Course Syllabus

Logic, Reasoning, And Persuasion

Spring 2022

Campbell Hall A1 Tuesday and Friday,10:20 to 11:40 AM

Janelle Derstine, PhD.
Contact: on Canvas>> Canvas Inbox >>Compose

Office hours make a Zoom appointment via Canvas Inbox, AND suggest at least 2-3 times/days you are available for a meeting ON QUIZ

If you schedule a meeting with me, there is a link on the Intro Module that will take you to my virtual office

Course Description: An argument is a series of statements, one set of which (the premises) is intended to provide either logically conclusive or strong support for another statement (the conclusion). In this course, we will study of the logical structure of argumentation in ordinary language, with an emphasis on the relation of logic to practical (and controversial) affairs in politics, criminal justice, religion and ethics. We will also examine and learn to spot traditional informal fallacies — e.g., “begging the question”— which although formally valid, are still instances of bad reasoning. Discussions explore the nature of validity, truth, meaning, and evidence in relation to the evaluation of arguments.

Required Text: Reason Better, by David Manley, from Top Hat

Undergraduate Learning Outcomes
As a result of fully participating in this class, students will be able to:
• Recognize differences between deductive and inductive arguments
• Recognize differences between Valid and Invalid arguments
• Recognize differences between Sound and Unsound arguments
• Recognize differences between Cogent and non-cogent arguments

Expectations for All Students
1) Commit to checking Canvas Announcements and Lesson Modules on the regular: failure to check the announcements will lead to you getting lost in the course.
2) Be prepared to engage positively in online discussions & actively complete online requests;
3) Be respectful of perspectives offered by classmates and professor

4) ON QUIZ Commit to attending each face to face class session—attendance will be taken (2 exc absences). Report missing class via RU student absence reporting tool https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/ DO NOT EMAIL me unless you have a specific question (e.g., covid related). I do not take notes for you. See the Students helping students: Questions/Comments/Class notes Help Requests etc. DB in the intro module and ask one of your fellow students for them. If you email me asking what you missed I will not answer you.

5) Be prepared to discuss assigned readings and engage constructively in discussion, online or in class. Not participating or at least active listening will result in points taken off your final grade. Includes phone use, texting, etc.

REQUIRED: Complete a student evaluation of my teaching at end of course (student instructional rating survey located in OUR COURSE’S Canvas Sidebar) PRIOR TO SUBMITTING FINAL TEST no SIRS? No submission for your test. THIS WILL BE ON THE QUIZ

Assessment (on quiz)

20% 20 point quiz on information in Intro module
10 %: Questions in Top Hat Chapters
30 %: Two Midterm online exams
20 %: Discussion Board
20 %: Final exam

Late work policy ON QUIZ
Homework less than 12 hours late: no penalty
HW up to 48 hours late = docked 10% automatically.
HW more than 2 days (48 hours) late = docked 50% automatically
Discussion board comments cannot be late

o Exception: Unless there are very good DOCUMENTED extenuating circumstances (hospitalization, car accident, death). I will not accept work later than the above deadlines, and unless you have a note from the Dean.

Tests must be taken at the same time as everyone else. you cannot go on vacation early and expect to be able to take the test. No exceptions unless you have a Dean’s note in advance. This will be on the quiz

Attendance

Attendance is mandatory. However, you may miss a total of two classes without penalty. Regarding Covid related illness/absence: If the campus pass does not allow you to come to campus then DO NOT COME and fill out the absentee self reporting notice at https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/ there will be a quiz question on this fact. In this case, your absence will be excused. Anyone with less than 2 absences will be given extra credit

Homework
• HW Is in the form of multiple choice questions inserted throughout the TOPHAT chapters. They are graded on a 10-point basis. Students are encouraged to ask questions about them (if wrong) on the DB, in order to figure out any confusion from the start.Important! if you missed the deadline for the top hat chapter you will also miss the points gained from the questions inserted throughout the chapter. You will know that you’ve missed the deadline by looking towards the top of the page and seeing whether it is in review mode or homework mode. If it is in review mode none of your answers will be recorded.

Discussion Board

The discussion board instructions and requirements are essential reading to do well in this course. They are in the Intro Module as a separate document. They are due each week on Wednesdays at 8 PM and all replies are due Fridays at 8 PM. There will be a quiz question on this information
Exams
Midterm Dates are listed in the Intro Module.
Final exam: our final exam Day and time can be accessed at any point during the semester by clicking on the link in the intro module
Zoom and Canvas
CANVAS ISSUES? If you have problems accessing Canvas, you are responsible for contacting the Canvas help desk and getting that fixed. (I don’t even know how to help with that type of thing). Canvas help is at (848) 445-8721

Zoom: If you schedule a meeting with me, there is a link in the Intro Module that will take you to my virtual office

Academic Integrity: Students are expected to maintain the highest level of academic integrity. You should be familiar with the university policy on academic integrity. Violations will be reported and enforced according to this policy.

o Use of external website resources such as Chegg.com or Quizlet to obtain solutions to homework assignments, quizzes, or exams is cheating and a violation of the University Academic Integrity Policy. Cheating in the course will result in grade penalties, disciplinary sanctions or educational sanctions. Posting homework assignments, or exams, to external sites without the instructor's permission may be a violation of copyright and may constitute the facilitation of dishonesty, which may result in the same penalties as plain cheating.

For some very helpful resources, visit:
https://nbprovost.rutgers.edu/academic-integrity-students

Disability Accommodations:

Rutgers University welcomes students with disabilities into all of
the University's educational programs. In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, a student with a disability must contact the appropriate disability services office at the campus where you are officially enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide documentation: https://ods.rutgers.edu/students/documentation-guidelines.

General Schedule of Topics and Readings: The class is (roughly speaking) composed of a series of approximately 12 lessons and corresponding research material (“Lesson Modules” on Canvas modules page. Go to the module for the week in which we are learning and click on the to do list. if you go to the top hat website and click on your name in the top right hand corner you will be able to access the entire textbook and we will follow the same order of lessons as the chapters in the top hat book.