17³Ô¹Ï

Student Learning Outcomes -

• Make logical inferences towards an interpretation
• Substantiate thesis through analysis, logical and systematic organization, supporting evidence and clarity of language

Description -

Advanced study and practice of argumentative writing with emphasis on critical analysis and evaluation of texts. Focus is on reading and writing assignments from across the disciplines to refine critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. The honors section is intensive in content, involving both writing and meta-analysis of complex texts. Includes collaborative evaluations of the content, evidence, organizing principles and style of a variety of texts. Course encourages students to examine assumptions, implications and unintended consequences of rhetorical and content choices. Includes focus on primary sources and the interpretations of these documents in contemporaneous writing. Course expands and enhances the student's ability to write with fluency, effectiveness, and intellectual rigor.

Course Objectives -

1. Critically read, analyze, compare, and evaluate multicultural argumentative prose from across the curriculum.
2. Conduct rhetorical analysis of texts and identify a text's premises and assumptions in various social, historical, cultural, psychological, or aesthetic contexts.

1. Demonstrate mastery in writing text-based arguments, including interpretation, evaluation, and analysis, and support them with a variety of appropriate textual evidence and examples.
2. Use and analyze basic modes of argument, such as inductive and deductive reasoning techniques, recognizing fallacies, analysis, interpretation, and synthesis.
3. Find, analyze, interpret, and evaluate research materials, incorporating them to support claims using appropriate documentation format without plagiarism.
4. Use style, diction, and tone appropriate to the academic community and the purpose of the specific writing task.
5. Apply theoretical models (such as sociological or historical theories) to a text.

1. Identify logic of argument (premises and conclusions).
2. Demonstrate understanding of formal and informal fallacies in language and thought.
3. Employ meta-analysis to analyze and critique primary sources and their interpretations.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment -

1. When taught on campus, no special facility or equipment needed.
2. When taught via 17³Ô¹Ï Global Access, on-going access to computer with email software and capabilities; email address.

 

Course Content (Body of knowledge) -

1. Read and analyze at least three book-length, college-level texts in separate or anthology form
1. Comprehend and evaluate a text's main themes
2. Draw reasoned inferences based on close reading of a text
2. Conduct rhetorical analysis of texts
1. Analyze varieties in voice, rhetorical style and purpose in non-fiction genres
2. Identify and analyze rhetorical devices in connection with a text's main themes
3. Establish cultural and historical contexts for a text and determine how those contexts shape that writing

1. Demonstrate mastery in writing text-based arguments, including interpretation, evaluation, and analysis, and support them with a variety of appropriate textual evidence and examples
1. Based on writing a total of at least 8,000 words: Text-based compositions the shortest of which will be 1000 words, requiring analysis and meta-analysis of complex issues, textual ambiguity, and multiple perspectives
2. Practice writing both as a process of discovery and synthesis
3. Draw connections that synthesize:
1. Two or more texts
2. The text(s) and the student's individual experiences and ideas
3. The text and published critical responses to the text
2. Use and analyze basic modes of argument, such as inductive and deductive reasoning techniques, recognizing fallacies, analysis, interpretation, and synthesis
3. Find, analyze, interpret, and evaluate research materials, incorporating them to support claims using appropriate documentation format without plagiarism
4. Use style, diction, and tone appropriate to the academic community and the purpose of the specific writing task
1. Develop advanced grammar, punctuation, and syntax, including editing for improved sentence variety and flow
2. Identify and employ the conventions and strategies appropriate to writing within various disciplines
5. Apply theoretical models (such as sociological or historical theories) to a text

1. Identify logic of argument (premises and conclusions)
1. Distinguish denotation from connotation, the abstract from the concrete, and the literal from the inferential (including analogy, extended metaphor, and symbol)
2. Draw and assess inferences and recognize distinctions among assumptions, inferences, facts, and opinions
2. Demonstrate understanding of formal and informal fallacies in language and thought
1. Identify logic (premises/conclusions) and logical fallacies, such as syllogistic reasoning, abstractions, undefined terms, name-calling, false analogy, ad hominem, and ad populum arguments
2. Recognize and evaluate assumptions underlying an argument
3. Application of rhetorical theories and critical schools (gender studies, queer theory, psychoanalytic criticism, critical race theory, etc.)

Methods of Evaluation -

1. Write a total of at least 8,000 words: a minimum of three untimed, formal essays (in-class or online) and two timed, informal essay exams (in-class or online).
2. Additional assignments may include essay exams, class discussion, oral presentations, quizzes, and tests.

Representative Text(s) -

Disciplines -

Method of Instruction -

1. Private messages within the Course Management System
2. Personal email outside of the Course Management System
3. Telephone contact/weekly announcements in the Course Management System
4. Chat room within the Course Management System
5. Timely feedback and return of student work (tasks, tests, surveys, and discussions) in the Course Management System by methods clarified in the syllabus. Discussion forums with appropriate facilitation and/or substantive instructor participation
6. E-portfolios/blogs/wiki for sharing student works in progress; provide feedback from fellow students and faculty in a collaborative manner, and to demonstrate mastery, comprehension, application, and synthesis of a given set of concepts
7. Field trips

Lab Content -

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing and Outside of Class Assignments -

1. Reading and discussion of non-fiction texts from across the curriculum
2. In-class timed essays focused on assigned readings
3. Formal analytical, text-based essays based on analysis of reading and research