8/24 For today's first projection on basics of argumentation, click here. For a projection, a statement on Martin Luther King's birthday, click here. For a projection on logical definitions, click here. For a projection on cogent reasoning, click here. For a projection, on deductive and inductive reasoning, click here. For a projection on hidden premises, click here. For a projection, an exercise on recognizing arguments, click here. For a projection, a New York Times article on Russia, click here. For a projection, on recognizing arguments and their components, click here.
8/29 For the first projection, an exercise on argument structure, click here. For the second projection, on four types of deductive arguments, click here. For the third projection, on deductive invalidity, click here. For the fourth projection, on types of inductive reasoning, click here. For the fifth projection, on appeal to authority, click here. For the sixth projection, on courtroom standards of evidence, click here. For the seventh projection, an exercise on valid and invalid appeals to authority, click here. For the eighth projection, Smedley Butler's speech on U.S. intervention, click here.
8/31 For the first projection, a letter to the Financial Times, click here. For the second projection, a list of fallacies, click here. For the third projection, on the straw-man fallacy, click here. For the fourth projection, on tautology, click here. For the fifth projection, a speech by Abraham Lincoln, click here.
9/5 For today's projection, on the Korean war, click here. For an exercise on fallacies, click here. For the article "The Unkindest Cut," click here. For a letter to the Wildcat, click here. For controversies regarding the CIA, click here.
9/7 For a Youtube video regarding controversy at Ryerson University, click here and here.
9/12 For the Economist obituary for Joan Rivers, click here. For another exercise on rules of evidence, click here. For two videos on Russia's military capability, click here and here. For a second list of fallacies, click here. For the fallacy of the beard, click here. For the Ad Hominem fallacy, click here. For the slippery slope fallacy, click here. For a projection on the two-wrongs-make-a-right fallacy from Israeli television, click here.
9/14 For an exercise on fallacies, click here. For a projection, an argument regarding aid to poor countries, click here. For a speech by President Eisenhower, click here. For an exercise on the Fallacy of Composition with regard to economics, click here. For a projection on the Fallacy of Whitewash, click here. Regarding the Fallacy Ad Baculum, click here.
9/19 Regarding the Fallacy Ad Baculum, click here. A display of logic from The Donald, click here. Video about logic and witches, click here. The video represented as a syllogism, click here. Video on the annoying peasant, click here. A third list of fallacies, click here. For an argument regarding the California recall election, click here. For an example of questionable use of public opinion polls, click here. For a projection on the Democrats' economic stimulus legislation, click here.
9/26 For the Erica Jong article on the election, click here. For an exercise on fallacies, click here. For a newspaper article on Vladimir Putin, click here. For an exchange between Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, click here. For an article about pharmaceutical companies, click here. On 2016 campaign slogans, click here. For a complete list of fallacies, click here.
9/28 For a comparison of fallacies, click here. For an article on climate change, click here. On confirmation bias, click here. "Name that Fallacy," click here. For an article on Hillary Clinton, click here. For an article on nuclear weapons, click here.
10/10 Timeline for 1991 Gulf War, click here. Link to video on propaganda pertaining to the First Gulf War, click here. For a link to a documentary on war propaganda by the Canadian Broadcasing Corporation, click here.
10/17 Here is a video regarding the 2008 war in Georgia, click here (what is the fallacy here?). For a projection on atrocities, click here. For a projection on manipulative language and propaganda, click here. For a video on fine print disclaimers, click here. For a video on obfuscation, click here. For an exercise regarding manipulative uses of language, click here. For a speech by President George W. Bush on September 7, 2003, click here. For a list of words used by President Bush, click here.
10/19 For a projection on reliable sources of information, click here. For a projection on rules for writing papers, click here. For a projection on students' writing mistakes, click here. For the essay, "What are the Connections between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein?" click here. For a guide on how to cite, click here. To find the online search function for specific newspapers or other publications, click here.
Midterm II
Hist 150c6
Handed Out: October 19, 2017
Due: November 9
Select an opinion article from the New York Times or another reliable newspaper on any current political topic from the past five years. Write a 3-5 page, double-spaced paper that analyses the argument, noting the argument’s main theme; the premises and evidence presented to support the theme; and the logical fallacies or uses of manipulative language (if any). Above all, I would like you to evaluate whether the argument is persuasive and valid, according to the rules of logic. Your paper should summarize the main points of the article, so that I and my teaching assistants will understand the content.
Suggestion: You can look for articles by specific New York Times columnists including Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd, Nicolas Kristof, Roger Cohen, Gail Collins, Thomas Friedman, Bret Stephens, Charles Blow, or Michelle Goldberg (here is the link to the Times website). Or you can use articles by other writers or from other publications if you prefer.
You should then do some of your own research, regarding the opinion piece you are evaluating. Find an additional three (or more) articles pertaining to the subject, in order to check the facts and more fully to evaluate the writer’s argument; and also to see whether the writer has omitted or glossed over important evidence that contradicts his or her thesis. Your sources must come from recognized newspapers, magazines, books, academic publications, or governmental websites. When citing your sources, make sure to use proper footnote style.
Use ProQuest Newstand or some other database to locate the article you will analyze, as well as additional materials to support your analysis. Make sure to attach copies of the first page of each article you cite in your own paper. Please keep a copy of the computer file for your paper until the class has ended.
Please hand your papers in class on November 9; late papers will be dropped one full grade. You will be graded on how well you analyze the article in question; how well you apply the rules of logic and argumentation; how thoroughly you research the topic; and how clearly you write your essay.
You must properly cite all referenced sources in your paper.
10/24 For a projection on how to interpret controversy in the newspapers, click here. For the projection on inaccuracy in newspapers, click here. For the a study regarding press misinformation, click here.
10/31 For a list of names pertaining to covert operations, click here.
11/2 For a list of names pertaining to the USSR and Stalin, click here.
11/7 Image of Stalin as all-powerful, click here. For doctored photos of Trotsky, click here. Child-spy Pavlik Morozov, click here. Image of capitalism, click here. Images of capitalist USA, click here. Need for secrecy,click here. Women's liberation, click here. Collectivization, click here. For Soviet WW2 era propaganda films, click here, here, and here.
11/9 For additional names of the USSR, click here.
11/16 For a list of names pertaining to Nazi Germany, click here. for a second list of names, click here.
12/5 Optional final paper: You will write another 3-5 page paper analyzing a newspaper oped article, exactly in the same way as you have already done for the second midterm, according to the instructions noted above. You will be required to write a wholly new paper, on a different oped from the one you selected for the midterm. You will need to turn in the completed final paper to my mailbox in Chavez 415 or under my door in Chavez 338, by 5:00pm, May 6. You will turn in the paper itself; copies of the first page of each source used in the paper, all stapled together. In addition, please turn in a copy of your graded second midterm, to ensure that students do not try to recycle their previous class papers for the final. The paper must have page numbers,and everything, including attachments, must be firmly STAPLED together. Late papers will not be accepted. If you decide to complete this optional assignment, it will count for 40 percent of your final grade.