EGL 220: Critical Thinking, Fall 2021

Important Links

Zoom Link to Office Hours

Syllabus

Glossary of Rhetorical Terms

Handouts & Readings & Videos

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Announcements

• November 30, 2021: Conference Time!

  We will not hold class on Thursday, December 2. Instead, you will meet me on Zoom (link to the left) for a 20-minute conference. Please go here to sign up for a slot.

• November 23, 2021: Compare & Contrast Paper Prompt

  The submission box is open on BrightSpace. Please make sure you upload your paper there by the due date.

  Here’s an example of a good essay. It’s old, longer than it needs to be, and is formatted in MLA, not APA, so keep that in mind, please.

  

  Also, here are links to the video clips showed tonight in class, from Thank You for Smoking (2005):

  1. The Lobbyist: “I get paid to talk.”
  2. The Mod Squad: “Deformed kids are tough.”
  3. The Classroom Scene: “I speak on behalf of cigarettes.”
  4. “Why is the American Government the Greatest Government in the World?” (great example of a begged question)
  5. Media and Health: “The health element.”
  6. Ice Cream Politics: “I’m never wrong. When it’s your job to be right, you’re never wrong.”
  7. Briefcase: “You can’t denounce us AND keep the money.” (either/or)

• Craycray GIFfrom Weird Al GIFs

  Tuesday, October 19, 2021: Rhetorical Strategies: hyperbole, slippery slope

  Exaggeration is fun to read, but it’s easy to get addicted to sensationalism. This ain’t good for critical thinking. Here’s a short clip that talks about how critical thinkers can quickly spot a conspiracy theory.

  1. Coronavirus: A Wildly Exaggerated Threat, Deccan Herald (India), 5/16/20
  2. Don’t Buy China’s Story: The Coronavirus may have Leaked from a Lab, New York Post, 2/22/2020

  Oh yeah, if you come down with Covid, don’t buy this!

• Thursday, October 14, 2021: Rhetorical Strategies: Demonization, Straw Men and Ad hominem

  

  1. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/sep/13/editorial-dr-fauci-the-sorcerers-apprentice/
  2. https://gilaherald.com/editorial-christmas-and-dr-fauci/
  3. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/todaysdebate/2020/07/14/anthony-fauci-wrong-with-me-peter-navarro-editorials-debates/5439374002/

• 

  Tuesday, October 12, 2021: Rhetorical strategies–Authority

  1. Article 1. Arguments from science

  2. Article 2. Argument from history

  3. Article 3. Argument from nature

  4. Robert di Niro says to stay home!

  5. Elon Musk weighs in

  6. So does Gal Gadot

  7. Donald Trump too

• Tuesday, September 23, 2021

  ***Ad presentations for the next three class sessions***

  Quiz #2

  Today’s Terms:

  Authorizing tropes: history, logic, nature, science, statistics

  inductive & deductive arguments

  accommodation vs. assertion

  Today’s ads:

  

  

  

  

  Ad presentation assigned: Sign-up sheet here.

  Presentation dates: 9/30-10/7 (three class periods)

  Directions: Find a partner and exchange contact information. Choose an internet advertisement together and send a link to jchisholm@csum.edu. Plan a 15-minute presentation in which the two of you discuss the following:

  1. Overt vs. implied vs. covert theses
  2. Overall rhetorical strategy (e.g. assertive vs. accommodating?)
  3. Visual vs. written rhetoric
  4. Loaded words
  5. Target audience

  You’re going to want to argue inductively: work from smaller details like loaded words to larger, overarching claims like author/thesis/target audience.

  Be sure to support all of your claims with evidence from the text!

• Thursday, September 23, 2021

  We’ll start the class with Terms Quiz 1.

  Then, we’ll look at these ads.

  

  

  Today’s terms:

  ad baculum

  allusion

  begging the question

  buzz word

  demonize

  existential import

  fact

  hot button

  buzz word

  metaphor

  naming

  proof

  Rogerian argument

  slippery slope

  synecdoche

• Tuesday, September 21, 2021

  Hey folks! Where did you fall on the political spectrum? Anything surprise you?

  Today we’re going to start talking about rhetorical terms. Here’s a list of terms that you’ll need to know.

  Let’s first, though, get our bearings by looking at the rhetorical situation

  Today, we’ll look at:

  accommodate

  ad populum

  absolute

  argument from anecdote

  argument from authority

  assertion

  diction

  ethos

  exaggeration

  implied thesis

  irony

  persona

  negatively loaded diction

  rhetorical analysis

  target audience

  Let’s see some examples of Covid-19 messaging in public service announcements, in different American states:

  Texas (Houston)

  Tennessee

  Mississippi

  Hawaii, by way of L.A.

  Idaho

  And who can leave out the “viral” hand washing video from Vietnam?

  Homework: study these terms for quiz one on Thursday!

• Tuesday, September 14 and Thursday, September 16, 2021: Deconstructing the Self

  Discussion Packet

  Homework: Take a bias quiz at Harvard’s Project Implicit. Take another at Political Compass and bring your plotted dot to class.

  Ever wondered what the two major American political parties are all about? Here’s a handy infographic.