In this unit, we will be participating in debates related to our master topics.
COURSE OUTCOMES
CLO-3 Employ persuasive strategies to support and defend a critical stance
WEEKLY OUTCOMES
After reading the text and viewing the lecture notes and additional materials, students will be able to:
Identify a critical debate related to their topic
Employ persuasive strategies to support a critical stance
Persuasive rhetoric is the art of using language to encourage people to agree with you, but, sometimes, persuasive writers employ verbal tricks that may sound convincing in the short-term, but which fail to hold up against logical scrutiny. These slippery turns of phrase may help a writer or speaker to sound like they are making a strong argument, but they employ deception and misdirection in place of genuine reasoning. Sometimes, persuasive writers and speakers employ these devices intentionally, but, just as often, people dont even realize that the argument they are making is rooted in one of these logical fallacies. Cultivating a familiarity with these logical fallacies is useful for anyone trying to build a persuasive case, not only because they provide useful terminology for debunking the arguments of writers who employ them, but also because recognizing these tricks allows you to make sure that your own reasoning is devoid of these disingenuous verbal maneuvers.
