1/18 For today's first projection on basics of argumentation, click here. For a projection regarding 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.
1/20 For a link to the 1968 debate between Gore Vidal and Willam F. Buckley, click here. For an exercise on argument structure, click here. For types of inductive reasoning, click here. For fallacy by appeal to authority, click here. For courtroom standards of evidence, click here. For an exercise on valid and invalid appeals to authority, click here. For Smedley Butler's speech on U.S. intervention, click here. For a statement by the Brazilian president, click here.
1/25 For a letter to the Financial Times, click here. For a list of fallacies, click here. On the straw-man fallacy, click here. On tautology, click here. For a speech by Abraham Lincoln, click here. For a 1986 debate on US intervention in Nicaragua, click here.
1/27 For a video on Appeal to Authority, click here. For an exercise on appeal to authority, click here.
2/1 Video about logic and witches, click here. The video represented as a syllogism, click here (Is this a valid inference? A valid argument?). For controversies regarding the CIA, click here. On the Korean war, click here. For an exercise on fallacies, click here. For the article "The Unkindest Cut," click here.
2/3 For a scene from the movie, The Shining, click here. For a letter to the Wildcat, click 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.
2/8 For Fallacy of Composition with regard to economics, click here. For a letter on Professor Avital Ronnell, click here. Name that Fallacy, click here. For an illustration of logic from the movie Lady Bird, click here. For an exercise on fallacies, click here. For a list of fallaces, click here. Video on Ukraine conflict, click here.
2/17 Regarding the Fallacy Ad Baculum, click here. For an illustration of Ad Baculum, click here. For an argument regarding the California recall election, click here. A third list of fallacies, click here. For an editorial from the Arab-American, click here.
2/22 A display of logic from The Donald, click here. For a Youtube video regarding controversy at Ryerson University, click here and here. 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 a video on Russia and Tucker Carlson, click here.
2/24 Name that Fallacy, click here. For a video regarding the 2008 war in Georgia, click here (what is the fallacy 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.
3/1 For an article on Ukraine, 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. For a video on euphamisms/Fallacy of Whitewash, click here. Obfuscation and book titles, click here and here. For a debate on Russia, click here.
3/3 For a video by Glenn Greenwald, click here.
3/15 Name that Fallacy, click here. For an exercise on manipulative language, click here.
3/17 Timeline for 1991 Gulf War, click here. For a map of the Persian Gulf region, click here. Link to video on propaganda pertaining to the First Gulf War, click here.
3/22 For an illustration of manipulative language, click here. For a link to a documentary on war propaganda by the Canadian Broadcasing Corporation, click here.
3/31 For an article on the Ukraine war, click here. For a segment from Wag the Dog, click here. For a segment on the CIA and mind control, click here. For a projection on Occam's Razor and conspiracy theories, 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 reliable newspapers, click here. For the essay, "What are the Connections between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein?" click here.
4/7 For a timeline on Cuba-US relations, click here. For a declassified document on Cuba, click here. For a guide on how to cite, click here. For Chicago Manual of Style citation guide, click here.
4/12 For a list of names pertaining to the USSR and Stalin, click here. Additional list of names pertaining to the USSR, click here. For projection on the NKVD, click here.
4/19 For a BBC film on Soviet women during World War II, click here.
4/21 Image of Stalin as all-powerful, click here. For doctored photos from the Stalinist era, click here. Photo of T. D. Lysenko, click here. Child-spy Pavlik Morozov, click here. Hero worker Alexei Stakhanov, 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. Stalin and Komsomols, click here. Stalin as father figure, click here. For Soviet WW2 era propaganda films, click here, here, here, and here.
5/3 For a guide on how to cite, click here. For Chicago Manual of Style citation guide, click here.
Here is your optional final assignment:
Handed Out: May 3, 2022
Due: May 11, 5pm
Select an "oped" 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 analyzes 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 will understand the content.
You can look for articles by specific New York Times columnists including Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd, Nicolas Kristof, Roger Cohen, Jamelle Bouie, Bret Stephens, Thomas Friedman, Charles Blow, or Michelle Goldberg (here is the link to the New York 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 Chicago footnote style. For a citation guide, click here.
Use Gale OneFile News or some other library database to locate the article you will analyze, as well as additional materials to support your analysis. Please keep a copy of the computer file for your paper until the class has ended. For library databases, go to the UA Library site, https://libguides.library.arizona.edu/az.php; Gale OneFile News can be found under “G.” To research additional information on your topic, you might also use the following databases: Academic Search Ultimate and JSTOR, which are also located on the library website.
Hint: Use the New York Times website to locate an oped that interests you and that you want to analyze. The NYT website is behind a paywall, so you can only see the title and author. Once you select the oped you want, go to Gale OneFile News at the library website, above, and find the full text of the oped. Then you will need to obtain additional informaition on the topic. You can find these from Gale OneFile or some other library database for your research.
When completed, please send electronically to dgibbs@arizona.edu and hchung1@email.arizona.edu. No late papers please. 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.
If you complete this optional assignment, it will count as 25 percent of your class grade, which is the same as each of the three midterm exams. If you opt not to do this assignment, then your class grade will be an average of your three midterms.