Announcements, Hist 150c6, Spring 2015

1/21  For today's first projection on basics of argumentation, click here. For the second projection, a statement on Martin Luther King's birthday, click here. For the third projection, on deductive and inductive reasoning, click here. For the fourth projection on hidden premises, click here. For the fourth projection on cogent reasoning, click here. For the fifth projection, an exercise on recognizing arguments, click here. For the sixth projection, recognizing arguments and their components, click here.

1/23  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.

1/27   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.

1/29   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.

2/3  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, click here. 

2/5   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. 

2/10  For the first project, on Fallacy of Whitewash, click here. For 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.

2/12   For an exercise on fallacies, click here. For a comparison of fallacies, click here. For a complete list of fallacies, click here. For a newspaper article on Vladimir Putin, click here. 

2/24   For two videos on Russia's military capability, click here and here. For today's first projection, regarding manipulative language and propaganda, click here. For a video on fine print disclaimers, 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.

2/26    Here is a video regarding the 2008 war in Georgia, click here  (what is the fallacy here?). For a projection on how to interpret controversy in the newspapers, click here. For a projection on reliable sources of information, click here. For the projection on inaccuracy in newspapers, click here. For the a study regarding press misinformation, click here. For a projection on rules for writing papers, click here. For a projection on students' writing mistakes, click here. For a projection on how to cite sources, click here.

3/3   For a video on obfuscation, click here. For a projection on Vladimir Putin, click here.

3/5    For a projection on press coverage of the Ukraine crisis, click here. For a video on Benyamin Netenyahu's speech to Congress, click here.

3/10   For the document on Operation Northwoods, click here. For a projection on Occam's Razor, click here. For a projection on conspiracy theory and the 1915 sinking of the HMS Lusitania, click here.

3/12   Here is your second midterm assignment:

Midterm II
Hist 150c6
Handed Out: March 12, 2015
Due: April 9

Select an opinion article from the New York Times or another reliable newspaper on any current political topic from the past three 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, Thomas Friedman, Gail Collins, or David Brooks. 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. 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 articles you are discussing to your own paper.

Please hand your papers in during class on April 9; late papers will be dropped one full grade. You will be graded based 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.

Please cite your sources using Chicago Style. For a guide on how to use Chicago Style, click here.

Note that the History Department has a graduate student who can read your rough drafts and help you write and rewrite your papers. I encourage you to use this resource. The graduate student is Kathryn Gallien (kgallien@email.arizona.edu).

Here is the contact information for Kathryn Gallien:

Office Hours
Social Sciences 124A
kgallien@email.arizona.edu

Office hours:
Monday-Wednesday
10:00am – noon
3:00pm-4:30pm

Friday
10:00am- noon
3:00pm- 4:00pm

3/24   For the Economist obituary for Joan Rivers, click here. For the essay, "What are the Connections between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein?" click here. For one more exercise on rules of evidence (the last, I promise!), click here.

3/26     For today's projection, a list of names pertaining to the lectures on the USSR, click here. For addtional names, click here.

3/31     For the video on fabricated testimony of Iraqi atrocities, click here.  

4/2       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. 

4/14   For a list of names pertaining to Nazi Germany, click here. for a second list of names, click here. For a list of names pertaining to the Ukraine conflict, click here. For a map of the Ukraine, click here. 

For a photo of Max Schmelling and Hitler, click here. For a film clip from the 1936 Berlin Olympics, click here. For an anti-Semitic depiction from the 1937 pamphlet "The Eternal Jew," click here. Nazi image of jazz click here. On Nazi depiction of gender roles, click here. For a depiction of Hitler Youth, click here. Various Hitler Youth images, click here. Image of "larger than life" Hitler click here. Anticommunist propaganda, click here. "Strength Through Joy" posters, click here.

4/16   For a list of names pertaining to Afghanistan, click here. Here is a map of Afghanistan and Pakistan.