There are three main objectives for this course: to provide an introduction to current theories of distributed cognition, situated cognition, activity theory, and complex systems as well as their potential application in composition studies and rhetoric; to help students develop strategies for compiling and using working bibliographies, and to develop strategies and competencies for reading when there is an overwhelming quantity of worthwhile material to be read. We may discover that the usefulness of the theories is limited or inappropriate, or we may find them generative in thinking about composing situations. We will look closely not only at the theories themselves, but also at the methodologies used to explore them, and their presentation by various writers.
