Course Introduction Transcript

This course covers the art and craft of rhetoric—persuasion and argument—using informational and argument texts, with a special emphasis on the understanding of reasoning and logic. These texts include documents and speeches that have been integral to the development of legal and social policy in the United States.

The course builds in depth and complexity from beginning to end, starting with instruction on central ideas and word choice. You will learn the everyday tools of persuasion, including ethos, pathos, and logos. These serve as the foundation for understanding more complex topics, such as the elements of argument and the chain of legal reasoning used in court cases and historical documents.

One unit-long writing activity and two lengthier Writing Projects (a researched informational essay and a researched argument essay) allow you to practice and produce both short and extended-length writing tasks with a range of purposes. Emphasis is placed on the writing process, from note-taking and outline-making to revising and editing for content and style. To finish off the course, you will be given a Writing Exam and Final Exam in the final unit.

This course aims to help you build your communication skills and enhance your ability to critically evaluate ideas and arguments. The skills you will learn, such as researching and writing effectively, can lead to success in your academic and professional lives.

Click the link to read through the Student Course Overview, which provides more detailed information on what you can expect throughout the course.

Course Objectives

• Analyze structure, effectiveness, viewpoints, purposes, claims, reasoning, and use of rhetoric in an informational text or argument.
• Analyze themes, purposes, and rhetoric in seminal US documents. 
• Compose informational and argument essays, selecting relevant and sufficient evidence and organizing content effectively.
• Determine the meanings of academic and domain-specific words and phrases.
• Explain and analyze the development of central ideas, details, organization, and purposes in informational text.
• Integrate and evaluate multiple sources and different media to address a question or solve a problem.
• Participate in collaborative discussions and presentations while effectively integrating and presenting information from multiple sources.
• Read and comprehend grade-level informational text. 
• Show mastery of the conventions of standard English.
• Support analysis of meaning with strong and thorough evidence, and identify where the text leaves matters uncertain. 
• Compose informational and argument essays, selecting relevant and sufficient evidence and organizing content effectively. 

Major Concepts

• central ideas
• explicit and implicit meaning
• inferences and ambiguous meaning
• rhetorical appeals and features
• syntax, diction, tone, and voice
• figurative language, figures of speech, and word nuance
• key terms and specialized vocabulary
• text structure
• sources and format
• themes and purposes in seminal US documents
• rhetoric in presidential speeches
• elements of an argument
• constitutional principles and legal reasoning
• context clues
• reference sources
• domain-specific vocabulary
• word patterns with affixes
• contested usage
• syntax in writing
• sentence types
• hyphenation conventions

Projects

• informational essay based on a choice of provided topics
• argument essay based on a choice of provided topics