(1) Critical Reading Skills/Reading Comprehension - building academic vocabulary; active reading; asking “critical” questions; reading between the lines; deconstructing passages.

(2) Critical Thinking Skills - logically evaluating what we hear/read; presenting a strong analysis; rational decision-making; presenting cogent arguments, ethically; to be able to articulate counter-views; being aware of bias (self bias and others’ bias); differentiating between manipulative arguers and rationally persuasive arguers; to develop an awareness of Western reasoning skills and their connection to language use.

(3) Writing and Research Skills - expanding written vocabulary; improve general writing skills including structure, writing style according to recognized writing style guides; essay organization (thesis development and argumentation; bibliography; editing techniques).

(4) Oral Skills - improving on the presentation of ideas/arguments clearly, coherently, logically, and most of all with more confidence (formal/informal settings).

(5) Personal Development - the ability to engage in civil discourse as a “competent layperson;” a clearer understanding of personal styles and habits when arguing (e.g. conflict style; preferred learning style; logical strengths; logical weaknesses; etc.).

Course policies

Submitting assignments on time

•     Expected academic performance includes students not only completing assignments, but completing them on time. We find ourselves in unprecedented times though, so please see adapted policies below.

•     If you miss a quiz, for which you have 7 days to complete, you earn a zero grade. There will be bonuses quizzes to replace any low or missed grades.

•     If you don’t participate during the required week, you don’t earn participation grades. There will be bonus opportunities to participate to replace low or missed grades.

•     There will be no late penalty for submitting an assignment late. Rather, you’ll have a window of time after the deadline where you can submit an assignment (you just won’t receive feedback from the instructor). Each assignment’s instructions will have specific details.

To be successful in this course

•     You must log on to Moodle frequently

•     You should be completing coursework every week

•     You should be taking notes when you review video lectures - always

•     You should be taking notes when you read the course material - always

•     Critical Thinking and Reasoning requires practice. The textbooks have chapter exercises that you should be answering in order to hone your skills.

•     For an updated and helpful website with tips and tools, for writing, time management, and other necessary tools and skills for university success, see:                         http://www.yorku.ca/spark/

•     Take care of yourself. Balancing the academic, professional, family, personal, and other aspects of your life can be challenging at the best of times. Aim to create some balance in your life. You want to be healthy and rested when you tackle a full year course in half the time, remotely.

Regarding lecture content (e.g. videos, documents, etc.): students do not have

permission to duplicate, copy, and/or distribute content outside of the class. Doing so

violates copyright laws.

Regarding synchronous Zoom recordings: students do not have permission to

duplicate, copy, and/or distribute the recordings outside of the class. These acts

can violate not only copyright laws but also FIPPA. All synchronous webinar

recordings will be destroyed after the end of classes.