AP/MODR1730 6.0 A: Reasoning About Social Issues
Offered by: MODR
Session
Summer 2021
Term
SU
Format
ONLN (Fully Online)
Instructor
Calendar Description / Prerequisite / Co-Requisite
This is a skills-based course focusing on critical thinking, research-based writing, and qualitative and quantitative analysis. The particular focus will be on different positions taken within the social sciences on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, pornography, immigration etc. Typical examples are to be analyzed. Course credit exclusions: AP/MODR 1760 6.00, AP/MODR 1770 6.00.
Course Start Up
Course Websites hosted on York's "eClass" are accessible to students during the first week of the term. It takes two business days from the time of your enrolment to access your course website. Course materials begin to be released on the course website during the first week. To log in to your eClass course visit the York U eClass Portal and login with your Student Passport York Account. If you are creating and participating in Zoom meetings you may also go directly to the York U Zoom Portal.
For further course Start Up details, review the Getting Started webpage.
For IT support, students may contact University Information Technology Client Services via askit@yorku.ca or (416) 736-5800. Please also visit Students Getting Started UIT or the Getting Help - UIT webpages.
Instructor: Professor Paul Mazzocchi, pamazzoc@yorku.ca
Office Hours: TBA
This course introduces students to critical thinking and informal logic in the context of social issues. The course is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on developing technical skills and knowledge related to critical thinking and arguments/argumentation. It addresses the following topics: the nature of critical thinking and the structure of arguments; mapping arguments; ways of evaluating particular types of claims and arguments; common forms of faulty reasoning used in arguments; conceptual analysis and the understanding of language, concepts and meaning; how to apply these skills when assessing passages of text. The second part of the course focuses on applying these skills in evaluating debates about contemporary social issues.
As this is a fully online course, students will need access to a computer and internet connection.
Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help:
Jean Saindon and Peter Krek, Critical Thinking: Argument and Argumentation. ISBN: 978-0176661007. Available at the York Bookstore.
All other readings will be available via Moodle/eClass.
| Type of Assignment | Weighting |
| Homework Assignments | 20% |
| Passage Analysis Assignment | 20% |
| Argument Map | 5% |
| Short Essay | 15% |
| Take Home Final | 20% |
| Participation Assignments | 20% |
This is a fully online course and there will be no synchronous components.
This is a skills-based course. Consequently, the main focus is not on content but on the development of critical thinking, argumentation, reading comprehension, and essay writing skills. After completing the course, students should be able to:
- Distinguish arguments and non-arguments;
- Put arguments into standard argument form;
- Understand how to evaluate claims and different argument types;
- Identify and neutralize fallacies;
- Understand how to assess the use of concepts;
- Be able to summarize arguments in their own words;
- Understand how to apply these skills to critically analyse texts;
- Be able to evaluate and develop arguments in relation to social issues.
- Academic Honesty
- Student Rights and Responsibilities
- Religious Observance
- Grading Scheme and Feedback
- 20% Rule
No examinations or tests collectively worth more than 20% of the final grade in a course will be given during the final 14 calendar days of classes in a term. The exceptions to the rule are classes which regularly meet Friday evenings or on Saturday and/or Sunday at any time, and courses offered in the compressed summer terms. - Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
