Homework

Complete the in-class essay. Bring to class printed out. So far the two essays I read look good.

1. Read chapter 4 in WLTC. Pay attention to Writing Assignment 7 (7th ed. 93-94; 6th ed. 98-100). We will do this assignment in class as a freewrite on Tuesday.

2. We will continue the discussion begun with the templates from They Say in groups. The form of the essay is Rogerian, which is one developed by a psychotherapist, Carl R. Rogers (1902-1987). What is unique about Rogers theory is that he looks to not just develop empathy with those we do not agree with, he also has as a major aspect of his style of argument a need to come to a synthesis or place of agreement which he calls a "concession." In fact, the authors of this textbook believe so much in this type of reasoning, they do not include any others (7th ed. 84-85; 6th ed. 87).

This is the reason why I wanted students to practice agreeing and disagreeing. Oh, today students forgot that for each essay there is an Initial Planning Sheet and in most cases an outline.

The Thursday, March 28, in-class essay, will use a topic from Wise. You can continue along the same theme as with this in-class essay today. Writing Assignment 8 essay will be between 2-3 pages. This does not include the works cited page and bibliography.

Students will be asked to include in the bibliography two other sources related to your topic. We will talk more about this first argument on Thursday.


3. Students will complete or at least start Writing Assignment 8 (7th ed. 95; 6th ed. 102) in class on Thursday. There is no homework over the Spring Break except to think about what book you would like to read for your final argument on happiness. The next book we will read is The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin. We will zip through the book. Students need to kept electronic reading logs which will be turned in with the essay.

With Rubin, we will explore the Aristotelian argument and Toulmin. The final essay is based on your book about happiness and you can choose which form you would like to use of the three.

After Spring Break we will have a group presentation on Logical Fallacies. The presentation can be theatrical in form or a film. Make it fun for yourselves. The grade is shared by all participants. We will take a day and run through Hacker's section on Argumentation. It is compact and useful.