2021w-apmodr1770n-06

AP/MODR1770 6.0 N: Techniques of Persuasion

Offered by: MODR


 Session

Winter 2021

 Term

W

Format

BLEN (Blended online and classroom)

Instructor

Calendar Description / Prerequisite / Co-Requisite

This is a skills-based course focusing on critical thinking, persuasive writing, and strategic argumentation. Examples are drawn from various forms of persuasion including advertising, propaganda and political argument. Course credit exclusions: AP/MODR 1730 6.00, AP/MODR 1760 6.00. Note: This is an approved LA&PS General Education course: Humanities OR Social Science.


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.


    Additional Course Instructor/Contact Details

Jason Robinson

Course Instructor Contact: jasonro@yorku.ca

    Expanded Course Description

Times and locations: Please note that this is a course that depends on remote teaching and learning. There will be no in-person interactions or activities on campus despite the “blended” listing of the course. This section is fully online (ignore any posted “in-class” time listings given by the university course catalogue).

Expanded Course Description:

This course emphasizes critical reasoning skills. These critical-rational skills are then applied to texts and issues on a variety of topics with the goal of gaining clarity of insight as well as formulating our own “reasoned” positions. We shall be taking an inter- and multi-disciplinary approach that draws on numerous disciplinary insights, theories, methods, and forms of research.

Developing techniques of persuasion is “not” about emotional manipulation, propaganda, simple appeals to tradition or power and authority, or about naïve acceptance (a person showing a lack of judgment) of ideologies (popular ideas about politics, laws, the good life, etc.). Techniques of persuasion are skills related to thinking, writing, and otherwise communicating rationally/logically and critically/reflectively. In this course students will learn about the importance of being persuasive by providing good reasons for thoughts, actions, and beliefs. Being persuasive in a rational manner is of profound practical relevance. As social creatures we want people to listen to us and to believe what we say. This course will help you on both counts.

 

    Additional Requirements

Technical requirements for taking the course: Students will need a computer and reliable internet connection to access course content on Moodle and to complete assignments (quizzes/exams/submission of written work).

    Required Course Text / Readings

Thinking Clearly: A Guide to Critical Reasoning. Jill LeBlanc. New York: W. W. Norton, 1998.

Contemporary Moral Arguments: Readings in Ethical Issues. Lewis Vaughn. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Weighting of Course
Weighting of Course:

Evaluation

 

Assignments Weight
4 Quizzes 50% of final grade
Quiz 1 and Quiz 2 are worth 10% eachQuiz 3 and Quiz 4 are worth 15% each  
2 Exams 30% of final grade

(each is worth 15%)

Critical Analysis and Research Paper 20% of final grade

 

 

 

 

    Organization of the Course

Times and locations: Please note that this is a course that depends on remote teaching and learning. There will be no in-person interactions or activities on campus despite the “blended” listing of the course. This section is fully online (ignore any posted “in-class” time listings given by the university course catalogue).

Organization of the Course: Fully Online

The entire course, including the submission of assignments and test-taking, will take place on the course’s Moodle. Although we are technically scheduled to meet at particular times and days of the week, this course has no live meetings. Please ignore any posted “in-person” times/locations. Just like an online course, you can learn the course material at your own pace, following the schedule of readings and activities in the syllabus. Be sure to pay close attention to assignment due dates.

    Course Learning Objectives

The ultimate objective of this course is practical—to provide students the opportunity to develop useful tools for reasoning (being persuasive) in any context. To that end, students will be shown important critical reading, writing, thinking, and problem solving skills needed to successfully navigate different knowledge claims. In addition to critical reading, thinking, and writing skills, there will be an emphasis on personal development, including the creation of competencies in fields/areas of research that are currently unfamiliar—thereby encouraging the ability to rationally consider others’ views on major issues as well as to challenge one’s own.

    Relevant Links / Resources