CMST 14 - Argumentation and Debate

Transfer Status

CSU/UC

Prerequisite

ENGL C1000 or ENGL C1000E

Unit(s)

3.00

• Lecture: 51.00 Contact hours/102.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)
• Total: 51.00 Contact hours/102.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)

Course Description: This course emphasizes critical thinking, for purposes of constructing, evaluating and revising written essays in preparation for debate, grounded in the rhetorical foundations of argumentation. Students will employ argumentation theory and critical reasoning to draft and revise a sequence of argumentative essays based on inquiry-driven research, methods of analysis, evidence use, and ethical advocacy (minimum 5,000 words). This writing instruction will enable students to prepare persuasive cases that advance, defend and refute reasoned positions, which will also be delivered through debate and public address. (C-ID COMM 120).

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Critically evaluate reasoning and evidence.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the inductive and deductive reasoning process, as well as skill in utilizing various methods of reasoning.
3. Analyze, criticize, and generate complex ideas, especially through the process of debate, while identifying the assumptions upon which particular conclusions depend.
4. Recognize common fallacies of reasoning and thought in order to argue ethically.
5. Develop research skills and evaluate sources with respect to their relevance, reliability, and appropriateness to the rhetorical context
6. Foster the use of critical thinking skills in oral and written communication by responding appropriately to texts, with attention to their intended audience, purpose, and social context.
7. Identify which kinds of arguments prove particularly open to cultural sensitivity.
8. Critically reflect on one’s own thought process in order to distinguish knowledge from belief and fact from judgment.
9. Draft and revise college-level essays presenting well-developed arguments that advance, defend and/or refute reasoned positions on controversial issues.

Topic Titles / Suggested Time Topic

Lecture

1. Class Activities
2. Discussion
3. Homework: Students are required to complete two hours of outside-of-class homework for each hour of lecture
4. Lecture
5. Multimedia Presentations
6. Student performance (speeches and debates)

1. Exams/Tests
2. Research Projects
3. Oral Presentation
4. Homework
5. Class participation
6. 5000-word writing requirement met by: Analysis papers, advocacy papers, refutation or rebuttal papers, major speeches and debate cases, and critique papers.

Reading Assignments

1. Read the chapter on the structure of reasoning and come to class with an example of an argument that is dissected using the Toulmin Model of Reasoning. Be prepared to share your example with a partner.
2. Read a classmate’s draft argumentative essay for the first debate, and critique its structure, evidence, and reasoning. Come to class ready to share your feedback with your classmate.

Writing Assignments

1. Research and prepare draft an argumentative essay advocating or opposing an assigned proposition. Essays should be 3-4 pages, double-spaced and typed. Use at least five credible sources to evidence your claims; cite sources APA style in both the in-text parenthetical citations and on a References list. Share your draft with a classmate, receive their critique, and revise in response to that feedback.
2. Draft a two-page written essay responding to your debate partner’s refutation and rebuttal to your affirmative argument. Include refutation of their reasoning, new rebuttal arguments, and/or new evidence not already used in your affirmative argument.

Out-of-Class Assignments

1. Find a current editorial or letter to editor in a periodical and analyze its contents for key argumentation terms (i.e. burden of proof, presumption, status quo, advocate, etc.). Write the results of your analysis in no more than one page.
2. Watch an example of public advocacy and analyze the logos, ethos, and pathos in the arguer’s claims. Draft a 2-page report in which you analyze the rhetorical appeals you identified and evaluate their effectivness.

Rybacki, K. & Rybacki, D. (2012). Advocacy and Opposition. Pearson Higher Education, 7th. 978-0205781188.

Dowden, B. (2022). Logic and Reasoning. California State University, Sacramento, OER. https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Philosophy/Logical_Reasoning_(Dowden).

Austin J Freeley and David L Steinberg. (2014). Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making. Cengage, 13th edition. 978-1133311607.

Zero Cost Textbook

Arguing Using Critical Thinking. Jim Marteney. 2020. OER. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/arguing-using-critical-thinking

How Arguments Work - A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College (Anna Mills). OER. https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Composition/Advanced_Composition/How_Arguments_Work_-_A_Guide_to_Writing_and_Analyzing_Texts_in_College_(Mills)

Communication Studies