COM 310 - Argumentation and Advocacy

3 Semester Hours
Prerequisite: COM 130
This course will introduce students to the basic theories and practices of argumentation. We will explore how argument shapes the political, ethical and cultural worlds that we inhabit, communicate within and often seek to change. Students in this course engage in theory-based analyses of public argument within politics, law, academic debate, business and non-profit work and interpersonal relations. Within each of these contexts, we will identify and practice employing appropriate reasoning schemes through which good arguments can be constructed and distinguished from bad arguments. Students will apply what they have learned to develop well-reasoned advocacy campaigns about issues that are important to them.