Please find 3-4 fallacies in the following logic.
The following report appeared in a memo from the vice president of the Southside Transportation Authority.
"We should abandon our current five-year plan to purchase additional buses to serve the campus of Southside University, because students there are unlikely to use them. Consider the results of the recent campaign sponsored by the Environmental Club at Southside University: in a program on the campus radio station, the club asked students to call in and pledge that they would commute to school by bus instead of by automobile at least one day per week. Only ten percent of the students called in and pledged. In view of the campaign's lack of success, we can assume that the bus service we currently offer will continue to be sufficient to serve the university."
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Essay #3.
Essay #3: Roles on Campus
Rough draft due: Nov. 10, 2009
Length: 3 pages (~1,000 words)
Background:
We will be discussing Mark Edmundson's essay "On the Uses of a Liberal Education." One theme that can be taken from this essay is the role of professor and student in today's classroom. Edmundson feels that today's students are consumers and "shop" for a college just like we might shop for a camera at Best Buy. He says this is a frightening trend because of the expectations the consumerist ethos creates for teachers, colleges, and academic standards. Teachers, he says, should not be entertainers.
This is just one examples of a writer who discusses roles of teachers and students.
Assignment Task:
For this assignment you have two options. You may:
1. Describe and define the ideal role of the professor in today's collegiate classrooms while analyzing the effects of this role on individual students and the classroom dynamic. Should the professor be more like a sales associate or dictator? Should teachers exist to serve or to challenge? How do classrooms differ today from forty years ago? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Why? What specific features of pedagogy should a teacher be aware of? You should also take into consideration the purpose and theory behind college educations, as well as the function of a degree and what it's supposed to certify. Your paper will have implications about these issues.
If you choose this option, you will essentially be talking about the responsibilities of the collegiate professor, and you will have to imagine the issues as if you were looking at them from a professor's standpoint. Therefore, you will not write something along the lines of, "I am a student who doesn't like long papers, and therefore the teacher shouldn't assign them." Although, this doesn't mean you are only considering the issue from the teacher's point of view; your paper should take into consideration the viewpoints of both student and teacher.
You might want to discuss Edmundson's ideas of consumerism. Or, you might find other writers who offer more attractive arguments. In any case, you should draw not only on the experiences of you or your peers, but also on those of researchers, writers, and ideally, professors.
OR
2. Describe and define the ideal role of the student in today's collegiate classrooms while analyzing the effects of this role on the individual and the classroom. Should the student be more like a consumer or a slave? Should students be served or challenged? How do expectations of students differ today from forty years ago? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Why? What kinds of attitudes should students have in the classroom? Should they be free to do as they please while the teacher is lecturing? You should also take into consideration the purpose and theory behind college educations, as well as the function of a degree and what it's supposed to certify. Your paper will have implications about these issues.
If you choose this option, you will essentially be talking about the responsibilities of college students in the classroom, and you will be examining the issue from a student's standpoint. Although, this doesn't mean you are only considering the issue from the student's point of view. Your paper should take into consideration the viewpoints of both student and teacher.
You might want to discuss Edmundson's ideas of consumerism. Or, you might find other writers who offer more attractive solutions. In any case, you should draw not only on the experiences of you or your peers, but also on those of researchers, writers, and professors.
Assignment Expectations:
-Stay on task. Do not discuss things that are not related to what I'm asking you to do.
-Be specific. Give examples.
-Have a strong, clear thesis, and be sure that all of your paragraphs are unified and relate to your thesis. Your thesis statement will describe the role of the professor or student and tell why the role should be that way.
-Have a logical, well-organized structure with a strong introduction and conclusion.
Audience:
If you are choosing option #1, you are writing to other teachers. If you are choosing option #2, you are writing to other students. Be sure to make clear your audience.
Research:
For this assignment, you need to draw on at least two external sources and cite them. Edmundson's essay can count as one source.
To find sources, I recommend using Academic Search Premier. Note: You cannot use any source you've already used for this class. You also need to draw on your own experience or those of your peers' at least once in the paper.
Rough draft due: Nov. 10, 2009
Length: 3 pages (~1,000 words)
Background:
We will be discussing Mark Edmundson's essay "On the Uses of a Liberal Education." One theme that can be taken from this essay is the role of professor and student in today's classroom. Edmundson feels that today's students are consumers and "shop" for a college just like we might shop for a camera at Best Buy. He says this is a frightening trend because of the expectations the consumerist ethos creates for teachers, colleges, and academic standards. Teachers, he says, should not be entertainers.
This is just one examples of a writer who discusses roles of teachers and students.
Assignment Task:
For this assignment you have two options. You may:
1. Describe and define the ideal role of the professor in today's collegiate classrooms while analyzing the effects of this role on individual students and the classroom dynamic. Should the professor be more like a sales associate or dictator? Should teachers exist to serve or to challenge? How do classrooms differ today from forty years ago? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Why? What specific features of pedagogy should a teacher be aware of? You should also take into consideration the purpose and theory behind college educations, as well as the function of a degree and what it's supposed to certify. Your paper will have implications about these issues.
If you choose this option, you will essentially be talking about the responsibilities of the collegiate professor, and you will have to imagine the issues as if you were looking at them from a professor's standpoint. Therefore, you will not write something along the lines of, "I am a student who doesn't like long papers, and therefore the teacher shouldn't assign them." Although, this doesn't mean you are only considering the issue from the teacher's point of view; your paper should take into consideration the viewpoints of both student and teacher.
You might want to discuss Edmundson's ideas of consumerism. Or, you might find other writers who offer more attractive arguments. In any case, you should draw not only on the experiences of you or your peers, but also on those of researchers, writers, and ideally, professors.
OR
2. Describe and define the ideal role of the student in today's collegiate classrooms while analyzing the effects of this role on the individual and the classroom. Should the student be more like a consumer or a slave? Should students be served or challenged? How do expectations of students differ today from forty years ago? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Why? What kinds of attitudes should students have in the classroom? Should they be free to do as they please while the teacher is lecturing? You should also take into consideration the purpose and theory behind college educations, as well as the function of a degree and what it's supposed to certify. Your paper will have implications about these issues.
If you choose this option, you will essentially be talking about the responsibilities of college students in the classroom, and you will be examining the issue from a student's standpoint. Although, this doesn't mean you are only considering the issue from the student's point of view. Your paper should take into consideration the viewpoints of both student and teacher.
You might want to discuss Edmundson's ideas of consumerism. Or, you might find other writers who offer more attractive solutions. In any case, you should draw not only on the experiences of you or your peers, but also on those of researchers, writers, and professors.
Assignment Expectations:
-Stay on task. Do not discuss things that are not related to what I'm asking you to do.
-Be specific. Give examples.
-Have a strong, clear thesis, and be sure that all of your paragraphs are unified and relate to your thesis. Your thesis statement will describe the role of the professor or student and tell why the role should be that way.
-Have a logical, well-organized structure with a strong introduction and conclusion.
Audience:
If you are choosing option #1, you are writing to other teachers. If you are choosing option #2, you are writing to other students. Be sure to make clear your audience.
Research:
For this assignment, you need to draw on at least two external sources and cite them. Edmundson's essay can count as one source.
To find sources, I recommend using Academic Search Premier. Note: You cannot use any source you've already used for this class. You also need to draw on your own experience or those of your peers' at least once in the paper.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Transitions.
Use these transitions to help show the relation between ideas within and between your paragraphs.
Examples of Specific Titles.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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