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English 124 Advanced Composition: Critical Reasoning & Writing


Course Description

This course is designed to develop critical thinking, reading, and writing skills beyond the level achieved in English 120. Course will focus on the development of logical reasoning and analytical and argumentative writing skills. In other words, be prepared to think critically, and most importantly, to think critically for yourself. Our venture will include practice in academic and professional writing, reading, and critical thinking. It will also include dissecting and evaluating the soundness of arguments in a variety of texts constructed by professional authors and your peers. By the end of the course, there should be no (okay, maybe less) mystery in effective writing. Writers make choices, and it will be our job to understand and identify those choices so that we can become more sophisticated and effective readers and writers. As in the prerequisites, there will be continued attention to decisions about structure, cohesion, and rhetorical conventions. Workshops, small group collaborations, and stimulating class discussions will play a significant role in the course.

Spring 2012 Required Books

  • Barnet, Sylvan, and Hugo Bedau. From Critical Thinking to Argument: A Portable Guide. 3rd ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011.

  • O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
  • Wiesenthal, Simon. The Sunflower. New York: Schocken Books, 1998.


2012 Syllabus & Calendar

NEW: REST OF SEMESTER CALENDAR

124-MW 12:30 Syllabus

124-MW 2:00 Syllabus

REVISED COURSE CALENDAR 2/28

 

Assignments

124-Informal Outline for Rogerian Argument

124-Rogerian Argument w/ Editorial Cartoon

Essay #3-Entering The Symposium

Sunflower Discussion Questions

The Symposium Arguments

Fallacy Exam Part II

Common Fallacies Handout

Essay 1: Your Worldview

Worldview Online

Lectures & Handouts

Brush-up on MLA

Cool Links for Critical Thinkers