Contra Costa College
Course Outline
Department & Number
Course Title
Prerequisite
Co-requisite
Prerequisite or concurrently
Challenge Policy
English 1C
Critical Thinking and Advanced Composition
English 001A
Essay exam administered by English Dept.
Number of Weeks per term
Lecture Hours per term
Lab Hours per term
*HBA per term
Activity Hours per term
Units
18
3 comp.
3
Advisory
Hours per term.
*HOURS BY
ARRANGEMENT:
ACTIVITIES: (Please provide a list of the activities students will perform in order to satisfy the HBA
requirement):
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to develop critical thinking, reading, and writing skills beyond the level of ENGL 001A.
Students will develop advanced essay writing skills with emphasis is on argumentation and analysis. Varied
cultural perspectives and the specialized critical concerns needed to understand, analyze, and evaluate these
perspectives will be stressed.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
At the completion of the course the student will be able to:
At the completion of this course, the student will be able to:
Demonstrate critical thinking skills in class discussion and written essays:
1.
Identify thesis statements in expository and/or argumentative prose of thematic complexity.
2.
Identify unstated premises and hidden assumptions which arise from the social, historical, moral, cultural,
psychological, or aesthetic contexts in which the primary texts and the critical writings which apply to
them exist.
3.
Recognize the similarities and differences between the intentions, biases, assumptions, and arguments of
an authors and his/her character(s).
4.
Demonstrate sensitivity and understanding of cultural perspective, its manifestation with argumentative
prose, and its impact on the author, reader, and their larger American experience.
5.
Distinguish between fact, inference, and judgment, recognizing that many reasonable inferences can be
derived from the same facts.
6.
Evaluate the pattern of reasoning present in a literary argument and related critical evaluation, including
induction and deduction, inferential reasoning, logic and fallacies.
7.
Write a progression of compositions beyond the level of English 1A which demonstrate continued
development in writing correct and sophisticated college-level prose.
Demonstrate composition skills, producing sustained essays of sophisticated analysis and argumentation that
reflect critical thinking in a style both rhetorically effective and conventionally correct:
1.
Explore a line of inquiry and limit the topic appropriately.
2.
Establish and state a unifying thesis or proposition.
3.
Use examples, details, and other evidence to support or validate the thesis and other claims.
4.
Use principles of inductive and deductive logic to support and develop ideas.
5.
Avoid logical fallacies in the presentation of the argument.
6.
Organize main parts of the essay and define a sequence of argumentation that is clear and persuasive.
7.
Use precise and coherent diction which communicates unambiguously.
8.
Write with a sense of audience in mind.
Use critical reading techniques:
1.
Have frequent practice in critical reading of intellectually complex texts with social and/or personal
relevance.
2.
Recognize, appreciate, and understand the issues confronting all writers, including audience,
organization, style, tone.
3.
Participate in careful rereading and frequent references to the text to develop independent intellectual
inquiry.
4.
Select readings which reflect the diversity of social, cultural, ethnic, and gender-based viewpoints.
COURSE CONTENT: (In detail; attach additional information as needed and include percentage breakdown)
Course will include the following elements:
90%
A)
Specific objectives for the reading and critical thinking component:
Students will participate in extensive readings from diverse cultural, ethnic, and gender perspectives.
Selections will include both essays and longer works, including two of book length.
1.
Students’ reading will be focused comprehension, providing them with opportunities to subject their
own insights and perceptions to comparison with the analyses of others.
2.
Students will analyze the various literary forms and techniques, developing the ability to make and
support qualitative judgments about the critical assessments of others.
3.
Students will analyze a variety of critical approaches, moving them to increased perception,
supported by textual evidence.
4.
Students will develop skills in independent intellectual inquiry by acquiring skills of analysis,
synthesis, inductive and deductive thought, the ability to interrelate abstract and concrete ideas, and
the ability to infer from textual evidence.
5.
Students will recognize central conflicts and issues of human experience, such as identity and
alienation from community.
B)
Specific objectives for the writing and composition component:
Extensive writing (8,000 words minimum) of expository prose in the form of essays and essay
examinations, of which 2,000 may be graded revisions of evaluated drafts. Essays and essay
examinations will demonstrate the students’ development and demonstration of the following:
1.
The thinking and analytical skills which make sophisticated and complex writing possible,
including the ability to move from the concrete to the abstract, the distinction between
observation and inference, and original perception sustained by pertinent evidence.
2.
Thesis development with increasingly complex applications.
3.
The full, balanced presentation of ideas necessary for a convincing argument.
4.
Increasing mastery of the following elements of persuasive writing: control of grammar;
limitation of scope of topic; perceptible critical and rhetorical patterns in logic; the ability to
integrate secondary sources by paraphrase, summary, and quotation, as well as the correct
documentation of sources; the use of drafts and/or outlining; revision.
5.
Students will receive specific instruction and practice in mastering the elements of
persuasive writing, including interpretive writing (an ability to make observations, establish
connections, develop inferences, and formulate a conclusion), analysis (the ability to
6.
7.
10%
examine the relationship of a text’s component parts), and explication (close reading of a
text).
Students will be required to do research which demonstrates their ability to evaluate
critically others’ judgments pertaining to the work(s) under study.
Students will demonstrate the ability to document properly primary and secondary sources.
Students will be required to complete supplementary exercises and readings, as needed, to strengthen writing
and critical thinking skills.
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
1.
2.
An anthology and/or at least two texts which are book-length.
Handbook on critical analysis and argumentation.
Textbook
Author:
Title:
Publisher:
Edition/Date:
Writing Logically, Thinking Critically
Sheila Cooper and Rosemary Patton
Longman
6th Edition/2010
NOTE: To be UC transferable, the text must be dated within the last 5 years OR a statement of justification for a text beyond
the last 5 years must be included.
COURSE EXPECTATIONS (Use applicable expectations)
Outside of Class Weekly Assignments
Hours per week
Weekly Reading Assignments
4.5
Weekly Writing Assignments
4.5
Weekly Math Problems
Lab or Software Application Assignments
Other Performance Assignments
STUDENT EVALUATION: (Show percentage breakdown for evaluation instruments)
15
65
10
10
%
%
%
%
Effective participation n class discussion and group workshops
Quality of written papers
Midterm exam
Final exam
GRADING POLICY (Choose LG, CR/NC, or SC)
X
Letter Grade
90% - 100% = A
80% - 89% = B
70% - 79% = C
60% - 69% = D
Below 60% = F
Prepared by:
J. EichnerLynch
Date:
Fall 2009
Pass / No Pass
70% and above = Pass
Below 70% = No Pass
Student Choice
90% - 100% = A
80% - 89% = B
70% - 79% = C
60% - 69% = D
Below 60% = F
or
70% and above = Pass
Below 70% = No Pass