Fall 2009

RHE 309S • Critical Reading & Persuasive Writ-W

Course Description

COMPUTER ASSISTED The goal of this class is to develop your skills in writing, analyzing, and producing public arguments. The topic about which we will be arguing is crime: what counts as a crime, how serious crime is, what is being done that increases or descreases it, and what should be done about it. The class will collectively choose a set of published arguments on these issues that we will all read, analyze, and respond to. You will also develop your own position on crime, find published sources relating to it, and write persuasively about it to a variety of audiences.
Even though you will practice analyzing and producing arguments about crime, this is not a class about crime. It is a class about argumentation. You will be learning to recognize and use effective strategies for every area of academics and public discourse. You will learn to write to specific audiences to achieve specific purposes--to change your readers' minds, adjust their attitudes, or inspire them to take action. Your grade will NOT depend in any way on the position you take on an issue. But it WILL depend on the effort you invest in openly exploring the issues, analyzing the strength of your own and others' arguments, tailoring your arguments to a variety of readers (including those who may not agree with you), and refining your own argumentative techniques.

Grading Policy

25% Argument Analysis
30% Problem/Solution Paper
30% Issue Introduction
15% Homework: discussion board posts, peer reviews

Texts

Having Your Say, Charney, Neuwirth, Geisler, and Kaufer

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