CRITICAL THINKING, THOUGHTFUL WRITING A Rhetoric with Readings

This book teaches the fundamental thinking, reasoning, reading and writing abilities needed for success in academic studies and in life. The text begins with basic skills related to personal experience and then carefully progresses to the more sophisticated reasoning skills required for abstract, academic contexts. Exercises, discussion topics and writing assignments encourage active participation, stimulating students to examine their own and others' thinking. Over 50 readings from many disciplines give perspectives on important, current themes. The readings are carefully integrated into the text, illustrating key concepts and stimulating students to develop their thinking abilities. Thinking Activities focus on contemporary and enduring topics and are intended to enlarge students' understanding of the world through systematic exploration. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

John Chaffee, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at The City University of New York, where he has developed a Philosophy and Critical Thinking program that annually involves 25 faculty and 3,000 students. He is a nationally recognized figure in the area of critical thinking, having authored leading textbooks and many professional articles. He also has conducted numerous conference presentations and workshops throughout the country. In developing programs to teach people to think more effectively in all academic subjects and areas of life, Dr. Chaffee has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He was selected as New York Educator of the Year and received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Diversity in Teaching in Higher Education.

Christine McMahon was a professor in the Department of English Composition, Literature, and Professional Writing at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. She planned and coordinated "Critical Literacy," a professional development program for Montgomery College faculty, librarians, and counselors on educational theory and techniques for fostering critical thinking across the curriculum. In 1997, she received a NISOD Excellence Award (National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development from the University of Texas at Austin) for this work. Her work has been published in Teaching Writing in the Two-Year College.

Barbara Stout was professor of English at Montgomery College. She was chairperson of the Department of English and helped establish the "Writing Across the Curriculum" and "Critical Literacy" programs. Professor Stout was secretary of the Conference on College Composition and Communication and is active in the Two-Year College English Association. She has made presentations at CCCC, TYCA-Northeast, NCTE, and other conferences. Her publications include chapters in NCTE publications and books about two-year college writing programs.