Seminar builds analytic skills for evaluating programs and projects, organizations, and environments. Subject covers: using proxy indicators with poor data and limited time; preparing for, conducting, and interpreting interviews; conducting cross-project and cross-organization comparisons; and finding rationality in seemingly chaotic organizational and project environments. This class analyzes how organizations behave, both government and nongovernment, drawing on the literature of the sociology of organizations, political science, and public administration. The class seeks to demonstrate rationality in otherwise seemingly chaotic organizational environments and implementation experiences. It builds analytical skills for evaluating programs and projects, organizations, and environments, and draws equally on developing-country and developed-country literature.

"This course is an introduction to the history, theory, practice, and implications of rhetoric, the art and craft of persuasion throughAnalyzing persuasive texts and speechesCreating persuasive texts and speechesThrough class discussions, presentations, and written Assignments and Labs, you will get to practice your own rhetorical prowess. Through the readings, you'll also learn some ways to make yourself a more efficient reader, as you turn your analytical skills on the texts themselves. This combination of reading, speaking, and writing will help you succeed in:learningto read and think criticallytechniques of rhetorical analysistechniques of argumentto enhance your written and oral discourse with appropriate figures of speechsome techniques of oral presentation and the use of visual aids and visual rhetoric."

There is much controversy and anecdotal information about popular diets and dietary supplements, but all too often little scientific or controlled clinical data. We examine the science behind normal mechanisms of weight control, and how weight loss diets are constructed and work. The aim of the course is to acquire the knowledge to critically appraise a weight control diet or dietary supplement and choose the best plan for success, both in the short-term and the long run. Students taking the actual class will, in addition to learning the lecture material presented here, complete in-class assignments where they choose a popular diet or supplement, research the scientific literature on this diet/supplement, and present a critical appraisal of its validity and efficacy.

For students with a special interest in learning how to make forceful arguments in written form. Studies the forms and structures of argumentation, including organization of ideas, awareness of audience, methods of persuasion, evidence, factual vs emotional argument, figures of speech, and historical forms and uses of arguments. This course is an introduction to the history, the theory, the practice, and the implications (both social and ethical) of rhetoric, the art and craft of persuasion. This semester, many of your skills will be deepened by practice, including your analytical skills, your critical thinking skills, your persuasive writing skills, and your oral presentation skills. In this course you will act as both a rhetor (a person who uses rhetoric) and a rhetorician (one who studies the art of rhetoric). Because the study of rhetoric has always had as one of its goals the creation of active and informed citizens and because rhetors write to influence the real world and thus to become agents of positive change, 21W.747 has an optional Service Learning (SL) component: You may elect to write/work for a non-profit organization that deals with some social issue. To offset the 20-30 hours during the semester that the SL option will involve, those who select it will substitute their non-profit writing for essay #4 or use their experiences there as the main source for one of their essays. Further, their experiences may be the basis for their final extemporaneous speech (thus reducing time spent on research). What is Rhetoric? Rhetoric is the art and craft of discourse; it is the study and creation of effective communication and persuasion. Studying rhetoric teaches us not only how to write persuasively but also how to understand the rhetorical efforts of others. Understanding rhetoric gives us the means of judging whose opinion about issues is the most accurate, useful, or valid, because such knowledge allows us to see beyond the persuasive techniques to the essence of the opinions. Further, understanding rhetoric is the best way of understanding the assumptions of and the points made by those who disagree with our positions. Further still, understanding rhetoric is the best way for us to deepen and refine our own positions and beliefs by exploring our own assumptions and our cultural contexts. In short, rhetoric teaches us how to find the limits of our own positions, how to argue effectively against others' positions, and how to create powerful and persuasive arguments for our own beliefs. At its best, rhetoric is used ethically by people of good will who wish to present their ideas forcibly but fairly to their communities. At its worst, however, rhetoric is used unethically by people to manipulate us instead of enlightening us, to spread propaganda instead of seeking truth, to make palatable those ideas and products whose adoption actually runs counter to our best interests. Understanding rhetoric, then, is our best defense against its abusers-- e.g., political "spin doctors," advertisers, demagogues, apologists for immoral business practices, and hate mongers. Using rhetoric in an ethical manner is our best method for becoming agents for positive change in our society.

This course is an introduction to the history, the theory, the practice, and the implications (both social and ethical) of rhetoric, the art and craft of persuasion. This semester, many of your skills will be deepened by practice, including your analytical skills, your critical thinking skills, your persuasive writing skills, and your oral presentation skills. In this course you will act as both a rhetor (a person who uses rhetoric) and a rhetorician (one who studies the art of rhetoric).

This course is an introduction to the history, the theory, the practice, and the implications (both social and ethical) of rhetoric, the art and craft of persuasion. By the end of the semester, you will have been exposed to several of the key concepts of rhetoric (e.g., ethos, pathos, logos, invention, style, arrangement, kairos, stasis, commonplaces) and to the over-riding importance of writing to your audience. You will have gotten a taste of rhetorical history and theory. You will explore and analyze and respond to some key texts by significant writers. You will have had a chance to practice speaking and debating before the class. You will have written and revised several texts. You will have examined some of your core beliefs and assumptions. In this course you will act as both a rhetor (a person who uses rhetoric) and a rhetorician (one who studies the art of rhetoric). Because the study of rhetoric has always had as one of its goals the creation of active and informed citizens and because rhetors write to influence the real world and thus to become agents of positive change, the topics you choose and the essays you write will have the important purpose of persuading your readers (the class and me).

This course is an introduction to the theory, the practice, and the implications (both social and ethical) of rhetoric, the art and craft of persuasion. This semester, many of your skills will have the opportunity to be deepened by practice, including your analytical and critical thinking skills, your persuasive writing skills, and your oral presentation skills. In this course you will act as both a rhetor (a person who uses rhetoric) and as a rhetorical critic (one who studies the art of rhetoric). Both write to persuade; both ask and answer important questions. Always one of their goals is to create new knowledge for all of us, so no endeavor in this class is a "mere exercise."