Course Catalogue

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Argumentation is one of the fundamental building blocks of academic writing, but the development of argument and rhetoric is often overlooked. This course will take students through some of the key arguments from leading thinkers - for example, the American Declaration of Independence and the works of John Dewey - to analyse the ways in which argumentative documents have been put together. Students will be tasked with analysing the rhetoric of arguments, and build their own lines of argumentation through writing.

The course will run over 5 weeks. Weeks 1-4 will be taught by a one-hour lecture and a one-hour group seminar discussion. The final week, week 5, will have two hours of seminar discussion to allow students the opportunity to bring together, through group discussion, all elements covered in the course to date.

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Essay: 1,000 word essay (80%) building and developing argumentation

Exercise: 200 word (20%) critique/analysis of historical argument

This course will aim to:

■ Introduce students to the history and development of argumentation

■ Provide students with the opportunity to critique and evaluate arguments from texts

■ Encourage students to develop an understanding of the roles of argument in writing

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Identify key elements of argumentation 

■ Analyse and evaluate the strengths of different types of argument

■ Analyse approaches to written arguments

Develop and evaluate their own lines of argumentation

Students must submit 75% of the course's summative assessment.