Overview
PHIL 152 is a pre-university-level, three-credit course designed to help you develop basic critical thinking, reading, and writing skills in preparation for more advanced university-level work. The course teaches an active, critical approach to develop skills in evaluating reading that is extended to your own written work. Critical thinking involves making judgements (such as whether to believe a certain statement), analyzing qualities of passages, and evaluating comparative worth. As a reader, a critical stance enables you to assess implications and draw justifiable conclusions from materials you encounter. As a writer, you will develop effective methods for approaching, planning, and completing related writing assignments.
Outline
Part A: Comprehension and Organizational Skills
- Unit 1: Critical Thinking: Three-Step Method and Three-Point Focus
- Unit 2: Active Reading and Critical Thinking
- Unit 3: Grammar, Punctuation, and Meaning
- Unit 4: Generating and Organizing Ideas
- Unit 5: Writing Functions
Part B: Evaluation
- Unit 6: Argument Analysis and Evaluation
- Unit 7: Deductive Arguments
- Unit 8: Inductive Arguments
- Unit 9: Fallacies and Essay Writing
Learning outcomes
This course is designed to help you become a critical thinker; a more alert and critical reader; and a writer who is better able to both assess the reasonableness of your own ideas and to communicate them clearly and effectively. When you have completed this course you should be able to
- analyse and understand the content of complex university-level material;
- plan, write, and edit paragraphs and short essays to maximize the clarity and effectiveness of communication;
- identify errors, omissions, and faulty reasoning, both in reading materials and in your own work;
- evaluate ideas in reading materials; and
- examine and formulate your own thinking processes more effectively.
Evaluation
Your final mark for PHIL 152 is based on your grades in five written assignments, as well as two activities and two skills modules. To receive credit for PHIL 152, you must complete all assignments and achieve a composite course grade of at least D (50 percent). The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Study Plan and Introductory Forum | 2% |
| Assignment 1: Course Outline Log | 10% |
| Assignment 2: Deciphering Meaning from Text | 10% |
| Academic Integrity Skills Module | 2% |
| MLA Documentation Skills Module | 2% |
| Assignment 3: Prewriting and Idea Generating | 14% |
| Assignment 4a: Draft Critical Review Essay | 25% |
| Assignment 4b: Final Critical Review Essay | 35% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Physical course materials
The following course materials are included in a course package that will be shipped to your home prior to your course’s start date:
Flachmann, Kim, Michael Flachmann, Alexandra MacLennan, and Jamie Zeppa. Reader’s Choice: Essays for Thinking, Reading, and Writing. 7th Canadian ed., Pearson, 2013.
Other Materials
All other materials are available on the course website.