Honors 105—Critical Methods of Inquiry

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Course Texts

Crawford, Susan. Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly in the New Gilded Age. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014.

Nosich, Gerald M. Learning to Think Things Through. London: Prentice Hall, 2001.

Course Description

Welcome to Critical Methods of Inquiry! This course serves as an introduction to the Honors Program at Coastal Carolina University as well as a course that will introduce Honors students to a particular model of critical thinking methods and argumentation that can be utilized in all academic disciplines.

This course will be organized around a central theme. Our discussion will be centered on the idea of “The Good Life.” Each of us holds some idea of what counts as a well lived, flourishing life, and we’ll be examining several conceptions of the Good Life from a variety of disciplinary vantage points. Our course discussion and readings will be drawn from across the humanities and sciences, and we’ll see how each of these disciplines can help us construct a robust conception of the life well lived.

For the first four weeks of the course, in addition to addressing some of the general concerns of new university students, we will be studying the Paul-Elder Critical Thinking model, which will provide groundwork for evaluating claims and arguments made within both academic settings and the wider world. The Paul-Elder model of critical thinking asserts that when evaluating any claim, one must consider eight “Elements of Thought” that ground that claim.

Then, in the remaining eight weeks of the course, we will evaluate a series of artifacts, from Youtube videos to academic papers and books, utilizing the Paul-Elder skillset. This course will culminate with a final research project that will demonstrate your mastery of the Paul-Elder Model. As you leave this course, you will a defined method with which to evaluate claims within your academic studies as well as in the broader world.

Student Learning Outcomes:

In this course, students will:

1.Identify and understand a variety of theoretical and practical skills utilized in several academic disciplines.

2.Develop the ability to access instructional materials and research using digital tools.

3.Synthesize primary and secondary research materials into a final research project.

Critical Thinking SLOs:

Additionally, this course meets the University Core requirements in Critical Thinking by preparing students to:

4.Use the Paul Elder Critical Thinking Model to identify arguments.

5.Use the Paul Elder Model to evaluate arguments through reasoning.

6.Use the Paul Elder Model to formulate arguments for a thesis.

Modes of Assessment

Your grade will be determined based upon the completion of the following:

Attendance and Participation (100 points)

Students are obligated to attend class regularly. Absences, excused or not, do not absolve students from the responsibility of completing all assigned work promptly. Students who miss assignments, announced quizzes, or other course work obligations due to excused absences will be allowed to make up the work in a manner deemed appropriate by the instructor. It will be the responsibility of the student to contact the instructor and make arrangements at the convenience of the instructor. The instructor is not obligated to allow a student to make up work missed due to an unexcused absence.

Absences will be excused for documented cases of:

1. incapacitating illness,

2. official representation of the University (excuses for official representation of

the University should be obtained from the official supervising the activity),

3. death of a close relative, and

4. religious holidays.

The instructor will determine whether other absences from class should be excused or unexcused. In the event of an impasse between the student and the instructor, the Department Chair and/or the Dean of the college shall make the final decision as to whether an absence is to be considered excused. An instructor is permitted to impose a penalty, including assigning the grade of F, for unexcused absences in excess of 25% of the regularly scheduled class meetings (Coastal Carolina Catalog, 2013-2014).

Attendance will be taken in ALL class meetings and a grade will be assigned for attendance. You will be rewarded 5 points for every day you attend.

Group Critical Thinking Project (200 points)

Throughout the term, you will be paired with another classmate, and during the final eight weeks of the course, you will present a weekly, in-class response to the claims and arguments that we’ll be evaluating, drawing from one of the Elements of Thought we’ve studied in the Paul-Elder Critical Thinking model.

A rubric will be distributed to help guide you through both the written and oral component of this assignment. In these assignments, students will demonstrate mastery of Critical Thinking SLOs 4 and 5 by requiring students to identify conclusions and their supporting reasons as well as systematically evaluating embedded assumptions grounding a central claim.

Cultural Events Attendance (50 points)

Through the course of the semester, you’ll need to attend two (2) of the cultural events listed on the assignment sheet provided to you. You’ll provide evidence of your attendance via a ½ page summary and/or an event program.

Final Essay (200 points)

In lieu of a final exam, you will be required to submit a final essay (5-6 pages in length) that is a critical analysis of the text we’ve been reading for this term, Susan Crawford’s Captive Audience. You will demonstrate mastery of the Paul-Elder Critical thinking model by utilizing the eight “Elements of Thought” to deconstruct and critique Crawford’s central claims. In this assignment, students will demonstrate mastery of SLO 5 and 6 by evaluating arguments through careful reasoning as well as by synthesizing the elements of thought present in Crawford’s work to explain patterns present in the text’s reasoning.

Grade Scale

Your grade will be determined as out of 700 possible points as follows:

Letter / Minimum
Points / %
A / 540 / 90
B+ / 528 / 88
B / 480 / 80
C+ / 468 / 78
C / 420 / 70
D+ / 408 / 68
D / 360 / 60
F / 359 and below

Late Work

All late work will receive no better than half credit, regardless of your attendance status for that particular class day. The timeliness of your work will be determined based upon the time-stamp assigned to that assignment on Blackboard (instructions for how to submit work via Blackboard will be presented in class).

Plagiarism Statement

Plagiarism is not tolerated, and any plagiarized assignment will receive the grade of (0) and my warrant failure for the class. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to, the following:

·  borrowing words, sentences, ideas, conclusions, examples and/or organization of an assignment without proper acknowledgment from a source (for example, a book, article, electronic documents, or another student's paper);

·  submitting another person's work in place of his/her own;

·  allowing someone else to revise, correct or edit an assignment without explicit permission of the instructor;

·  submitting work without proper acknowledgment from commercial firms, Web sites, fraternity or sorority files or any other outside sources, whether purchased or not;

·  allowing another person to substitute for them any part of a course for them, including quizzes, tests, and final examinations;

·  submitting any written assignments done with the assistance of another without the explicit permission of the instructor;

·  submitting work that was originally prepared for another class without the explicit permission of the instructor;

·  knowingly aiding another student who is engaged in plagiarism.