Rhetoric 1302 is a one-semester course focusing on critical thinking and teaches various rhetorical strategies for reading and constructing arguments, both written and visual. Students learn to read texts critically according to key components in argumentative discourse (i.e., claims, grounds, explicit and implicit assumptions, fallacies, etc.) and to recognize the different purposes of argument (i.e., to inquire, to convince, to persuade, to negotiate). Students write and revise three to four papers based on issues and controversies raised in the various texts read during
the semester. The assignments provide extensive practice in reading critically and writing according to the rhetorical conventions of an argumentative essay. Course utilizes computer technology extensively.