Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: distinguish an argument from a set of claims that are not inferentially related; explain the functions of language to express and influence the meaning; identify language problems, such as ambiguity, vagueness, and emotionally loaded language; draw appropriate inferences from given data; recognize hidden assumptions and implied premises and conclusions; contrast sub-arguments from the main argument in a prose passage; evaluate the acceptability of premises, the relevance to a conclusion, and support of that conclusion; distinguish between validity and soundness, as related to deductive arguments, and to evaluate inductive arguments; recognize common fallacies in everyday reasoning; summarize and reconstruct an argument contained in an extended prose passage; identify and critically assess extended arguments in both everyday contexts and in various fields, such as business, law, politics, and science; use appropriate research in the analysis, construction and evaluation of arguments; and present and assess arguments in accordance with universal intellectual standards that include clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, and logic.