About this Assignment
Logical fallacies are frequently used in arguments and have an intuitive appeal that makes them effective for politicians to use. Using your understanding of fallacies, you will listen to and take notes of a political speech and discuss how fallacies were used in the speech. Your paper should be 1500 words minimum.
Prompt
Politicians use logical fallacies to persuade listeners during their speeches. For this assignment, watch a public speech by a politician (any politician will do) and take notes about any logical fallacies that they use during their speech. Write a paper that identifies five fallacies in their argument. Your paper should address the following:
Quote and correctly identify the type of fallacy used
Discuss why the argument is a fallacy and how it seeks to persuade listeners.
Reframe the fallacies using different terms to show why the argument does not make sense.
Discuss how and if the argument could be restated to avoid the fallacy. Once rephrased, is the argument still sound?
Formatting & Sources
Please write your paper in APA format. You may refer to the course material for supporting evidence, but you must also use at least 3 sources and cite them using APA format. Please include a mix of both primary and secondary sources, with at least one source from a scholarly peer-reviewed journal. If you use any Study.com lessons as sources, please also cite them in APA (including the lesson title and instructor’s name).
Primary sources are first-hand accounts such as interviews, advertisements, speeches, company documents, statements, and press releases published by the company in question.
Secondary sources come from peer-reviewed scholarly journals, such as Computing Edge. You may use sources like JSTOR, Google Scholar, and IEEE.org to find articles from these journals. Secondary sources may also come from reputable websites with .gov, .edu, or .org in the domain. (Wikipedia is not a reputable source, though the sources listed in Wikipedia articles may be acceptable.)
If you’re unsure about how to use APA format to cite your sources, please see the following lessons:
What is APA Format? Style & Definition
How To Format APA Citations
Grading Rubric
Your essay will be graded based on the following rubric:
Category Unacceptable (0-1) Needs Improvement (2-3) Good (4) Excellent (5) Total Possible Points
Identifying Fallacies (x2) Cannot correctly identify the fallacies Can correctly identify one or two fallacies Can correctly identify three or four fallacies Can correctly identify all five fallacies 10
Fallacy Reframing (x2) Cannot reframe the arguments to demonstrate the illogic of the fallacies Can reframe one or two arguments to demonstrate the illogic of the fallacies Can reframe three or four arguments to demonstrate the illogic of the fallacies All the fallacies are reframed in ways that demonstrate the illogic of the arguments 10
Analysis and Recommendations (x1) Does not discuss the use of fallacies or provide recommendations to strengthen the original argument. A few sentences devoted to discussing analysis and recommendations Adequate discussion of recommendations and good analysis of the arguments Detailed discussion of the meaning of analysis and recommendations that reveals strengths/weaknesses of structural arguments 5
Language use & writing style (x1) English language use was poor. The writing style was confusing and ideas didn’t flow from one to the next. Writing style kept on point, but the organization could be better. Writing style kept on point, but the organization could be improved English use was good and at higher level. Essay was easily followed and points followed each other. English use was high level and professional. Essay was organized in a meaningful way and points were systematically covered. Easy to read and follow. 5
