Clare 110
Composition and Critical
Thinking 1
The emphasis in this course is on exposition. Methods of development (narration, description, definition, and analysis) are explored by studying examples from the readings. At the end of studying each form of development, students are called upon to create an essay that exemplifies that method.
The primary critical thinking elements in CCT 110 include valid objective and subjective uses of language, construction of definitions, and misleading uses of language, such as slanting, doublespeak, loaded definitions, informal fallacies and fallacious appeals. In addition to their use in discussion and essays, knowledge of critical thinking elements will be evaluated with a diagnostic test (uncounted toward the final grade) at the beginning of the semester and a similar test as part of the final exam.
The student will write a minimum of twelve pages distributed over at least six graded compositions based on the following guidelines; individual instructors may elect to assign more graded writing assignments, somewhat longer assignments, journal writing, and/or writing exercises.
 | Diagnostic theme |
 | two pages, 500 words, graded (individual instructors will decide if the theme will count toward the final grade) |
| designed to be written in a class period and to correspond to a similar exit theme in order to provide a fair assessment of the student's progress in writing over the course of the semester |
| focus on misleading uses of language |
| instructor's choices include assigning |
| response, interpretation, and analysis of an artistic work |
| a helpful reference is the Clare College Arts and Literature Page |
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