing 101: Top Secrets for College Success, by Erin Brown Conroy:
Buy the hard copy of the book here: http://amzn.to/2FMCose
OR, buy the Kindle version of the book here (Download the FREE Kindle app to easily read on your computer, tablet, or mobile device): https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00B7AB90W/catholictreas-20
Microsoft Word or the ability to convert a document to a Word-compatible document is required. If you do not own Microsoft Word, you can use a system such as Google Docs that converts to Word documents FREE.

Homework: Students will have weekly writing assignments with grading and direct feedback from the instructor. Estimate four to five hours per week for homework (outside of class time); this includes reading, writing, and responding to instructor feedback.