Critical Thinking: Fall, 2000 -- Phi 1103, Section 004
Meets Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:30 P.M. until 1:45 P..M.
Instructor: Diane Wilkinson
Office Phone: 974-5811. Home Phone: 727-733-8444 * dwilkins@luna.cas.usf.edu Office Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays, 3:30 P.M. until 4:00 P.M. and by appointment. * FAO 242.
Class Requirements:
1. Attendance is required. This is an analysis, discussion, observation, and communication class. You must be present to do the work required to become a clear thinker, evaluator, and communicator.
2. Class preparation is required. Unless you have read the text sections assigned and unless you have done the exercises, you will not be able to join in the discussion in a meaningful and interesting way. Side discussions, while initially entertaining sometimes, are almost always destined to be boring and frustrating. I, like you, don’t like being bored or boring. If you stay with this class, I will assume you have agreed to help keep the class as interesting and valuable as possible.
3. Homework assignments must be turned in at the beginning of classes for which they are assigned, unless you are notified otherwise. Homework may be handwritten with brief answers.
4. Short argumentation papers will be graded for grammar and content and students may correct and rewrite for better grades. The two papers count 200 points.
5. You will he required to choose between two grading methods for yourself, one including a major midterm and final exam, and one method which does not. Both methods will include a twenty per cent portion (400 points) from in-class work and discussion, and both will include twenty per cent (400 points) from homework written assignments—assignments on which content, not grammar, is graded. (Still, all written work must be clear, or I will not be able to grade content.) If you attend all classes and stay alert through them, participating in the exercises and discussions, you will receive all four hundred participation points possible. No tricks. Similarly, if you truly complete the written assignments and exercises, following instructions scrupulously, you will be graded reasonably and fairly for the second four hundred points.
The choice you must make lies with how you achieve the final 1000 points available in this class. The final exam, which everyone must take, will count as 200 of these 1000 points. You may choose to count any 12 of the14 quizzes and written assignments administered as your entire 800 additional test points. But you may do this IF AND ONLY IF you have at least a B- average on those quizzes and all written work at midterm. If you do have the B-, in other words, you may skip the midterm, and the mini-quizzes and final exam will count for the entire 1000 test-related points. If you don’t have the B- average on weekly quizzes, and consequently do not qualify for skipping the midterm, the mini-quizzes will count as 400 points, and the midterm will count for 400 points, to make up the total test-related percentage of 800. (Note: if you do qualify for skipping the exam, but want to take them to bring up your grades, you may do so.)
Grading:
Class Participation = 20% or 400 points.
Homework Assignments = 20 % or 400 points
Quizzes = 40% or 800 points (or midterm 400 points
Papers = 10% or 200 points
Final Exam = 10% or 200 points
Total: 2000 points
All students must take each quiz. This is to ensure that you have read the materials and have kept the pact with the rest of us, as reflected in item 2 above, and to see what progress you are making in understanding the course material. (If you miss class one week, you will be expected to make up the quiz within two weeks, with a possible maximum score of 90%.) On each quiz, I usually will offer you twelve to twenty-five questions, either multiple-choice or two-sentence answers, and you may pick any ten to twenty of these twelve to twenty-five questions to answer. If you have read the materials, you almost certainly will be able to answer these questions. They are to test your general familiarity with material and your understanding, not your rote memory, unless I tell you in advance there is memorization involved, which may occur on three of the later quizzes. But even then, the quiz will not be difficult unless you have ignored the assignment.
For example, if I were testing you on this syllabus, I might ask: "Which of the following are not required for this course: (a) choosing a grading method, (b) attendance, (c) reading the assignments, or (d) knowledge of poetry?" Or I might ask how you can get the 800 points not obtained as test or paper scores, and expect an answer of "We may get 400 points for attendance and participation in classes and 400 for take-home assignments." Or I might ask what the purpose of the mini-quizzes is. The answer is: "to check on our understanding and progress and to encourage us to read the materials." These sorts of questions will make up about half of each small quiz; the balance will be items from or like the exercises you do for homework.
Papers: The two assigned papers will be three pages in length and will be in an argumentation format. We will discuss what this means in class. You will be given an opportunity to rewrite your papers for a better grade.
The Final: You will be given half the questions for the final in advance, so that you can prepare for them. The other half will be exercises which mirror or are from the homework you have done.
The Presentation: this will be the same as a quiz. The Analysis counts as a quiz.
Finally, there is no grading curve in this class. If all of you earn A grades, you will all be given A grades.
Class Assignments & Schedule:
8/28: Introductory Remarks and Administrative matters: syllabus and
text discussion
Assigned for next class: Read pages 1-17 in text.
8/30: Discussion of Chapter One and in-class exercises.
Assigned for next class: All exer cise 1-1; unanswered questions in exercises 1-2,1-6,1-7, 1-8.
9/4: Holiday
9/6: Review and practice exercises from chapter one.
