On October 18, I gave out the "objectives and assignments for chapter 7" handout. It had some information about earning points for doing homework problems. It said this: “You can add up to two percentage points to your score on the test on chapters 7–9 by turning in homework in lecture and/or in discussion section. Homework will be collected at the beginning of class (whether lecture or discussion), and returned in discussion section. Each homework assignment that you turn in will give you one point, up to a total of two points for homework assignments for this chapter. You are free to turn in all three homework assignments for this chapter, but the third will not add to your bonus points. Homework must be complete to earn any credit, but credit will not be deducted for errors.”
If you are trying to add this course to your schedule and need a permission number, here is how that works. I have no problem with extra students being in the lecture. But to take this course, you also have to be in one of the twelve discussion sections, and having extra students in those discussion sections creates extra work for the GTAs. For this reason, I’m leaving it up to them to hand out permission numbers for extra students as they see fit. So, if you need a permission number, look on the syllabus and identify the discussion section that you want to be in, and then contact the GTA in charge of that discussion section. On the syllabus I’ve provided the GTAs’ contact information in the hope that requests for permission numbers can be communicated and answered fairly quickly.
On August 15, I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:
From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 5:56 PM
To: PHIL148 (18703) Fa06 - DL
Cc: fritz33; Gillette, Brandon Scott; 'Clark Sexton'
Subject: Philosophy 148 discussion sections, web site, and book
Hello, and welcome to Philosophy 148: Reason and Argument. I'll be your
professor for this course, and I wanted to go ahead and send you not only a word
of welcome but also some information that you might find useful as you gear up
for the semester.
First, as you probably know, you have to be enrolled in one of our course's
twelve discussion sections as well as being enrolled in the lecture portion of
it. The discussion sections are scheduled for various times on Mondays,
Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Although classes start this Thursday, no
discussion sections will meet until after the first lectures of the course, next
Monday at 1 and next Wednesday at 1. So, come to the lecture next Monday and the
lecture next Wednesday, and then start going to your discussion section after
that.
Second, I have set up a web site for the course, at http://web.ku.edu/~utile/courses/reason1.
There's nothing of substance there right now, but I'll be adding material to it
before our first class, and as the course progresses. There won't be anything
there that you'll be responsible for prior to our first class, so you don't have
to worry about it until after that. I just wanted to go on and give you the URL.
(Incidentally, KU's computer folks are in the process of moving web sites such
as mine from the http://www.ku.edu server to the http://web.ku.edu server. I
have tried to update my materials to reflect this changed URL, but it's hard to
be sure I didn't miss something. So, note that it's 'web', not 'www', and if you
see a reference to http://www.ku.edu/~utile, please let me know, as I'd like to
fix it.)
Third, I want to mention the book we'll be using in our course. It's Brooke Noel
Moore and Richard Parker, _Critical Thinking_, 8th ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2007). You
can buy it on campus (I ordered it as a textbook), or elsewhere, including
online. Be sure to get it soon, since we'll get started with it very early in
the semester. You may find it sold bundled with something else, such as a CD or
a little booklet or something like that, but you won't need any of that other
stuff; you will just need the book itself. You can buy it used if you want -
just be sure that you get the 8th edition.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Meanwhile, I'm
looking forward to seeing you next Monday at 1 in 3140 Wescoe Hall.
Best wishes,
Ben Eggleston
eggleston@ku.edu
http://web.ku.edu/~utile
3070 Wescoe Hall
(785) 864-2332
mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
3090 Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045