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COM 2110 – SECT 001Winter 2010
T & Thrs9:35-11:00 am MANO279
INSTRUCTOR:Dr. Kelly M. Young PHONE: 577-2953 (my office)
OFFICE:MANO536
OFFICE HRS:Weds12-3 pm, Thurs11-2pm; or by appt E-MAIL:
TEXT/MATERIALS
- Ziegelmueller, G. and Kay, J. (1997). (3rd Ed.). Argumentation: Inquiry and Advocacy. Allyn and Bacon: Massachusetts.
- Access to a computer, the internet, word processing software and library materials.
COURSE PREREQUISTES
COM 1010 (Public Speaking) is a prerequisite course for this class.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Students will learn to become more effective critical thinkers and consumers of information and arguments. This will be accomplished by achieving the following:
- Understanding, identifying and evaluating the types of arguments, reasoning processes, and logical fallacies.
- Knowing what evidence is, how to use it to prove a claim, and how to evaluate the adequacy of your and opposing evidence
- Learning to organize arguments into a persuasive case
- Developing skills in refutation and cross examination
- Being able to use these skills in a variety of forums
Successful completion of this class does fulfill the University General Education requirement for competence in Critical Thinking (CT).
CLASS EXPECTATIONS/POLICIES
ATTENDANCE:
The student is expected to attend all class meetings. This class requires student participation to develop both practical and conceptual understanding of course material.
Non-Debate/Exam Days: You are allowed three excused absences. Every additional absence after this will result in a 5% (25 point) deduction in your overall grade. Arriving later than 30 minutes after the start of class will constitute an absence.
Absences for school activities or events, documented illnesses will be excused. You should notify me the moment you know you will not be in class. The decision on what constitutes an excused or unexcused absence will be left to the instructor.
Debate/Exam Days: There is a strict attendance requirement for all non-lecture days. This includes days when debates occur and examination days.If for any reason you are not able to take a test or participate in a debate on the given day, you must notify me in writing or in person before that class period. If you do not, you will not be allowed to makeup the test or debate. Debates cannot be made up. If you are not debating on a given day, you are still expected to attend class on those days.
ARRIVING LATE/TARDINESS:
It is highly disruptive to the class when students arrive late to class. While this is annoying during regular class days, it’s completely unacceptable on days in which debates are scheduled. We have approximately 35 students who all have to debate within a short period of time. If you aren’t in class on time when you should be preparing to debate, you set back the entire class. If you are scheduled to debate at a given time and you are late in arriving in time to debate, you will receive a 10% reduction in your debate grade.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS:
Any written material associated with the speech is to be turned in the day it is due. Any assignment turned in late or presented late will be reduced by 10 percent for each calendar day (not class day) it is late. To prevent a serious reduction in your grade, be sure to turn in any late assignment as soon as possible.
MAKE UP ASSIGNMENTS/EXTRA CREDIT:
Generally, it is not the policy of this instructor to allow extra credit or make up work—you should concentrate on presenting the best possible assignments and work when it is first presented.
However, if an event on campus occurs that is relevant to the course and is deemed by the instructor to be worth attending, he may assign extra-credit opportunities during the semester to attend campus events or activities. If your work schedule prohibits the opportunity to attend such events, an alternative assignment will be given for that extra-credit.
Additionally, students may have an opportunity to earn extra-credit by debating with a student who needs a partner (e.g., we have an odd-number of students in the course, someone dropped the course, someone is absent). If you put in equal or better effort in debating again for a round of debates, you can earn up to a letter grade improvement in your debate grade for that round of debates.
CELL-PHONES, TWO-WAYS, PAGERS, LAP-TOPS:
I, like you, am a creature of the modern age and heavily depend on cell phones, lap tops etc to get by in my daily life. However, these technologies can create tremendous disturbances in the classroom.
If you have a cell-phone, two-way, pager or any similar technology, the instructor expects you to turn them off or put them on ‘silent” mode during class.
