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Term:
Fall A, 2002
Assignment Schedule
Date and Time: Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:40
.am. - 1:00 p.m.
Objectives:
This course introduces students to both inductive and deductive
logic, emphasizing practical applications. The lessons are especially
intended to develop skills in "critical thinking,"
one of the five competencies that are part of general education
at Mercy College. Skills that students are expected to develop
include the following:
· Ability to analyze an argument and identify its parts,
especially premises and the conclusion;
· Ability to evaluate, discuss, and debate the soundness
of an argument;
· Ability to identify fallacies that are commonly used
in argumentation;
· An increased facility in explaining and supporting
positions on social and philosophical issues.
Attendance:
The policy of Mercy College is that over four absences in a
term may be cause for failure. Regular attendance is even more
important in this course than in most others, since many exercises
will be done in class. Texts:
The text book we will be using is the following:
Cederblom, Jerry and David W. Paulsen. Critical Reasoning.
Fifth Ed. Stamford: Wadsworth, 2001.
Additional Readings will be assigned and distributed in class.
Grading:
There will be four quizzes, and no make-ups will be allowed,
but the poorest exam will be discounted.
Seven short written assignments, of about 500 words or two
double-spaced pages of normal type each, will be given. These
will be graded according to a variety of criteria including
grammar, clarity, and organization. The most important criterion,
however, will be the degree to which they reveal competence
in the skills of critical thinking. The grade for a written
work will be significantly reduced if it is turned in after
the deadline. If an assignment is plagiarized, the student
will receive a failing grade for it. When there are suspicions,
the instructor may submit a written work to turnitin.com to
check originality.
In addition to submitting a hard copy of each paper, students
are also expected to submit each paper to the class discussion
list in WebCT. Every student must place at least two messages
to the discussion board every week, either critiquing the
arguments of a fellow-student or responding to an assignment.
The grade for the course will
be determined approximately as follows:
Attendance and class participation (including posts in WebCT)
- 40%
Written assignments - 40%
Quizzes – 20%
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