Where to reach me: PH 2212; phone: 3376; homepage: http://www.siue.edu/~evailat . Click on "Courses" and then on "Critical Thinking" to find this very syllabus.
Office Hours:  MT 5:00-6:00; W 1:15-2:00, and by appointment if needed.

I) Course objectives: 1) to develop the student's ability to identify and evaluate arguments; 2) to introduce the student to some basic logical notions and some fundamental concepts of probability and decision theory.

II) Texts:
1) Copi-Cohen, Introduction to Logic  12th edition (Rental text) [C].
2) material to be downloaded from my homepage.  If you have no internet access at home, get a free account on campus.

III) Course outline:

A) Arguments:
week 1: general intro. Reading: Peruse C. 5-20.
week 2: Argument diagramming.
Reading: C. 21-56  Download diagramming exercises ; Diagramming FAQ.
Download exercises

Jan 21: First quiz.
week 3: Same as above. Download more exercises.

Jan 28: Second quiz.

B) Translations and propositional deduction.
week 4: C. 307-329;  download connectives; download translation exercises
week 5: Download argument validity.  Download common errors.  Download table of logical values
Feb 11: Third quiz.
week 6: download argument validity exercises.  Proving an argument's invalidity (Download)
Feb 18: Fourth quiz
week 7: Same as above.
Feb 25: Midterm.  Download midterm sample

C) Fallacies; arguments by analogy.
week 8: C 125-151; 159-63.  
Reading: C 443-457
Mach. 4: Fifth quiz.

F) Probability, gambling, and some decision theory.
week 9: C. 552-568;  Download handout on probability.  Download probability exercises
week 10: Same as above.
March 25: Sixth quiz
week 11: C. 569-575;  Tests.  Download more probability exercises;  Inductive arguments;  Testing theories
weeks 12-13: Download material on bets ; download Decision Theory . Download decision theory exercises
April 15: Seventh quiz.
week 14: More decision theory.
April 22: Eighth quiz.
week 15: More of the same. Summary
 

IV) Course requirements and grades
1) Eight quizzes, some take-home, some in-class, each worth 5% of the course grade. Their dates are given in the course outline. No make up quizzes will be given unless in extreme circumstances. Some extra-points quizzes may be given in class or as a take-home only to those present in class. No exceptions at all.
2) A midterm exam, worth 30% of the course grade. 
3) A final exam, covering the main topics of the course, worth 30% of the course grade.
4) There are 200 possible points in this class.  The correspondence between points and course grades is as follows: 200-180: A; 179-150: B; 149-125: C; 124-110: D; below 110: E. There is no curving of grades.

V) Academic policies
1) Cheating of any kind will dealt with according to the draconian guidelines of CAS .
2) Students are responsible for knowing what has been said in class, including announcements. Quizzes may be based on classroom discussions not derived from any written material.  If for any reason you miss some classes, make sure to find out what has been done in class.

VI) Some advice
Although this is a 100 level class, be forewarned that some students find it difficult.  Since much of the material covered in this course involves learning skills, and learning skills requires practicing them, you are unlikely to do well in this course without doing the practice-exercises regularly.  If in spite of your efforts you are having difficulties, come and see me as soon as possible.
Initially, some students find Copi somewhat difficult to read.  If you are one of them, try and read the book more slowly and make a real effort to understand it.  This will improve both your critical and your reading skills.
Finally, remember that you'll get out of this course only as much as you'll put into it.