COMM 315

Persuasion

This course presents fundamental theories and techniques of persuasion as they occur in various communication contexts, including commercial, interpersonal, public and mass media. A series of writing assignments will focus on the skills of critical thinking, persuasion, and the sophistication of argumentative essay skills. Essays of advanced composition shall be evaluated for their quality in both critical thinking and composition. Theoretical models of critical thinking and communication studies shall be applied to rhetoric, examining message production, analyzing messages, and exploring the fields of electronic and print media, advertising (product campaign), political campaign strategy, and ideological campaign techniques for mass communication to consider the political, cultural and social impact of persuasion. Students explore ethical considerations of persuasive communication, learn about types of reasoning, and identify fallacious arguments as they occur in persuasion. Access to a computer with online capabilities may be required and computer access is available on campus. As HONOR 341 Persuasion within Social Issues has a similar basis as this course, this course is not open to a student that has received credit for HONOR 341.

Units: 3.0

Hours: 54 hours LEC