ENGL C1001 - Critical Thinking and Writing

Transfer Status

CSU/UC

Prerequisite

College-level composition (ENGL C1000/ ENGL C1000H/ ENGL C1000E/ C-ID ENGL 100) or equivalent

Unit(s)

3.00

• Lecture: 51.00 Contact hours/102.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)
• Total: 51.00 Contact hours/102.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)

Course Description: In this course, students receive instruction in critical thinking for purposes of constructing, evaluating, and composing arguments in a variety of rhetorical forms, using primarily non-fiction texts, refining writing skills and research strategies developed in ENGL C1000 Academic Reading and Writing (or C-ID ENGL 100) or similar first-year college writing course. This course offers instruction in information literacy, and proper documentation. Students are required to write essays with progressive revisions and multiple drafts (minimum 5,000 words). (C-ID ENGL 105).

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Draft written arguments to respond appropriately to texts, with attention to intended audience, purpose, and social context, and revise for clarity, cogency, persuasiveness, and soundness.
2. Evaluate and document evidence to construct arguments in a variety of rhetorical situations, distinguishing knowledge from belief and fact from judgment.
3. Employ critical reading and research strategies to locate and evaluate complex texts representative of diverse experiences, perspectives, and forms of authority.
4. Reflect critically on one’s own thought processes to identify and avoid cognitive biases and common fallacies of language and thought.
5. Define, recognize, and utilize forms of critical reasoning, including deductive and inductive reasoning, in a variety of rhetorical contexts.
6. Use style, diction, and tone appropriate to a diverse academic community and the purpose of the specific writing task; proofread, edit, and revise essays so English grammar, usage, or punctuation does not impede clarity.
7. Find, analyze, interpret, and evaluate primary and secondary sources, incorporating them into written essays using MLA or other appropriate documentation format without plagiarism.
8. Compose thesis-driven arguments in the form of essays and presentations as part of a 5,000-8,000 word writing requirement.
9. Identify a text's premises and assumptions in various social, historical, cultural, psychological, or aesthetic contexts.

Topic Titles / Suggested Time Topic

Lecture

1. Class Activities
2. Discussion
3. Homework: Students are required to complete two hours of outside-of-class homework for each hour of lecture
4. Lecture
5. Reading Assignments
6. Reading and Writing (minimum 5,000 word writing requirement)

1. Methods of evaluation used to observe or measure students’ achievement of course outcomes are at the discretion of local faculty but must include at least one extended argument through draft and revision. Additional assessments could include, but are not limited to, peer evaluations, discussions, metacognitive reflections, presentations, quizzes, exams, projects, etc.

Reading Assignments

1. Read and interpret the section of the text assigned by the instructor. Be prepared to work in small groups identifying whether or not a passage is an argument, and if it is, identify the parts of the argument.
2. Read the section of the text assigned by the instructor and evaluate specific fallacies and definitions found in the section. Be prepared to identify the fallacies in class when given examples by the instructor.

Writing Assignments

1. Design and present a style analysis of three TV/multimedia ads. Choose ads and analyze their content, using extensive vocabulary and concepts from this list (instructor provides list). Presentations will provide links to the ads and will summarize the type of ads, explaining how they manipulate the consumer and exploring the effects of that manipulation.
2. In formal essay form, 1,000 word minimum, respond to one of the course films to articulate how it demonstrates specific, critical thinking-based concepts. Be sure to consistently synthesize specific evidence from the film to illustrate and support those concepts.

Out-of-Class Assignments

1. For an online discussion post, watch or listen to a music video or song and take notes, specifically looking/listening for rhetorical elements. When watching/listening to the videos/songs, identify as many of the rhetorical appeals as you can in each song. And then identify the specific audience for each performance and how that audience might respond to the performance. After you finish your posting, respond to a specific aspect of at least one of your peer's comments.
2. After locating a print advertisement, write a two page, double-spaced analysis of the visual rhetoric explicitly and implicitly used in the advert and identify the fallacies (remember to include why a fallacy is a specific fallacy and include a summary of your interpretation of what you "see" on the page).

Bullock, Richard, et al. (2024). The Little Seagull Handbook. W.W. Norton & Company, 5th. 978-1-324-06000-0.

Rottenberg, Annette. (2021). The Elements of Argument. Macmillan, 13th. 9781319214739.

Paul, R. and Elder, L. (2020). Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life. Rowman & Littlefield, 2nd. 978-1-5381-3952-3.

Barnet, Sylvan. (2023). Current Issues and Enduring Questions. Macmillan, 13th. 9781319332068.

Booth, Wayne C. et al. (2024). The Craft of Research. University of Chicago Press, 5th. 9780226826677.

Foresman, Galen A., and Peter S. Fosl. (2016). The Critical Thinking Toolkit. Wiley-Blackwell, 1st. 978-0-470-65869-7.

Boardman, Frank, Cavender, Nancy M. & Kahane, Howard. (2018). Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric: The Use of Reason in Everyday Life. Cengage, 13th. 9781305956025.

Chaffe, John. (2019). Thinking Critically. Cengage, 12th. 9781337558501.

Brooks, Kenneth. (1995). Cultural Diversity Without Prejudice: A Guide for Critical Thinking in the 21stCentury. Amper Pub, 1at. 9780963904225.

Solnit, Rebecca. (2009). A Paradise Built In Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise In Disaster. Penguin, 1st. 9780143118077.

Hacker, D. and Sommers, N. (2025). A Writer's Reference. Macmillan, 11th. 9781319413002.

Lunsford, A. and Ruszkiewicz, J. (2022). Everything's an Argument. Macmillan, 9th. 9781319244484.

Zero Cost Textbook

Mills, Anna. How Arguments Work: A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College. OER Libretexts. 2022. https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Composition/Advanced_Composition/How_Arguments_Work_-_A_Guide_to_Writing_and_Analyzing_Texts_in_College_(Mills)

Dowden, Bradley H. (2017). Logical Reasoning. OER. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/745

Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking by Matthew Van Cleave, 2016, Open Textbook Library

Other Learning Materials

Materials shall be primarily non-fiction, are expected to represent culturally diverse perspectives, and will vary by individual institutions and sections. A writing handbook must be included. Open Educational Resources (OER) materials are encouraged.

Film, video, and other electronic sources, for example Crash Course videos, the documentary 13th (dir. by Ava DuVernay, free on YouTube), or feature films Don't Look Up (dir. by Adam McKay), Fed Up (dir. by Stephanie Soechtig)

Handouts and websites assigned by instructor, for example, Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab), Otero's Media Bias Chart, The Onion (satirical publication)

English (Masters Required)