GE Program Goals

A3 Educational Objectives and Criteria - Introduction

The three lower-division courses in Area A provide a foundation in the skills of clear thinking, speaking, and writing. Courses in this area provide extensive practice in the principles, skills, and art of reasoning in both oral and written communication. Writing and speaking are fundamental modes of expression that rely on the principles of rhetoric and clear reasoning, and instruction in logic is an essential support for these modes. The sequence assumes that the mastery of reasoned communication must be developed and practiced over time and that this mastery is crucial to students' success at the university and beyond. By placing basic skills in a larger context, these courses also provide a vision of why this area is an important component of general education.

Lower-division courses in A3 must fulfill EACH of the following objectives:
After completing this course, students should be able to understand, recognize, and apply principles of reasoning in argumentation to their own and others' written and oral communications; in achieving this objective, students should have an enhanced ability to:

A3:  Lower-Division Educational Objectives

EO 1  recognize lines of reasoning and the precise issues they address; determine the relevance of argument to issue and the relevance of premises to conclusion; and evaluate the strength of an argument by accurately applying principles of both formal and informal logic;

EO 2  write out-of-class argumentative essays that are well composed, demonstrating a clear sense of issue and developing cogent lines of reasoning;

EO 3  develop rhetorical awareness that will allow them to adapt their arguments to various audiences;

EO 4  recognize the moral, as well as logical, dimensions of rational discourse;

EO 5  write in-class analytical and argumentative essays typical of the critical-thinking component of "speeded" standardized graduate or professional-program admissions tests.

Lower-division courses in A3 must meet EACH of the following criteria:

Because both the Expository Writing and the Oral Communication courses prepare students for this course, enrollment requires satisfactory completion of (or receiving credit by examination in) both Expository Writing and Oral Communication. The course proposal and expanded course outline must clearly indicate how the course will include at least 3,000 words of original writing for evaluation and provide both instruction and practice in:

A3:  Lower-Division Criteria

CR 1  the principles of organizing and writing argumentative essays for various rhetorical situations;

CR 2  identifying issues; recognizing, analyzing, evaluating and constructing arguments (including treatment of deductive validity and soundness, inductive argument strength, and common deductive and inductive fallacies);

CR 3  criticizing the written arguments of others;

CR 4  discerning the relevance of premises to conclusions and the relevance of arguments to issues;

CR 5  recognizing the uses and abuses of language in written argument;

CR 6  finding, evaluating, and incorporating research materials, as well as attributing and documenting them accurately;

CR 7  applying principles of fair-minded argument (including how to identify and respond to bias, emotion, and propaganda);

CR 8  writing both in- and out-of-class argumentative essays.