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COR165e Thinking Critically
Level: 1
Credit Units: 2.5 Credit Units
Presentation Pattern: EVERY SEMESTER
E-Learning: BLENDED - Learning is done MAINLY online using interactive study materials in
MyUniSIM. Students receive guidance and support from online instructors via discussion forums and
emails. This is supplemented with SOME face-to-face sessions. If the course has an exam component,
this will be administered on-campus.
Synopsis:
Professionals today require a critical thinking and analytic mindset to handle competently the profusion
of information and arguments they are exposed to daily. This course enables students to have, at hand,
strategies that can validate their decisions and judgments as informed, reasoned, and sound. It will also
foster a spirit of critical inquiry through practice-oriented sessions.
Students will learn how to:
‡determine the relevance and validity of information, facts, and truth in arguments
‡assess evidence impartially to support a decision or conclusion
‡organize thoughts and articulate them concisely and coherently
‡read and write critically
‡distinguish among logically valid and invalid inferences, irrelevancies, bumptious and false
claims, and challenge dubious sources
‡detect and avoid fallacious arguments in real-life situations
The course starts by reviewing the process of critical thinking, what is meant and what is involved in
critical thinking, such as asking the right questions, tracking down sources of information, knowing
how to assess and challenge arguments, reasoning logically from solid premises, structuring valid
claims and deriving sound conclusions. It will cover both inductive and deductive reasoning to
exemplify the alignment of critical thinking with reasoning as used in an argument structure. It will also
cover fallacies, i.e. errors in reasoning.
As language is the foundation of thinking, the course will examine the functions of language,
utterances, definitions, with their potential for entrapment and with a view to their relevance to critical
thought. The course will also examine the correct and incorrect uses of statistics in arguments.
Everyday examples such as those found in political commentaries, newspapers, and advertisements will
be used as material for critique.
Topics:
ƔCourse Overview & Concepts
ƔArguments
ƔDeduction and Induction
ƔRecap and More Deductive Forms
ƔFallacies of Relevance
ƔFallacies of Insufficient Evidence
ƔApplications of Critical thinking to real life cases
ƔStandards of and Barriers to Critical Thinking
Textbooks:
Bassham, Irwin, Nardone, Wallace: Critical Thinking 5th Edition 5 McGraw Hill
ISBN-13: 9781259074035
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Learning Outcome:
Ɣindicate the most important features of correct argumentation.
Ɣlocate the different types of fallacies in arguments and be able to avoid them.
Ɣname the standards a critical thinker should adhere to and the barriers that tend to obstruct critical
thinking.
Ɣoutline arguments using critical thinking and reasoning.
Ɣlist the differences between statements and non-statements to identify the relevant and non-relevant
parts of arguments
Ɣdemonstrate the strength and weaknesses in different types of arguments and explain these
strengths and weaknesses.
Assessment Strategies:
Continuous Assessment Component
DISCUSSION BOARD
TMA
TMA
Sub-Total
Examinable Component
Sub-Total
Weightage Total
Weightage (%)
20
40
40
100
Weightage (%)
100
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