Critical Thinking and Composition

Moorpark: In the Presence Of Others

Spring 2002

Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending on the quality of your ally's assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, and you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.
-- Kenneth Burke The Philosophy of Literary Form (47)

Course Description

Students enrolled in English 1C should have developed sufficient writing and research skills to meet the demands of college level writing. This course provides the additional opportunity for students to review, reassess, and further develop their writing skills. This course is designed to focus on logical reasoning and further develop analytical and argumentative writing skills. Transfer Credit: CSU; UC.

Aims of the Course

An important aim of the course is to give you guided practice in developing clear and coherent longer papers of various types, including those that narrate an autobiographical incident, report information, discuss issues, speculate about causes and effects, present arguments, solve problems, and interpret texts. As you work on these and other kinds of papers, you will develop several related areas. Students will:
  1. read, write and discuss analytically, developing a critical "voice" in writing;

  2. develop a repertoire of writing styles appropriate to purpose, audience, and occasion for writing; composing sentences and paragraphs in a variety of syntactic patterns and with sufficient specific details, conforming to the features of standard written English.

  3. examine claims and warrants for validity and soundness of argument by reading, analyzing, and assessing longer pieces of expository prose by professional writers, popular press and peers;

  4. examine, critique and use the classical appeals of logos, ethos and pathos; identify audience needs, developing sensitivity to the impact of language on differing readers and listeners;

  5. expand the ability to use appropriate research methods and materials efficiently, clearly, and effectively for all disciplines;

We will be exploring all the above "traditional" areas online as well as offline. Research requirements will include online data bases as well as online educational learning environments. There is no presumption of computer or internet skills other than the ability to keyboard. Moorpark offers numerous 10 week keyboarding classes. You will be provided with guidance throughout the course as you move into new online territories. Although we will meet once a week in an internet supported computer lab, you must be prepared to spend at least 2 hours a week online, either from home, from Moorpark library's internet lab, or a local library.

Course Requirements

Eng 1A-7
Eng 1A-8
Engl 305
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