Assigned for next class: Unanswered questions in exercises 1-9, 1-10, 1-11, 1-12, 1-13.
9/11: Review and practice chapter one exercises. Quiz on chapter one.
Assigned for next class: Read pages 39-49; do all unanswered questions in exercises therein.
9/13: Do in class exercise on page 38. Discuss Chapter Two. Go over Ch. Two exercises.
Assigned for next class: Read pp. 49-69 and do unanswered exercises therein.
9/18: Review exercises in class. Do either question 1 or 2 on p. 78 in class.
Assigned for next class: Read pp. 70-77; do unanswered questions in exercises through 2-15.
9/20: Practice exercises on pages 70-77. Quiz on Chapter Two.
Introduce Chapter Three.
Assigned for next class: Read pages 79-98; do unanswered in exercise 3/7 and 3/8.
9/25: Review assigned exercise and practice new exercises in Chapter Three. Do 3/6 in class.
Assigned for next class: Read 99-108; do unanswered in exercises 3-9,3-10, 3-11, 3-13, 3-14, 3-15.
927: Review and practice exercises. Quiz on Chapter Three. Introduce Chapter Four.
Assigned for next class: Read pp. 117-132 and do unanswered in 4-1,4-2, 4-3 and 4-4.
10/02: Review and practifce exercises in chapter four. Do exercise 4-11 in class.
Assigned for next class: Unanswered in Exercises 4-5, 4-6, 4-7,4-8, 4-9, 4-12 and 4-13.
10/04: Review and practice exercises. Do 4-11 in class. Do 4-14 and 4-15 in class.
Assignedc for next class: Read pp. 141-146 and do exercises
4-17, 4-18, and #2 of Writing Exercises on page 147
10/09: Practice Chapter Four exercises. Quiz on Chapter Four. Discuss writing
Assigned for next class: Read 149-166; do exercise 5-2.
For 10/16 class: 3 page writing assignment.
10/11: Practice Chapter Five exercises and discuss Chapter Five. Do 5-3 and 5-4 in class.
Assigned for next class: Do unanswered questions in Exercises 5-5, 5-6 and 5-7.
10/16 Practice Chapter Five exercises in class. Quiz on Chapter 5.
Turn in papers.
Assigned for next class: Read pp. 175-191. Hand out midterm for those who are not exempt.
10/18: Return papers for rewrites due on 10/23. Review papers. Do exercises 6-2 and 6-3 in class.
Take up midterm exams.
Assigned for next class: Unanswered questions in 6-4, 6-5, 6-6, 6-7 and 6-8.
10/23: Return midterms and take up paper rewrites. Review and practice chapter six exercises.
Assigned for next class: Unanswered questions in 6-9, 6-10, 6-11, 6-12, 6-13.
10/25: Return paper rewrites. Review and practice Chapter Six exercises.
Assigned for next class: Unanswered questions in 6-16, 6-17.
Read 217-221 and do exercises
7-1, 7-2, 7-3,7-4, 7-5, 7-6.
10/30: Review Chapter Six exercises and quiz on Chapter Six. Review Chapter Seven exercises.
Assigned for next class: Read pp. 227-248 and do 7-8, 7-10, 7-11, 7-13, and 7-14.
11/01: Review Chapter seven exercises. Quiz on Chapter Seven..
Assigned for next class: Read pp. 259-272 and do exercises therein. Assign second paper, due in one week.
11/06: Review chapter seven exercises.
Assigned for next class: Read pp. 273-290 and do exercises therein.
11/08: Review and practice Chapter Seven exercises. Quiz on Chapter Seven. Take up papers.
Assigned for next week: Read 381-396; do unanswered questions in 11-1, 11-2, 11-3, 11-4.
11/13: Review and practice Chapter Seven. Return papers for rewrite by 11/20.
Assigned for next class: Read 396-405 and do Exercises 11-7, 11-8, 11-9, 11-10, 11-11, 11- 12,11-13, 11-20.
11/15: Review and practice Chapter Seven. Quiz on Chapter Seven.
Discuss Chapter 12.
Assigned for next class: Read 420-433, and do unanswered questions on Exercises 12-1, 12- 2, 12-3, 12-4, 12-5.
11/20: Review and practice chapter 12 exercises. Student progress reports distributed.
Assigned for next class: Exercises 12-6 and 12-9, 12-14, 12-15, and 12-16; and read pp.443- 453.
11/22:Review and practice chapter 12 exercises.
Assigned for next class: Exercises 12-15 through 12-24.
11/27: Review Chapter 12 exercises. Quiz on Chapter 12.
Assigned for next class: Review pseudoreasoning and missing premises.
11/29: Analyse radio talk shows and political ads. Discuss viewpoints.
Assigned for next class: Critically assess newspaper handout, with regard to all we have discussed in this class.
12/04: Group work on analysing reallife arguments. Hand out questions for final exam.
12/06: Presentations of critical assessments by groups.