Course Description

This introductory course provides students with theories and skills necessary to create ethical, logical, and impactful persuasive messages that advocate for positive change. Students are invited to examine historical and contemporary approaches to persuasive messages throughout time and in everyday communication, including how to analyze, critique, and promote ideas. Students are encouraged to understand inductive and deductive reasoning processes to reach well-supported conclusions rooted in logic. Students are coached on how to understand and recognize formal and informal fallacies of language and thought, developing the ability to distinguish matters of factual evidence from judgement or opinion. This course also focuses on how to confidently and ethically present persuasive appeals, including how to construct and deliver persuasive messages. Honors Introduction to Persuasion uses the pedagogical methods common to all Honors courses: interdisciplinary, writing-intensive, collaborative, and experiential instruction. Course content makes connection through a common theme with other courses offered within the specified transdisciplinary unit.