Course Description

Honors Critical Thinking and Writing uses the pedagogical methods common to all Honors courses: writing-intensive, collaborative, and experiential instruction. As an honors course, there is a focus on analytical writing and an emphasis on a higher degree of student participation and leadership in class discussions and other interactive teaching/learning techniques that are generally unsuitable for larger undergraduate classes.This course offers instruction and practice in methods of critical thinking and formal argument writing, emphasizing the following: the principles of classical argument structure and methods of reasoning; analysis and evaluation of rhetorical argument; identification of the assumptions underlying a given argument; identification and critique of fallacies in arguments; and analysis of language use and its implications in argument writing. Students in this course have the opportunity to practice critical thinking by writing substantive arguments, essays, and a documented research paper.