How to Use This Guide

This document is intended to highlight resources that can be used to address the topic of Critical Thinking in a Second-Year Writing Course. All resources are Open Access and can be downloaded or added to a Course Management System via hyperlink.

Introduction

Critical Thinking is one of the five main learning outcomes for the Ohio Transfer Module’s Ohio guidelines for second-year writing. The Department of Higher Education recognizes that second-year writing builds on the skills of first-year writing and adds the following skills to what a student should be able to do by the end of the course

1. Find and evaluate appropriate material from electronic and other sources.
2. Locate, evaluate, organize, and use primary and secondary research material. Secondary research material should be collected from various sources, including journal articles and other scholarly texts found in library databases, other official databases (e.g., federal government databases), and informal electronic networks and internet sources.
3. Analyze and critique sources in their writing.
4. Juxtapose and integrate ideas and arguments from sources.
5. Develop a clear line of argument that incorporates ideas and evidence from sources.
6. Use strategies—such as interpretation, synthesis, response, critique, and design/redesign—to compose texts that integrate the writer’s ideas with those from appropriate sources.

The materials below range from introductory lessons to more in-depth and detailed explanations for the various processes in critical thinking that build on the material from first-year writing. Many of the second-year material overlaps with other chapters on Reading and Writing in Academia, Understanding Rhetorical Situations, and Conducting Research. The materials are available as single lessons that can be used to supplement other course material and readings, or as standalone sections that can provide weeks of information and activities that can align with other writing assignments.

Learning Objectives

This module is designed to address the following learning objectives:

1. Find and evaluate appropriate material from electronic and other sources

   1. Use library resources to locate academic sources

   2. Identify appropriate and credible websites and online articles

2.  Analyze and critique sources in their writing

   1. Apply the rhetorical situation

   2. Examine the logic

3. Juxtapose and integrate ideas and arguments from sources through

   1. Summary

   2. Paraphrase

   3. Quotation

   4. Synthesis

4. Develop a clear line of argument that incorporates ideas and evidence from sources

   1. Provide appropriate support and evidence for claims

   2. Incorporate opposing viewpoints

   3. Provide counterarguments