As for laptops, I encourage students to use these to help them take and organize their course notes. HOWEVER, if a student is caught using laptops and wireless connections to instant message people, check out websites, play games, etc. during class, the student will be prohibited from bringing laptops to class.
Bottom line: I appreciate your needs for technology, but if it begins to disrupt the class, I will ask you not bring these technologies with you in class.
TOLERANCE FOR FELLOW STUDENTS’ OPINIONS:
This is an argumentation and debate class. Some of the examples and issues we will discuss are purposefully controversial. As a result, I expect to hear difference in opinions and several perspectives. Please be respectful of the opinions and thoughts of your fellow students, whether you agree with them or not. Additionally, I also ask that you do not needless “argue for argument’s sake” in class in hopes that it will score points with the instructor. The purpose of class discussion is to illustrate concepts and apply them to practical situations.
PLAGIARISM/ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:
All public speaking and argumentation courses are ripe for plagiarism and academic dishonesty because students are tempted to share past research and assignments with fellow students. This is unacceptable and constituted one part of plagiarism and academic dishonesty.
Materials that are clearly not the student’s own work or which are not appropriately documented/credited will be subject to close scrutiny. All acts of academic dishonesty including cheating and plagiarism will be treated as violations of appropriate student conduct and will be subject to disciplinary action. The University Due Process Policy can be found at
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES:
It is WayneState’s policy to respect the faith and religious obligations of students, faculty and staff. Students with exams or classes that conflict with their religious observances should notify me well in advance (at least 2 weeks) so that we can work out a mutually agreeable alternative.
DISABILITIES:
WayneState provides support and reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. If you are a student with a disability you may wish to contact Educational Accessibility Services at 1600 David Adamany Library (313-577-1851) or at . Also, students should notify the instructor immediately of any disabilities that might impact their work and performance in the class.
Class Organization:
This class will revolve around one central debate resolution. This semester we will be debating the following topic. This topic will be the basis for all research assignments, briefs and class debates.
Resolved: The United States should establish and implement a cap and trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The work in this class will generally be divided into two phases. The first phase of the class will be devoted to argument and debate theory. This phase will involve lectures, class discussions, and exercises all designed with the purpose of helping the student understand the theoretical side of argumentation and debate. During this first phase of the course, students will also be given library research assignments aimed at identifying arguments within the literature.
Most of the second phase of the course will be devoted to organizing briefs and participating in class debates. A schedule of debates will be announced at least one week prior to the debates occurring and students will be expected to participate on the days assigned. The assignments in the class will build on each other. Completion of one will be required for participation and completion of the next. It is essential that you turn assignments in on time.
ACTIVITIES/ASSIGNMENTS
Briefs. Briefs are this class’ equivalent of papers, they consist of a logical outline and a series of evidence cards that each student will research and gather over the course of the semester. There are two briefing assignments for the class and they are associated with the first two debates. Briefs will be typed. They must be turned in on the day assigned. No one will be permitted to participate in the class debates that have not turned in the brief assignment. .
Debates. There will be two debates during the semester. In the first debate, you will be matched with a classmate and asked to debate either the affirmative or negative of the topic. In the next debate, you will be asked to switch sides and debate the other side of the topic. Part of your debate grade will depend on completion of a critique of one of the debates in class that you are not participating in.
Quizzes. There will be 3 quizzes during the course. You will receive study guides for them. They will include a mix of multiple-choice, listing and short-answer questions. Twenty-five questions worth 2 points each.
GRADING/EVALUATION POLICY
Points will be assigned based on the completion of the course assignments. Please use the following area to record your grades.
