ENGL 103: Composition and Critical Thinking

• read analytically and evaluate critically the personal, cultural, philosophic, religious, and social issues represented in literature
• identify and evaluate the writer's use of literature as a persuasive tool, and advocate or refute the polemical issues raised in literary work
• through inferential reasoning, develop judgments in the form of thesis statements (which involves the ability to distinguish belief from knowledge and fact from judgment) in response to questions of character, tone, theme, point of view, symbolism, diction, style, and rhetorical uses of language such as appeals to logic, emotion, and projected image
• employ both deductive and inductive forms of reasoning in the defense and development of thesis/judgments
• identify and avoid common formal and informal logical fallacies in the development of thesis/judgment
• write well-organized critical essays in response to questions posed in literature -- essays will state and develop the thesis through logical argumentation
• evaluate student essays for valid and sound argumentation, clarity, abuses in rhetoric, and effective use of denotative and connotative aspects of language, and selected examples, details, and evidence to support or validate thesis and other generalizations

(% of classroom hours spent on each topic is noted at right)
Since the course objective is to apply the principles of argument in response to the intellectual challenges posed by literature, the following outline does not suggest an order -- rather an integration of the following:

1. Critical Reading Strategies 25%
   1. Reading for purpose
   2. Understanding relationship of language to logic
   3. Drawing inferences
   4. Evaluating diction
   5. Recognizing denotative and connotative language
   6. Identifying rhetorical devices
2. Approaches to Critical Analysis-Methods of Evaluating and Understanding 25%
   1. Traditional approaches
   2. Alternate approaches
3. Writing the Argument/Response 25%
   1. Assessing purpose and audience
   2. Evaluating evidence
   3. Formulating thesis/judgment
   4. Determining effectiveness of persuasive approach (deductive/inductive/mixed)
   5. Avoiding fallacious reasoning
   6. Developing evidence
   7. Organizing, evaluating, revising
4. Applying the Argument 25% (Students will Apply These Principles and Techniques to Writing)
   1. The extended argument
   2. The researched argument, including the use of conventions of documentation
   3. The "timed" argument, sample "writing proficiency" questions
5. EVALUATION:
   1. Students will be judged on ability not only to analyze but to advocate ideas
   2. The sequence of essays will be evaluated for both critical thinking and composition
   3. Student essays will be evaluated for progress toward refinement of writing skills and development of critical/analytical techniques