Student's Question of the Week
Q: How can I work with the elements of reasoning easily?
A. In the last question, you saw how Dr. Richard Paul, Executive Director of the Center for Critical Thinking at Sonoma State University, describes reasoning as being broken apart into the elements of reasoning, which in reality form one seamless whole. These include the following
To make this easier to work with, a worksheet has been devised with some text boxes in which you can type your responses and print out, or copy and paste your answers into a word document. The text boxes print the screen only, so if you write a lot, you may have to scroll down to your second half, and print again.
To go to the online worksheet that provides prompts based upon the Elements of Reasoning, click here. (Adapted by Gerry Lewin for Gyrus, an online course development system, with permission.)
To go to the worksheet without text boxes, click here. This one can be printed out as is and used as a work in progress on which you write your ideas out by hand. It is very helpful to do this at the beginning stage of thought, and then again, once you have refined your topic and organized your ideas.
One advantage of working with the aspects of reasoning this way is you learn how to use the vocabulary, such as "assumptions" and "implications", which can strengthen your presentation of ideas.
To go to the SSU Critical Thinking Community website, click here. A summer conference is offered annually.