Affirmative Brief / /75 (15%) / Quiz 1 / /50 (10%)Negative Brief / /75 (15%) / Quiz 2 / /50 (10%)
Quiz 3 / /50 (10%)
Debate #1 / /100 (20%)
Debate #2 / /100 (20%) / Total Grade / /500
Students’ grades will be determined by the total number of points they earn on a 600 point scale. The grade breakdown is as follows:
500-468=A / 415-400=B- / 349-333=D+467-450=A- / 399-383=C+ / 332-300=D
449-433=B+ / 382-368=C / 299-below=F
432-416=B / 367-350=C-
INCOMPLETES: a final course grade of incomplete is reserved for extraordinary circumstances such as personal emergencies that can be documented. An incomplete is granted when in the judgment of the instructor a student can successfully complete the work of the course without attending regular class sessions. Incompletes, which are not converted to a letter grade within one year, will automatically revert to an F (failing grade),
WITHDRAWING FROM THE CLASS: As of Fall 2006 there are no longer W or X grades, students who withdraw from a course after the end of the 4th week of class will receive a grade of WP, WF, or WN.
- WP will be awarded if the student is passing the course (based on work due to date) at the time of the withdrawal is requested.
- WF will be awarded if the student is failing the course (based on work due to date) at the time of the withdrawal is requested.
- WN will be awarded if no materials have been submitted, and so there is no basis for a grade.
Students must submit their withdrawals request on-line through Pipeline. The instructor must approve the withdrawal request before it becomes final, and students should continue to attend class until they receive notification via email that the withdrawal has been approved.
STUDENTS WHO STOP ATTENDING BUT DO NOT REQUEST A WITHDRAWAL WILL RECEIVE AN AUTOMATIC F (Failing grade).
TENTATIVE DAILY LESSON SCHEDULE*
DATE: / TOPIC: / READING Due: / ASSIGNMENT GIVEN: / ASSIGNMENT DUE:Jan 12 / Course Overview
Jan 14 / Topic Overview, Burdens & Presumption / Chapter 1 & 2 / Side you are debating
Jan 19 / Stock Issues, How to Research & Structure Brief #1 / Chps 10, 11 / Brief #1 Assignment
Jan 21 / Nature of Argument / Chp 3
Jan 26 / Refutation, Debate #1 Explained / Chp 16 / Quiz 1 study guide
Jan 28 / Quiz 1 / Quiz 1
Feb 2 / Testing Data / Chp 5
Feb 4 / Example Debate, Notetaking / Brief #1
Feb 9 / Brief #1 Returned, Prep for Debate #1
Feb 11 / Debate #1 / Debate #1 / Debate #1 / Debate #1
Feb 16 / Debate #1 / Debate #1 / Debate #1 / Debate #1
Feb 18 / Debate #1 / Debate #1 / Debate #1 / Debate #1
Feb 23 / Debate #1 / Debate #1 / Debate #1 / Debate #1
Feb 25 / Discussion of Debate #1, Brief #2 explained / Brief #2
March 2 / Cross-Examination, Debate #2 explained / Chp 17 / Quiz 2 study guide
March 4 / Cost-Benefit Analysis/Scenario Resolution / Supplemental reading
March 9 / Quiz 2 / Quiz 2
March 15-20 / SPRING BREAK / SPRING BREAK / SPRING BREAK / SPRING BREAK
March 23 / No class-Instructor out of town
March 25 / Inductive Arguments / Chp 6 / Brief #2 Due
March 30 / Deductive Arguments / Chp 7
April 1 / Logical Fallacies / Chp 8
April 6 / Debate #2 / Debate #2 / Debate #2 / Debate #2
April 8 / Debate #2, / Debate #2 / Debate #2 / Debate #2
April 13 / Debate #2, / Debate #2 / Debate #2 / Debate #2
April 15 / Debate #2, / Debate #2 / Debate #2 / Debate #2
April 20 / Debate #2, / Debate #2 / Debate #2 / Debate #2
April 22 / Quiz Review / Quiz 3 study guide
May 3 / Quiz 3 / Quiz 3 / Quiz 3 / Quiz 3
*This schedule may be subject to change. Should any changes be necessary, I will inform you of them well in advance.
Winter 2010, Com 2110—001—Young page 1