Develop your critical thinking skills to enhance your writing skills so that the reader can understand your intended message. Critically read information so you can analyze and understand the message of the writer.
Target Audience
Those who wish to sharpen their written communication and critical thinking skills.
What You'll Learn at a Glance
- Think critically about an issue (employ your critical lens).
- Read actively and critically.
- Identify the components of an argument.
- Develop and deploy logically valid arguments.
- Understand the writing process.
- Plan, draft, and edit your own work.
- Overcome writer’s block. Use and cite sources correctly.
- Correct common grammar problems.
- Identify and avoid fallacies in your writing.
- Know your strengths and weaknesses as a writer, especially how to emphasize the former and combat the latter.
Course Syllabus
- Module 1 Critical Thinking
- Module 2 Critical Reading
- Module 3 Arguments
- Module 4 Analyzing Arguments
- Module 5 and 6 The Writing Process
- Module 7 Grammar Review
- Module 8 Style Review
- Module 9 Fallacies
Textbooks must be purchased separately. The required textbooks are:
- Barnet, Sylvan, and Hugo Bedau. Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing: A Brief Guide to Argument. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s (10th Ed.) ISBN-13: 978-1319194512
- Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference with Exercises. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s (9th ed.)
This course is available for "remote" learning and will be available to anyone with access to an internet device with a microphone (this includes most models of computers, tablets). Classes will take place with a "Live" instructor at the date/times listed below.
Upon registration, the instructor will send along additional information about how to log-on and participate in the class.
