Essay Topic:
In Learning to
Think Things Through, Gerald Nosich defines “good reasoning” as a process
of drawing conclusions that “considers factors such as implications,
conclusions, assumptions, accuracy, alternatives, elements, and standards”
(10). In addition, authors Richard Paul and Linda Elder explain that critical
thinkers can either be “strong sense” thinkers who care more about truth and
intellectual fairness than about winning arguments or manipulating others, or
“weak sense” thinkers who use their skills in analysis to dominate others or
manipulate evidence (191-192).
Assess your current stage of development as a thinker based on the
“Stages of Development in Critical Thinking” document and on a careful analysis
of recent examples from your life, including the mistake you wrote about in
Essay 1. In your essay, address where you think you are now as a critical thinker
and where you would like to be by the time you graduate from college.
Think
carefully about your own progression as a critical thinker during the last few
years, and specifically during this semester. To what extent have your skills
in critical thinking developed recently? To what extent have your decisions
exhibited a lack of critical thinking? Provide specific examples.
Apply
concepts explained in Nosich’s text, such as the impediments, elements,
standards, and character traits, to your own process of researching, thinking,
and reasoning. What impediments do you typically face in your own research,
analysis, and academic work? What impediments do you face in your personal life
and important decisions? Develop a specific, assertive argument in response to
these questions, and make sure that your reasoning is logical and
well-supported by concrete, specific examples and that your analysis is
sophisticated and complex. Finally, reflect on how the process of moving
through the Stages of Critical Thinking parallels some of the concepts
discussed in our analysis of course material this semester.
This essay will be graded by the instructor based on
how thoroughly and thoughtfully it meets the following components:
–
Your essay should be
800 words minimum.
–
In your introduction, briefly explain critical thinking concepts
such as “strong” and “weak sense” critical thinking and the Stages of
Development of a Critical Thinker and forward a unique, narrow, and specific underlined
thesis statement about your development as a critical thinker.
–
In the essay’s body, provide concrete examples from at least 2
course texts, and also examples from your own life, including the mistake you
wrote about in Essay 1 for this class.
–
Course texts may include concrete, specific evidence from the
several sources; including course documents such as “The Stages of Development
in Critical Thinking,” Nosich’s Learning
to Think Things Through, Postman’s Amusing
Ourselves to Death, and or
any other document, video, or PowerPoint used in class.
–
In the conclusion, sum up your main points with an emphasis on why
it matters.
–
Use the elements of reasoning to generate material and meet the
standards in your analysis.
–
Provide a clear organizational pattern to the essay.
–
Interpret your quotations and sufficiently support your claims.
–
Provide fully-amplified paragraphs and transitional sentences or
phrases between ideas.
–
Correctly formatted in-text citations, and quotations and/or
paraphrases that are introduced, identified, and interpreted (Works Cited page
is not required).
–
A readable style characterized by minimal flaws in grammar and
mechanics.
Please do
not over-inflate your abilities and fail to convincingly support your argument
(remember the importance of the essential trait of intellectual humility). Research
the “Dunning-Kruger Effect” if you are not sure what this means.
This exam
is open-book, open-note.